New DeWalt assembled and being put into production...

[Iguanadon]

My current saw was starting to make the usual noises of wearing out and today it got worse, so it was time to assemble the new saw I ordered from Grizzly a coupld of weeks ago... Say hello to DeWalt #4 for Iggy.    Swapping out various attachments and should be up and running shortly.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Iggy when arre you going to finally step up to a real saw??? I bet you would never wear out a RBI or Hegner or even a   Excalibur . You keep playing in the mid range area when you clearly are a professional scroller and need a workhorse. You can probably fix those saws and that can become a hobby. 

[jerry1939]

Do you hire a maid to come every 15 minutes to clean up the place?  Your shop is so clean that you should be barred from this site.  

jerry

 

[Iguanadon]

15 minutes ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

Iggy when arre you going to finally step up to a real saw??? I bet you would never wear out a RBI or Hegner or even a   Excalibur . You keep playing in the mid range area when you clearly are a professional scroller and need a workhorse. You can probably fix those saws and that can become a hobby. 

Oh JT, apparently you've blocked from your memory the entire ordeal I went through with the Hawk.  LOL  Seriously, once I FINALLY got the Hawk running properly after getting the replacement arm that was defective, it was a fine saw, but I simply didn't like it and I just donated it last month to a local non-profit organization that works with underprivelaged kids teaching them woodworking.  

After all that fiasco, I'm simply sticking to the DeWalt's.  Paying $450 for a new saw every year is no big deal, it's just a cost of doing business.

Edited November 24, 2018 by Iguanadon

[Iguanadon]

15 minutes ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

Iggy when arre you going to finally step up to a real saw??? I bet you would never wear out a RBI or Hegner or even a   Excalibur . You keep playing in the mid range area when you clearly are a professional scroller and need a workhorse. You can probably fix those saws and that can become a hobby. 

Oh, and to your suggestion about learning how to fix them... I had all intentions of doing that, I bought all the bearings and bushings needed to refurbish one... I tried it and when I was done, it ran worse than when I started!   Nope, not gonna try that again.  I have one of my puzzle zombies coming to pick up my two fried ones and he is going to learn how to reburbish them and will donate one and keep one for himself.

[Iguanadon]

15 minutes ago, jerry1939 said:

Do you hire a maid to come every 15 minutes to clean up the place?  Your shop is so clean that you should be barred from this site.  

jerry

 

I do all my cutting in a plastic enclosed "room" so the wife won't yell at me about sawdust everywhere. 

[jbrowning]

I got my , please continue. 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Good luck Iggy. $500 on a saw is no chump change. One bad instance on an RBI and you are done with one of the premiere saws on the market that is a true professional saw. Excalibur is basically the same saw. Maybe they use better parts. You really do not hear too many bad things about them. Dewalt being so many people own them you here all the horror stories and they sure do not seem to last before maintenance needs to be done. But anyway again good luck. 

[rjweb]

Iggy, 

the reason you have trouble fixing  them, there is no keyboard and code for you to work through, I was always taught that I stick to what I know and let the others do there expertise, glad to see things are moving forward, RJ 

[lawson56]

Congrats on your new saw Iggy.

[Sycamore67]

Buy a Hegner and you will not wear it out.  I could understand not wanting a Hegner if you were doing fret work.  I think you are happy that you wear out the DeWalt as it shows how hard you work. It is a point of pride that you have four of them and can wear them out.  It would be interesting to know the mean time to failure for the DeWalt.

There are many used Hegners out there for less than you pay for a DeWalt. But to each their own.

[Iguanadon]

17 minutes ago, Sycamore67 said:

Buy a Hegner and you will not wear it out.  I could understand not wanting a Hegner if you were doing fret work.  I think you are happy that you wear out the DeWalt as it shows how hard you work. It is a point of pride that you have four of them and can wear them out.  It would be interesting to know the mean time to failure for the DeWalt.

There are many used Hegners out there for less than you pay for a DeWalt. But to each their own.

If I can find someone nearby with a Hegner that I can play with and cut on for a day, I'd love to try one out.  But after buying the Hawk "blind", I won't do that again.  I'd very much like to find a more durable saw.  It's a pain in the ass to have to set up, swap out attachments and fine tune a new saw each year.  I've thought about the Excalibur or similar.  They cost about double, but I have no way of knowing if they'll last twice as long as the DW or not so I'm simply sticking with what I know and am comfortable with.

[kmmcrafts]

I totally understand the thinking on buying DeWalts.. rather than the high end saws...

I've only cut a handful of puzzles... Cut some on my Dewalt some on my Hawks.. then some on my Excalibur.. I have my Excalibur blade aggressiveness set up to be not at the minimum but pretty darn close to it.. If I were cutting primarily puzzles.. you couldn't give me a Hawk to do it.. Sorry Hawk guys including myself.. but the Hawk isn't made for doing that kind of production.. Precision YES.. 

The short parallel link armed saws are some aggressive cutters.. cutting thick wood..and trying to do it to make money and be competitive with other sellers price ranges etc.. I wouldn't own a Hawk or Hegner for this type of work.. Just not a fast enough cutting saw... Quality built saws.. just wouldn't be my choice for this type of work.. Yes they could do this for years.. compared to the lower end saws... but I'd rather replace a saw and knock out more puzzles than use the same saw for 20 years and only do 3/4 of the amount of production a year.. when talking that kind of money and whatnot over a years time.. that new Dewalt every year just make $$ sense to me... Most do not understand this because they don't do production cutting even though they may do a lot of cutting... you're not pushing the limits to get stuff made and to put that $$ in your pocket.. 

I have experience in all the mentioned saws other than the Hegner.. and I don't think it's long arm design is going to be a aggressive cutting saw like the DeWalt.. 

The Excalibur in my mind is nothing more than a glorified DeWalt.. made the same way same open bearing design.. really not much different other than the saw head tilts rather than the table.. useless for puzzles... the only other advantage is being able to turn the motor to change the cutting aggressiveness.. don't see the value in one for the extra $$ just for cutting puzzles..      

[Sycamore67]

I cut very easily thick compound cut pieces, puzzles like Iggy,  and Intarsia with no problems.  I also use it to cut templates from 1/2" and 3/4" plywood with no problems.

My Hegner is a 1996 with a lot of hours and still runs smooth.  I paid about $300 for it.  I would not cut with a DeWalt that wears out in a year or two.  I just read of too many problems that people have and how to rebuild them.  

But it is kind d of like Chevy versus Ford.  I drive a Chevy and others drive a Ford.  Both will get you down the road.

[Iguanadon]

2 hours ago, Sycamore67 said:

I cut very easily thick compound cut pieces, puzzles like Iggy,  and Intarsia with no problems.  I also use it to cut templates from 1/2" and 3/4" plywood with no problems.

My Hegner is a 1996 with a lot of hours and still runs smooth.  I paid about $300 for it.  I would not cut with a DeWalt that wears out in a year or two.  I just read of too many problems that people have and how to rebuild them.  

But it is kind d of like Chevy versus Ford.  I drive a Chevy and others drive a Ford.  Both will get you down the road.

I think you need to plan a vacation to the beach and bring your saw and let me try it out.   I'll gladly buy a Hegner once I know it matches my cutting style and speed.

[kmmcrafts]

3 hours ago, Sycamore67 said:

I cut very easily thick compound cut pieces, puzzles like Iggy,  and Intarsia with no problems.  I also use it to cut templates from 1/2" and 3/4" plywood with no problems.

My Hegner is a 1996 with a lot of hours and still runs smooth.  I paid about $300 for it.  I would not cut with a DeWalt that wears out in a year or two.  I just read of too many problems that people have and how to rebuild them.  

But it is kind d of like Chevy versus Ford.  I drive a Chevy and others drive a Ford.  Both will get you down the road.

Has nothing to do with whether it can cut it or not.. my Hawks cut 3/4" + flawlessly.. but the cutting speed or aggression is like watching paint dry compared to cutting with the short parallel link arms that the dewalt Ex style saws have.. and one gets used to that cutting style of chomping through the wood at a slightly faster rate.. then going to a saw like the Hawk with the longer arms.. It gives you that slow down feeling.. that most hobbyist do not feel because they don't have a care in the world about time / money etc and the profits.. 

The slow down feeling is that same feeling of driving on the expressway at 70 for 6 hours. then come into a town where you have to drive 30-40.. you feel like you're barely moving.. It also is the difference in the thickness you are used to cutting.. If you always cut thick hard wood.. try using the same blades and saw speed to cut 1/8".. you're not used to it and are like whoa.. slow down a bit or vise versa... cut thin wood and then go to thick wood it's like.. dang this is taking forever..

Like you said.. you can either drive a Chevy or Push a Ford.. 

 

[Rockytime]

5 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

<SNIP> Like you said.. you can either drive a Chevy or Push a Ford.. 

 

That's why I drive a Dodge!  

[NC Scroller]

10 hours ago, Iguanadon said:

If I can find someone nearby with a Hegner that I can play with and cut on for a day, I'd love to try one out.  But after buying the Hawk "blind", I won't do that again.  I'd very much like to find a more durable saw.  It's a pain in the ass to have to set up, swap out attachments and fine tune a new saw each year.  I've thought about the Excalibur or similar.  They cost about double, but I have no way of knowing if they'll last twice as long as the DW or not so I'm simply sticking with what I know and am comfortable with.

Hello....3 hours away.

[kmmcrafts]

34 minutes ago, Rockytime said:

That's why I drive a Dodge!  

Me Too... Two Dodge Cummins trucks and two gas trucks two mini vans.. all Dodge..  Oh forgot.. we have a Jeep too. and a Chevy blazer.. Yeah too many cars.. but there is 5 drivers in my family too.. I use to be a Ford guy until the last one I owned had transmission issues and come to find out.. they don't put any filter in it and they expect to have to replace them at about 100,000 miles. LOL.. only way to service it is to pull it out of the car and split the case on the bench to get to the filter..  Kinda like repairing a DeWalt scroll saw... you gotta take it all apart before you can see whats wrong with it,, Throw away stuff you know..