kmmcrafts Posted April 6, 2019 Report Share Posted April 6, 2019 18 minutes ago, Rolf said: I have been very busy but I have some fretwork to do for SSWWC. I took another hard look at my saw discovered that the the upper arm pivot bolt had backed out a bit allowing the upper arm to move a bit side to side. I was sure I had checked that, but evidently not. Snugging that up eliminated the side to side movement. Too snug and the arm gets a tad stiff. So Kevin I will follow your lead and When I get a chance will tear down my saw and replace all of the bearings. The connecting rod is new. but the arm pivots are the originals. Also the rear tensioning wedge assembly is showing signs of wear. If I am reading my hour meter correctly I think I have at least 4K hours on this saw. That's a few hours Rolf, LOL Do you put any drops of oil at those pivot points? Something really odd to me anyway.. The manuals for the newer saws ( my ultra is a 1998 )doesn't say anything about oil on the bearings.. only the wedge and the front cam lever.. The older saw 1993 220vs manual says to put a few drops of oil on the pivot points.. The older saw has a thrust type ( I think ) thin disc with ball bearings in it for pivot bearings and i can really see that they need bearings. The later models have a steal caged bearing.. my ultra didn't have any grease / oil whatsoever in it, and if I remember correctly Randy ( Hotshot ) took that BM-26 he had apart and had the same designed bearings with no oil or grease.. I packed the bearings in my saw with some synthetic grease.. I believe Randy did the same thing.. Not sure if they are made to not need oil / grease.... it ran incredibly smoother when i put it back together... but.. I can't pinpoint it to the grease in just those bearings because I did a whole saw grease and tune maintenance.. Thinking about taking my new saw apart and seeing if it has any oil grease there.. I doubt it since the wedge and cam lever were very stiff working at first because of no lube.. Apparently Bushton doesn't send them ready to run.. Still don't know if the pivot bearing need grease or not.. but I don't see any harm in adding it.. I'm catching up with you on hours but it could take a little time.. got 4 hours on the clock of the new saw.. Wish I had hooked an hour meter to all my saws when I first got them.. but didn't think to do so until a couple weeks ago.. got about 20 hours on each saw other than the new Hawk since I put the meters on.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted April 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2019 (edited) I am not sure about lubing the front tension cam. Friction keeps that engaged. I would worry about it vibrating loose when i put a heavy load on it with a big blade. I occasionally have to tweak that a bit. I think I will take a quick look to see what type of bearing is in the upper arm pivot. I looked at my G4 manual they say to spray a light oil (WD 40) into the upper and lower arm pivot bearing every 100 hours of use. Not sure I have been that diligent, actually I have never sprayed anything on those bearings. Edited April 6, 2019 by Rolf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted April 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2019 I had trouble reading the hour meter that I have on my saw on my saw. II have not had that meter on there since the beginning so in reality it is only a partial time. It only has 438 hours on it and I don't remember when I put the meter on it. So I think my initial 4k plus was wrong since I don't scroll all year long. Kevin I am sure you have far surpassed me on the hours. Just for fun I will try to figure out when I put the meter on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmcrafts Posted April 17, 2019 Report Share Posted April 17, 2019 2 hours ago, Rolf said: I had trouble reading the hour meter that I have on my saw on my saw. II have not had that meter on there since the beginning so in reality it is only a partial time. It only has 438 hours on it and I don't remember when I put the meter on it. So I think my initial 4k plus was wrong since I don't scroll all year long. Kevin I am sure you have far surpassed me on the hours. Just for fun I will try to figure out when I put the meter on it. Yeah I don’t think so, give me a few more weeks.. I haven’t really been sawing all that much lately as it seems other things have been taking up much of my time. My main sawing time in in the summer and into the fall. I’ve actually been studying and trying to learn how to run my CNC etc. I don’t remember when I put the meters on my saws either. I’m pushing 80 hours between them all. I think I put the meters on 3-4 weeks ago. Anyway like I said, not been sawing much at all other than just cutting orders that need to be made, not really doing anything extra. When summer comes I do 80 hours before noon each day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted April 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2019 Depending on the project, the actual saw run time is only a small portion of the total project time. Most of my time is wood prep, assembly and finishing. And in some situations pattern correction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachnlearn Posted April 18, 2019 Report Share Posted April 18, 2019 On 4/1/2019 at 11:19 AM, Rolf said: I posted this on the SSWWC forum also. Blade tension is always a bit of a challenge, especially for those just entering the hobby. If someone created a device that clipped onto the blade and gave you a quantitative reading instead of pinging the blade would you buy it.? They say about a 1/8 deflection when tensioned properly, but me with my meat hooks can easily push that where someone with a light touch wouldn't. What much would you be willing to pay for a gadget like that? Free is not an acceptable answer. Actually, the device is already out there in another field. Pinging is listening for a specific frequency or tone. In music, there are meters to tune instruments and visually watch when you hit that musical note. Nothing more than having someone use a tuning meter and find the frequency that the blade pings at. Then anyone could use a meter to tune their own blade at the same frequency. Coming from Electronics design field a microprocessor could be programmed with that frequency and 3 lights with high, low and on tone light, or a digital meter to bring to a mark. In engineering its to design to the easiest first. Tuning meters are sold nationwide. The only secret to be discovered is the frequency of a tuned scrollsaw blade, maybe for each brand machine. RJF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sycamore67 Posted April 19, 2019 Report Share Posted April 19, 2019 On a bandsaw, they make devices to measure the tension. You can also attach a digital caliper to the blade and calculate tension using the modulus of elasticity. I did this on my bandsaw once out of curiosity. Otherwise, just pushing sideways on the blade is good enough for me. One of the problems with a scroll saw would be the small size of the blade and limited access to attaching something to the blade. It might be interesting to know the tension but not necessary. I think the window for adequate tension is pretty wide and getting a ping is good enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard of Oz Posted April 19, 2019 Report Share Posted April 19, 2019 Maybe it's just me, but I think everybody is over thinking the tension of the blade. What ever you are comfortable with, go with it. Scrappile 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachnlearn Posted April 19, 2019 Report Share Posted April 19, 2019 SDgood tried his solution with a free download program. RJF http://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/2010/01/scroll-saw-blade-tension-software.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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