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Scrollsaw cabinet


rash_powder

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I am in the design portion of a new stand for my Hefner as the old one does it seem to support it well enough to keep it from vibrating.  From 900-1200 it shakes furiously.

i will be making the top deck from 2x6s laminated together.  At 26”x15” it will weigh about 50lbs by itself.  I am really wanting to make a 2x4 framed cabinet with drawers underneath but afraid that this will make the saw ‘louder’ by giving it a sound box.  I am also concerned that the drawers might rattle.

has anyone got their saw mounted to an enclosed cabinet?  Does it increase the sound level?

Thanks!

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I have my Seyco mounted on an enclosed cabinet.  I have never noticed anything rattling inside the cabinet.  I can't say about vibration, I have never had it on another cabinet so nothing to compare it with.  One thing I do have is a 60 lb. bag of concrete mix in the very bottom of the cabinet. 

My Hegner is mounted on a Hegner stand and it has sweet spots that it likes to run.   Fortunately for me, those sweet spots are right at the speeds I like to cut.  Every saw I has had had "sweet" spots that they ran the smoothest.

 

IMG_4036.JPG

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Rocky, the stand it is currently on is a homebuilt affair from leftover 3/4" BB plywood.  I think my #1 problem is that the top where the saw is bolted is flexing followed by the whole thing is just too lite.  I would love to be able to bolt it to the floor with a proper stand but that just isn't an option at the moment.  

I'm going to correct the top flex by lamination of 2x6s.  The rounded edges will be cut off, so I figure I will lose about 3/8" of height so to the top would only be about 5 1/4" thick.  If that flexes, there's nothing I can do to stop it!  The weight will primarily come from the top, as Google searches tell me that much pine should weigh about 50lbs; plus I am going to frame the cabinet from 2x4s and cover it with 3/8" ply.  Add in drawers and the stand alone should be awful close to 100lbs, plus the saw itself and any kit I put in the drawers.

If it wasn't such a pain to do, I would remove my saw from the current stand and just run it loose on the floor and see what happens.  

I have also gotten 1/4oz sticky wheel weights from Harbor Freight and done some very limited trials at balancing the arms while its running at its shakiest.  This didn't work very well.  

After another Google search this morning I have found that there are quite a few scrollsaws mounted to cabinets similar to what I am thinking so I will start building as soon as I get paid next.  I would absolutely LOVE to run the saw a where it is shaking the most.  The speeds it doesn't shake at seem to be too fast or too slow.  

Thanks all!!

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Before you go to all that trouble, try calling Wolfgang at Advanced Machinery for some Q & A. He is very good about helping find your problems. It really sounds to me that you have a part that is either loose, worn out or broken. The Hegners are not a "shakey" saw if mounted correctly. In fact, there is a video on Youtube where a guy buys a brand new one and unboxes it and sets it on his workbench unbolted or clamped. He runs it and it is very smooth throughout the who RPM range. So, there has to be something wrong with your saw. I had one that was mounted on the factory stand and it definitely had it's sweet spots but I could run it full open or anywhere in between and it was useable. It's important to make sure the bushings in the arms aren't worn and properly lubricated. Also, there is a link that fastens to the motor flywheel and connects to the lower arm that is famous for breaking/cracking. I had to replace mine. Call Wolfgang. It might solve your problem.

https://advanced-machinery.myshopify.com/pages/hegner-home

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

I had some time this last week to think about my saw shaking.  Yesterday while trying to figure it out, just to see what would happen I lifted the front of the saw up at one of its shakiest speeds.  BAM!!  It stopped shaking!  Then I had to go in for work so had to stop thinking on it.  Today after work I removed one of the casters on the back (I had put four on the cart).  Now its super tippy and it no longer shakes super bad where it used to, but now I don't think anything above about 80% is useable due to shake.  Some of the speeds it shakes putting a foot on the base stops it; and that is fine.

So now I am back to thinking again.  Maybe will try putting one caster in front in front and two in back.

Uhhhhhhh........

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1 hour ago, rash_powder said:

I had some time this last week to think about my saw shaking.  Yesterday while trying to figure it out, just to see what would happen I lifted the front of the saw up at one of its shakiest speeds.  BAM!!  It stopped shaking!  Then I had to go in for work so had to stop thinking on it.  Today after work I removed one of the casters on the back (I had put four on the cart).  Now its super tippy and it no longer shakes super bad where it used to, but now I don't think anything above about 80% is useable due to shake.  Some of the speeds it shakes putting a foot on the base stops it; and that is fine.

So now I am back to thinking again.  Maybe will try putting one caster in front in front and two in back.

Uhhhhhhh........

You might also give some thought to Paul's idea of a bag of cement mix on the bottom.

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I took the top apart and got the saw off.  On the floor it runs quite smooth up to about 80%.  So I have a flex problem.  Has to be flex.  I’m also thinking that having the saw mounted at approx 10* isn’t helping.  
 

So I built a torsion top.  Will mount saw to that and then to stand and see what happens tomorrow.  Then I will glue the laminated 2x4 top together.  12 2x4 wide so 18”.  Biggest anything I have ever glued.  Then flatten and if that flexes I give up!

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1 hour ago, rash_powder said:

I took the top apart and got the saw off.  On the floor it runs quite smooth up to about 80%.  So I have a flex problem.  Has to be flex.  I’m also thinking that having the saw mounted at approx 10* isn’t helping.  
 

So I built a torsion top.  Will mount saw to that and then to stand and see what happens tomorrow.  Then I will glue the laminated 2x4 top together.  12 2x4 wide so 18”.  Biggest anything I have ever glued.  Then flatten and if that flexes I give up!

I know that when a Hegner saw is mounted to the factory stand there is a tightening sequence for the bolts. I'm not sure about mounting to a home made stand.

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My Hegner is mounted on a Hegner stand.  It has certain speeds that if vibrates at and sweet spots where it runs very smooth.  In my case it could be the floor not being perfectly even or something (cement floor).  I have never worried or fussed with it because the places where it runs the smoothest are the speeds I like to use.  My Seyco sits on a homemade cabinet.  Like Ray stated, I have a 60 lb. bag of cement in the bottom of it.  It help reduce vibration quite a bit.  Maybe I am too tolerant of some vibration but to me any machine as light as a scroll saw that has a couple arms going up and down very fast will have some vibration...

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