I need some help with my Excalibur!!!

[rafairchild2]

1 hour ago, Scrappile said:

Wait a minute, did I miss something. 

No.  I set the lever back (yes, I know tensioned position) to insert the top of the blade, thread the bttom of the blade through the hole, and place the top of the blade in the top of the chuck.  I have the lever back so I can see the top of the thumb/set screw. I tighten the top of the blade, I then pull the lever forward and tighten the bottom of the blade, I then push the lever back to tension. I run it for a few seconds, lever forward, loosen the top and pull up on the blade to take up any slack that occurred in the first run, re-tighten, set the lever back to tensioned.

What I am saying is before I tension after the 2nd repositioning there is no flop.  After I tension, run the saw, and untension there is way MORE flop.  Check my blade prep video further back which shows the whole process.

I do it right.

Edited March 5 by rafairchild2

[rafairchild2]

9 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

Well, I would take it apart and inspect the bearings and sleeves to see what you can find.

Well, I took off the Pegas, and put on the Excal chuck, same results.  When I put the Pegas back on I inspected the bearings and sleeves and all looked fine.  I did add some lithium grease before getting everything back together.

Do you have tear-down instructions on the large knob at the back of the saw? I am thinking of adding a little lock-tight to it. I noticed with all this testing, that it loosened a little bit, which could be the source of the blade slop.  I usually did not have to adjust it, other than when I did my monthly preventative maintenance. 

The thing is, when this issue cropped up, that was one of the first things I checked and I was only a hair over a mm difference front to back. it might be running at 100% and was enough to loosen it.  I never run the saw that fast.

Edited March 5 by rafairchild2

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, rafairchild2 said:

Well, I took off the Pegas, and put on the Excal chuck, same results.  When I put the Pegas back on I inspected the bearings and sleeves and all looked fine.  I did add some lithium grease before getting everything back together.

Do you have tear-down instructions on the large knob at the back of the saw? I am thinking of adding a little lock-tight to it. I noticed with all this testing, that it loosened a little bit, which could be the source of the blade slop.  I usually did not have to adjust it, other than when I did my monthly preventative maintenance. 

The thing is, when this issue cropped up, that was one of the first things I checked and I was only a hair over a mm difference front to back. it might be running at 100% and was enough to loosen it.  I never run the saw that fast.

The closest thing I have to any instructions is just the topic where I rebuilt my saw with the Seyco arms etc.. I did this repair prior to the rebuild but I can't remember if I did any write-up or photos on that one and i couldn't find the topic for it. I added the loc-tite again while I had the saw apart for the new link arm system and took a few pictures of what the parts look like etc.. 

I will say the first time I did it I didn't take the saw completely apart and it was a bugger of a job to do.. The hardest part was getting access to the jam nut on the bottom side of the rod. However I didn't take the back plastic section that is under the knob all the way off so that probably hindered my process of accessing that part. I was trying to not have to take more off than needed but in hindsight I think it'd be easier to remove whatever you have to to do the job.. It came apart a lot easier than trying to get the jam nut started back into the threads of the rod. I had to use some real long needle nose pliers to reach it from the front of the saw, LOL..

Anyway check out this rebuild thread..  Also someone recently ( I think it was Ray ) posted a Youtube video of how to rebuild a Excalibur.. You might try searching for that posting or maybe search YouTube for it. I'll try to answer any questions you might have in the process but it's been some years now that I worked on mine. 

 

[rafairchild2]

10 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

 

Anyway check out this rebuild thread..  

 

Yes, I had actually book marked your thread over a year ago!!

I also saw your images.. Oooofffaaaa!  I am not in the mood to disassemble just to add lock-tite!

I am pretty sure I do not have wear issues, as I did not have to adjust it much.  it has held well, but you never know.

I have been searching for the video your mentioned, but no-joy. Are there any service manuals?  What I found is not really a breakdown of the unit.  I am surprised at how hard it is to find information.  Wish there was a singular source.

After getting the Pegas chucks back on, I went through things again on my unit, and hopefully fixed the 'slop' issue.  I am not sure if the high speed tests made the knob loosen or not, or my going through the bearings helped.. or not...

By the time I got everything done and posted, it was bed time for me.  I am up at 0300, so it is early to bed.  I will try some cuts today and see  what's, what.

Edited March 6 by rafairchild2

[rafairchild2]

Hopefully, people will find this thread useful four years down the line like yours Kevin.  At least for the different preventive maintenance items to check.  Comparing Excal chucks to the Pegas.  I wish now when I was videoing that I did one on the chuck swap, so there is a clear record of how to do that.  Maybe, I will do that this weekend if I have time.

You have to wonder how much longer the Chinese Excal will still be sold.  There are a lot out there already and many used ones coming up on the 2nd hand market. So maintenance and repair help needs to be centralized. 

Edited March 6 by rafairchild2

[kmmcrafts]

50 minutes ago, rafairchild2 said:

Hopefully, people will find this thread useful four years down the line like yours Kevin.  At least for the different preventive maintenance items to check.  Comparing Excal chucks to the Pegas.  I wish now when I was videoing that I did one on the chuck swap, so there is a clear record of how to do that.  Maybe, I will do that this weekend if I have time.

You have to wonder how much longer the Chinese Excal will still be sold.  There are a lot out there already and many used ones coming up on the 2nd hand market. So maintenance and repair help needs to be centralized. 

Found the video, I knew it wasn't that long ago that it was posted so I just went page by page until I found the title. 

 

[rafairchild2]

6 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

Found the video, I knew it wasn't that long ago that it was posted 

 

Duhhh, I should have gone to Steve's page.  He has been a great resource to the scrolling community. 

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, rafairchild2 said:

Duhhh, I should have gone to Steve's page.  He has been a great resource to the scrolling community. 

I don't know Steve I guess.. but he did an amazing job with the rebuild video. I wanted to do video but I had no way of holding my phone and working at the same time, LOL. I need to get some video type equipment to be able to do that sort of thing. I work on a lot of various brands of saws, cnc's and lasers.. everything in between. Not to mention car repair stuff and other puttering around, LOL.. Not to change subject but I seen you have some decent videos. what type of stands and cameras does one need to do this stuff. LOL, I struggle because I like to just get to it and get a job done and feel as though fooling with camera set up just takes way more time than needed.. yet I'd like to be able to do this sort of thing too, LOL Life struggles, LOL

[rafairchild2]

2 minutes ago, kmmcrafts said:

 I wanted to do video but I had no way of holding my phone and working at the same time, LOL. I need to get some video type equipment to be able to do that sort of thing. 

Start with a cheap tripod and a cellphone clamp, and you are golden.  Then you can work up like my videos with 2 cameras plus the one in the laptop.  I can now inset myself in another video feed and also do split screens, like my workbench and scroll saw 50/50%.

My cameras were left over when I was filming my Apache Helicopter radar training classes for the Army. 

Edited March 6 by rafairchild2

[rafairchild2]

3 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

 Not to change subject but I seen you have some decent videos. what type of stands and cameras does one need to do this stuff. LOL, I struggle because I like to just get to it and get a job done and feel as though fooling with camera set up just takes way more time than needed.. yet I'd like to be able to do this sort of thing too, LOL Life struggles, LOL

I have a laptop on a cart.($120) I use the built-in camera for when I decide to show up on the camera

My main video camera focusing on the scroll saw is on a small boom stand ($20) clamped to the right side of the laptop cart, and I am using a 7-year-old Canon VIXIA HF R800 Full HD Camcorder ($350).  My other is a cheap chinese knockoff video camera ($200) for my workbench, that I can move to see my drill press and router.  Now that I have my table jigsaw and 1x20" belt +disc sander on the same cart I can pivot the camera to that.  This camera is on a tripod ($30), any sturdy one will do.  I also use a mic pac, using the lapel microphone.  This gives me the best audio, ($45)

[OCtoolguy]

4 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

I don't know Steve I guess.. but he did an amazing job with the rebuild video. I wanted to do video but I had no way of holding my phone and working at the same time, LOL. I need to get some video type equipment to be able to do that sort of thing. I work on a lot of various brands of saws, cnc's and lasers.. everything in between. Not to mention car repair stuff and other puttering around, LOL.. Not to change subject but I seen you have some decent videos. what type of stands and cameras does one need to do this stuff. LOL, I struggle because I like to just get to it and get a job done and feel as though fooling with camera set up just takes way more time than needed.. yet I'd like to be able to do this sort of thing too, LOL Life struggles, LOL

I watch a ton of youtube and am amazed at how much work goes into making videos. It seems like an awful lot of GoPros are being used. I don't have the patience for it.

[kmmcrafts]

41 minutes ago, OCtoolguy said:

I watch a ton of youtube and am amazed at how much work goes into making videos. It seems like an awful lot of GoPros are being used. I don't have the patience for it.

Yeah, I'm kind of thinking the same.. I'm not sure I would have the patients for it. Plus I have a heck of a time just loading up a 1-3 minute video to any of the social sites.. or my Youtube.. due to my crappy internet service which is a bigger reason why I don't do much video.. that's the one downside to living in the boonies.. That said, last year they worked on running or preparing to run fiber optic lines and talked to the guys working.. they said late this spring they hope to have it running off those lines.. so maybe fingers crossed I'll have something with more than the 2gig upload speed, LOL.. Even my cell phone is faster than my home internet. LOL

[rafairchild2]

So my hunch is that the tension knob at the back of the saw is coming loose.

If you remember during the troubleshooting process, one of the first things done was making sure that the arm/table was parallel adjusting the rear knob to within 1 mm.  But when running the speed test after tensioning with the lever, after running the saw and untensioning, the blade 'flopped' much more than what it was prior to flipping the lever back on the pre-tension.  I said in the video the arm and the table are losing parallel. Sure enough, the arm dropped past parallel.

To test that, I added a step before flipping the lever back in the test yesterday, and that was tightening the knob in the back, or at least checking, as I know the feel of how tight it should be.  Sure enough zero flop after running and flipping the lever forward.  Test cut when very well. I did a small horse with various turns. Nailed the lines.

So that is why I say that is the culprit.

My solution temporarily... will be to check the knob frequently.  Next, will be adding some lock-tite, finally replacing the knob.

Sucks that this would wear in a years time.

Regardless, I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my 30" Pegas.  I am going to buy and modify a US General Service cart this weekend and have it ready.

 

[kmmcrafts]

2 hours ago, rafairchild2 said:

So my hunch is that the tension knob at the back of the saw is coming loose.

If you remember during the troubleshooting process, one of the first things done was making sure that the arm/table was parallel adjusting the rear knob to within 1 mm.  But when running the speed test after tensioning with the lever, after running the saw and untensioning, the blade 'flopped' much more than what it was prior to flipping the lever back on the pre-tension.  I said in the video the arm and the table are losing parallel. Sure enough, the arm dropped past parallel.

To test that, I added a step before flipping the lever back in the test yesterday, and that was tightening the knob in the back, or at least checking, as I know the feel of how tight it should be.  Sure enough zero flop after running and flipping the lever forward.  Test cut when very well. I did a small horse with various turns. Nailed the lines.

So that is why I say that is the culprit.

My solution temporarily... will be to check the knob frequently.  Next, will be adding some lock-tite, finally replacing the knob.

Sucks that this would wear in a years time.

Regardless, I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my 30" Pegas.  I am going to buy and modify a US General Service cart this weekend and have it ready.

 

Well I'm glad you figured that out.. That was my first hunch because it happen to me and then when I posted a message about it I discovered there were a whole lot of others that had the same issue.. Ray at Seyco told me it's very common with these type of saws.. Even if you lower the arm gently, you have to remember that putting tension to the blade is also pulling tension onto those threads. Over time it puts some wear on those threads and depending on how close the tolerances of the threads are in the beginning might determine how long they last. 

At $55 + shipping for the parts. I opted to just try blue loc-tite and see how that went.. I'm still running the original part. I put loc - tite on before the rebuild I did but while I had it all apart I also redid the loc-tite. There are a ton of folks out there that just wrapped a rubber band around the knob or something and made it hold the position with good results too.   

[rafairchild2]

HOLY HOT TAMALE'!!!!

Ordered my Pegas 30" saw Tuesday.  SAME DAY.... shipped via UPS... It arrives TODAY!!!!  2-days!

Should I complain how fast the shipping and delivery is?  

[Scrappile]

Well that is one way to fix a problem.  I envy you and your new saw,  I'm sure you will love it.

[OCtoolguy]

7 hours ago, rafairchild2 said:

So my hunch is that the tension knob at the back of the saw is coming loose.

If you remember during the troubleshooting process, one of the first things done was making sure that the arm/table was parallel adjusting the rear knob to within 1 mm.  But when running the speed test after tensioning with the lever, after running the saw and untensioning, the blade 'flopped' much more than what it was prior to flipping the lever back on the pre-tension.  I said in the video the arm and the table are losing parallel. Sure enough, the arm dropped past parallel.

To test that, I added a step before flipping the lever back in the test yesterday, and that was tightening the knob in the back, or at least checking, as I know the feel of how tight it should be.  Sure enough zero flop after running and flipping the lever forward.  Test cut when very well. I did a small horse with various turns. Nailed the lines.

So that is why I say that is the culprit.

My solution temporarily... will be to check the knob frequently.  Next, will be adding some lock-tite, finally replacing the knob.

Sucks that this would wear in a years time.

Regardless, I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my 30" Pegas.  I am going to buy and modify a US General Service cart this weekend and have it ready.

 

Wrap a wide rubber band a couple of times around the shaft below the knob and stretch it down to one of the screws on the side. If it's long enough you can wrap it around the motor. I've done that to mine and it puts just enough drag on that shaft to keep it from turning. 

[rafairchild2]

3 hours ago, Scrappile said:

Well that is one way to fix a problem.  I envy you and your new saw,  I'm sure you will love it.

Thanks.  A stellar sales and delivery.  Just waiting for someone to help me lift it onto the cart.

But I want to know who was the genius that thought it was a good idea to stick a big ass sticker on the cutting table?  A bit of it would not peel off, so I got stuck using a plastic scraper.  Still residue on the table.

 

Edited March 7 by rafairchild2

[Scrappile]

Yep that is not real smart.  Try some Mineral spirits.. in a small spot...I think it will remove the label and glue without affecting the paint...is the underneath of the table the same finish?  if so try it there.  Again congrats. I think your are going to love that saw.

Edited March 7 by Scrappile

[rafairchild2]

Took my time setting it up on the cart.  Nice and stable got my table angle (higher in back) set, leveled the table and arm side to side, checked and adjusted the arm to table from to back.  Got the blade 90 degrees to the table.  Ran my power cables nice and neat with wire clips and such.

MAN!  When I first turned it on, it was so bloody quiet and smooth.  You can hear and feel the difference of better materials! WOWZER!!

Did a simple cut just to make some sawdust.  

Now to figure out how I want to place the cart and plumb it all into my dust collection system and move my top vac line and hose over.

[rjweb]

Very nice set up, enjoy your new toy, that was fast delivery where did you purchase from, RJ

[Scrappile]

great set up. looks like that cart was built for it

[rafairchild2]

5 minutes ago, rjweb said:

Very nice set up, enjoy your new toy, that was fast delivery where did you purchase from, RJ

Got it from Bearwoods, no sales tax saved me ~$75.00.  They ship from NJ, so it is a quick drive down thru Delaware, Maryland, down the Eastern Shore over the 22-mile Chesapeake Bay bridge-tunnel, and 4 miles to my house!

[rafairchild2]

8 minutes ago, Scrappile said:

great set up. looks like that cart was built for it

Yeah, I bought that cart last weekend (US General), and had it all set up for my sander and table jig saw.  Figure tomorrow or Saturday, I'll buy another and get those back up on it.  I had that red one all wired and such, so it made sense since I wanted to get this thing working fast.

[rafairchild2]

I got my stickers on both sides for videos!   Mounted my magnifying light.

I just started plumbing in my bottom and top vac.  I'll use the loc-line from my drill press for the top, as it has similar fittings to my top vac on my Excal.  I have something else for my drill press.

The goal is to make this totally portable in the shop.  Just one electric cable to an outlet and one vac line that splits for top and bottom vacs.

When I am done this weekend, I'll start another thread and post pics.  Maybe others will want to set up saws like this.