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Bolting a Scroll Saw down.


Scrappile

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I have been contemplating bolting my scroll saw stand to the floor.  I have the bolts, but have hesitated doing it because of the thought we need to move some day in the near future.  I did not want to drill holes in the concrete floor, but on the other hand.  Why not?  If someone else buys the place, three hole will not make a difference.  If they use the space for something other than a work shop they will want to cover the floor anyway.   The other hesitation is well it make a difference.  My saw (Hegner) has a few spots with vibration and some sweet spots with none.  Not sure bolting it down will change that.  Has anyone seen a noticable difference between bolted to the floor or no?  

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Paul, my experience with 3 different Hegner saws was that they all liked sitting unbolted on the H/F foam floor mats. I also found that the order in which the 3 bolts that hold it to the stand are tightened made a difference. If I recall, tightening the two rear bolts first and the the single front bolt made a big difference. I'd tighten the two rears a little at a time until tight. Then the front one. I have no experience with bolting the stand to the floor. I don't have concrete floors.

On a side note, you mentioned selling your home. We bought our last house in 92 for $250k. We sold it in 07 for $640k. It just sold again for $1.5 mil. A simple tract home of 1900 sq ft and a 3 car garage that sold new in 65 for $25k. Things are nuts here. Property taxes on it for the new buyers will start at $15k/yr.

 

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That's strange to me that your Hegner has some vibration, I get that it's mostly smooth but those couple of sweet spots that get the shakes.. That said, all three of my Hawks had the shakes in certain spots on the speed dial.. the smoothest running one being the oldest one that I sold.. But for those three saws the oldest also had a shelf within the legs of the stand framed with aluminum angle. I went and finally built a shelf for the newest saw and that sure made a difference so going to do that with the other Hawk as well.. The Hawk stands don't have any braces in the legs like most stands have.. so I think that is more of the issue with those saws..

Now for my Hegner, don't know what model you have but mine is a Multimax 18 made in 2002 or was it 2012, I can't remember now anyway, I have the saw bolted to the hegner stand and that saw is probably the smoothest saw I've ever had through all the gears.. Do you have the factory Hegner stand? That stand is full of braces and solid..and having the 3 legs rather than 4 is good even on slightly uneven floors. 

I used to have a old Dremel model 1800 scroll saw years ago and that thing was pretty bad.. enough that I looked for options to help, even though it was bolted to the factory stand which was a pretty solid stand. I ended up running across a post that mentioned putting a piece of carpet padding between the saw and the stand then bolting it down bit not tight.. just snug it up, then run the saw through the variable speed settings while tightening up the bolts just a small amount on each bolt at a time and finally I was able to get that saw pretty close to as smooth as any of the other saws I've had.. Might be something to try.

I've never bolted my saws or any of the tools to the floor for easy of moving and being able to clean up better around them.. But been some break-ins around the "somewhat" area getting too close to my area.. Take someone a lot longer to steal my tools if they're bolted down.. 😂 My concrete slab cost almost as much as the whole shop did so I've been hesitant to drill holes in it, LOL..

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2 hours ago, OCtoolguy said:

Paul, my experience with 3 different Hegner saws was that they all liked sitting unbolted on the H/F foam floor mats. I also found that the order in which the 3 bolts that hold it to the stand are tightened made a difference. If I recall, tightening the two rear bolts first and the the single front bolt made a big difference. I'd tighten the two rears a little at a time until tight. Then the front one. I have no experience with bolting the stand to the floor. I don't have concrete floors.

On a side note, you mentioned selling your home. We bought our last house in 92 for $250k. We sold it in 07 for $640k. It just sold again for $1.5 mil. A simple tract home of 1900 sq ft and a 3 car garage that sold new in 65 for $25k. Things are nuts here. Property taxes on it for the new buyers will start at $15k/yr.

 

Wow! I'm always amazed to hear home prices in other parts of the country/world. Mine is nothing fancy at all, but nice enough for me. 3 bedroom, brick, 1,800 sq ft on 1/2 acre. We paid 49,000 in 90 and it might be worth around $200,000 now. Hard to imagine a 1900 sq ft house bringing 1.5 mil for us Alabama folks. :) 

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12 hours ago, OCtoolguy said:

Paul, my experience with 3 different Hegner saws was that they all liked sitting unbolted on the H/F foam floor mats. I also found that the order in which the 3 bolts that hold it to the stand are tightened made a difference. If I recall, tightening the two rear bolts first and the the single front bolt made a big difference. I'd tighten the two rears a little at a time until tight. Then the front one. I have no experience with bolting the stand to the floor. I don't have concrete floors.

On a side note, you mentioned selling your home. We bought our last house in 92 for $250k. We sold it in 07 for $640k. It just sold again for $1.5 mil. A simple tract home of 1900 sq ft and a 3 car garage that sold new in 65 for $25k. Things are nuts here. Property taxes on it for the new buyers will start at $15k/yr.

 

I have a Hegner stand, but mine must be s different model than yours, I Mine has two legs in the front one in the rear.

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Every saw I have owned, DeWalt, Excalibur, Seyco, and Hegner have had sweet spots and not so sweet spots. All my saws but the Hegner lived on home made stands.  My Hegner is on a mat.  Maybe I'll try the shelf/weight first, thanks.  I did have a cement bag in the bottom of the stands for my other saws. Sand may be better than cement.

Speeking of homes, I borrowed $50K to build my home in 1980.  That included the septic tank install and well drilled/pump install.  The land was separate, 5 acers for 19K.  I complain about my property taxes, but got an eye opener when we started looking a homes in town.  Property taxes in city limits are like paying a morgage.  I do not know how people do it.  But still they will vote to pass every bond issue on the ballet and then complain about the taxes. 

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I struggled with vibrations while using my Hegner for some time.  It turned out to be too much flex in the stand I built for it causing the vibrations to basically amplify themselves and it would SHAKE.  I built a new cabinet stand for it from 2x4 and bolted a 2x4 butcher block style top to it, then the saw to that.  Its quite smooth now.  

You didn't say what stand you are using for your saw, so first be sure that it is absolutely rigid.  Then make it heavier, and if that does not work bolt it to the floor.  3 concrete anchors will sink fast and easy with a hammer drill.  Drive them in and then bolt it down and it won't move.  Once properly installed though, concrete anchors will not come out; they would have to be covered to hide them.  

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On 10/4/2023 at 8:31 PM, OCtoolguy said:

Paul, my experience with 3 different Hegner saws was that they all liked sitting unbolted on the H/F foam floor mats. I also found that the order in which the 3 bolts that hold it to the stand are tightened made a difference. If I recall, tightening the two rear bolts first and the the single front bolt made a big difference. I'd tighten the two rears a little at a time until tight. Then the front one. I have no experience with bolting the stand to the floor. I don't have concrete floors.

On a side note, you mentioned selling your home. We bought our last house in 92 for $250k. We sold it in 07 for $640k. It just sold again for $1.5 mil. A simple tract home of 1900 sq ft and a 3 car garage that sold new in 65 for $25k. Things are nuts here. Property taxes on it for the new buyers will start at $15k/yr.

 

Is this why people are leaving California in droves? I've seen a lot in the news about California folks moving to Colorado and Austin Texas. 

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On 10/4/2023 at 3:30 PM, Scrappile said:

I have been contemplating bolting my scroll saw stand to the floor.  I have the bolts, but have hesitated doing it because of the thought we need to move some day in the near future.  I did not want to drill holes in the concrete floor, but on the other hand.  Why not?  If someone else buys the place, three hole will not make a difference.  If they use the space for something other than a work shop they will want to cover the floor anyway.   The other hesitation is well it make a difference.  My saw (Hegner) has a few spots with vibration and some sweet spots with none.  Not sure bolting it down will change that.  Has anyone seen a noticable difference between bolted to the floor or no?  

I'm curious about this too. I'm not having any issues with my Hegner but I have often wondered if bolting it down to the floor would change anything. 

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7 minutes ago, James E. Welch said:

Fair enough. I wasn't thinking of it as politics but I see your point. I was just thinking cost of living but I suppose that goes back to politics too. I'll shut up before I get into trouble on here. 🤣

Yeah, I got in hot water a couple of years back for talking about California's problems. Maybe it is ok in Coffee Shop. Not sure. But whatever you've heard is probably true.

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1 hour ago, rjweb said:

I live in Texas, and we have been seeing a lot of people coming from California to settle in Texas, they say the house prices are cheaper, RJ

Just about anywhere in the world would be cheaper. Even if you could afford the price of the house, the taxes would eat you alive. Starting at just over 1% of selling price. Then a 2% increase on that amount each and every year. Or more.

 

 

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