Update on the Bauer 22 inch from HF

[Hawk]

As most of you know I picked up the Bauer 22" from HF a few weeks back. I upgraded the blade holders to the Pegas shortly thereafter. 

Started my first serious piece this week. Russ Beard's Viking Warrior ( # 2023-038).

I can say the Bauer is doing great. I'm cutting with a Flying Dutchman Polar 2/0 running at about 4 on the speed dial. On my Delta P-20 I was totally a top feed guy for projects like this, and the Bauer does fine ( especially after I upgraded to the Pegas). But in trying to venture outside my comfort zone and put the Bauer through its paces I'm doing more bottom feed on the Viking.

And I gotta say it's going pretty good. The pin at the back that holds the arm up holds it high enough that seeing the entry hole on the bottom of the piece is quite easy, even as small as they are ( using a #71 drill bit).

As you can see I have a short dowel handy to release the pin to let the upper arm drop.

All in all the Bauer is doing great!

[rjweb]

Good to hear it is workig out for you, thx for the update, RJ

[timelett]

Thanks for the update, on mine I have a block of wood I set under the arm that is high enough to raise the arm.

The saw is working great,and thanks for the original post. 

[Scrappile]

4 hours ago, timelett said:

Thanks for the update, on mine I have a block of wood I set under the arm that is high enough to raise the arm.

The saw is working great,and thanks for the original post. 

I came across this the other day when cleaning.  This is what I used for a long time.  Made for my DeWalt saw but still used it on the following Excalibur and Sako.  The last two did not need it, but I liked the feeling of extra security that the arm was not going to come down.   

No, I will not sell it, nor do I have a pattern! 

[Bill WIlson]

Glad to hear the Bauer is doing well.  It would be great for there to be a really decent, relatively affordable scroll saw to recommend to folks new to the hobby and not sure about dropping $600+ on something like the Dewalt.

[timelett]

I purchased a extra two year warranty, I figured if it would break or something I would be able to get a replacement. I don't want to rebuild a saw.

[rjweb]

How much did it cost you for the extra 2 years of warranty, thx RJ

[kmmcrafts]

2 hours ago, rjweb said:

How much did it cost you for the extra 2 years of warranty, thx RJ

I just went to the website and added it to my cart and then hitting the checkout button screen it gives me the option of 1 year for 49.99 or two years for 59.99.. For someone like me that scrolls a lot and burns through a DeWalt in one to one and a half years that might be a good deal since I can't even source the bearings to rebuild one that cheap.. I believe it cost me around $180 way back in 2014 which was the last time I rebuilt the Dewalt I had and then I sold it in 2017. The EX-21 parts cost me nearly $200 or maybe a little more than $200 back in 2020 when I rebuilt that.. I have about 550 hours run time on the hour meter on the EX-21 and have rebuilt it twice now.. and it's getting there for a third time.. Oddly enough.. 550 hours on the new Hawk I bought.. still kickin up dust like it was new.. no parts has been needed yet. 

[kmmcrafts]

Just in case anyone is planning to pick up one of these.. Black Friday coupon gives a little price break on this saw.. Enjoy

[OCtoolguy]

1 hour ago, kmmcrafts said:

I just went to the website and added it to my cart and then hitting the checkout button screen it gives me the option of 1 year for 49.99 or two years for 59.99.. For someone like me that scrolls a lot and burns through a DeWalt in one to one and a half years that might be a good deal since I can't even source the bearings to rebuild one that cheap.. I believe it cost me around $180 way back in 2014 which was the last time I rebuilt the Dewalt I had and then I sold it in 2017. The EX-21 parts cost me nearly $200 or maybe a little more than $200 back in 2020 when I rebuilt that.. I have about 550 hours run time on the hour meter on the EX-21 and have rebuilt it twice now.. and it's getting there for a third time.. Oddly enough.. 550 hours on the new Hawk I bought.. still kickin up dust like it was new.. no parts has been needed yet. 

Because Hawks and Hegners are built like tanks.

[Hawk]

1 hour ago, OCtoolguy said:

Because Hawks and Hegners are built like tanks.

Just wish top feeding were easier, that bottom blade holder it tough to feed into. Other than that, I love my Hawk!

[kmmcrafts]

6 hours ago, Hawk said:

Just wish top feeding were easier, that bottom blade holder it tough to feed into. Other than that, I love my Hawk!

Don't think you can top feed on a older Hawk and not at all on a Hegner.. The new Hawk and a Hawk G4 you can as the blade holders are out front of the angle adjustment mechanism rather than behind it. And Hawk made a lever that holds the arm down while attaching the blade specifically for top feeding. 

[BadBob]

For a Harbor Freight warranty, you can do an in-store replacement. If you break it, they give you a new one.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

9 hours ago, Hawk said:

Just wish top feeding were easier, that bottom blade holder it tough to feed into. Other than that, I love my Hawk!

I believe it is all in what you learned on. I always learned on bottom feeder saws so I find it very easy to thread blade and install in top clamp in seconds. Being able to se where to place blade in clamp is a huge advantage to me. No older Hawk saws can not be bottom fed. Neither the Hegners. I had a Dewalt for awhile and tried top feeding and that was a disaster. Fiddling under the table to find the clamp and making sure it is all the way in was a pain. I like to see what I am doing. That is why I broke very few blades. 

[rjweb]

I have an jet 22, and have always bottom feed, because that is all you can do. as far as the time it takes to do, I have all the time in the world, whats left of it, LOL. RJ

[dgman]

3 hours ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

I believe it is all in what you learned on. I always learned on bottom feeder saws so I find it very easy to thread blade and install in top clamp in seconds. Being able to se where to place blade in clamp is a huge advantage to me. No older Hawk saws can not be bottom fed. Neither the Hegners. I had a Dewalt for awhile and tried top feeding and that was a disaster. Fiddling under the table to find the clamp and making sure it is all the way in was a pain. I like to see what I am doing. That is why I broke very few blades. 

Not for me. I learned on a bottom feeding saw. When the DeWalt saw first came out, it was advertised as a top feeding saw. I so hated bottom feeding that I had to have one. I quickly learned to top feed and never went back!

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

4 hours ago, dgman said:

Not for me. I learned on a bottom feeding saw. When the DeWalt saw first came out, it was advertised as a top feeding saw. I so hated bottom feeding that I had to have one. I quickly learned to top feed and never went back!

Yea I guess we can teach ourselves new tricks. I just found bottom feeding no problem and it was quick and efficient for me. 

[Scrappile]

2 minutes ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

Yea I guess we can teach ourselves new tricks. I just found bottom feeding no problem and it was quick and efficient for me. 

Me Too!

[kmmcrafts]

Really hard to beat the price of this saw and to get that warranty so I could wear it out before the 2 years.. makes me wanna go buy one, but why? not like I need the 5th saw in my shop.. sometimes wish I could use 2 at once though, LOL..

 

The older Hawk with the round barrel clamps is definitely a no to top feeding.. I have on occasion top fed on my Ultra but it's not really user friendly at all for that and it wasn't designed to be able to so I suppose that is why. The new Hawk is pretty simple to top feed.. probably easier than my EX-21 honestly. I learned to saw with a bottom feed saw only but I can do either fairly easy after much practice, however muscle memory kicks in and I just get into a rhythm so 99.9% of the time I bottom feed.. and really only time I do top feed is on very large projects where bottom feed is more of a hassle than it needs to be, so I consciously remember to top feed then. 

[BadBob]

12 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

Really hard to beat the price of this saw and to get that warranty so I could wear it out before the 2 years.. makes me wanna go buy one, but why? not like I need the 5th saw in my shop.

I have the same feeling, but I only have two saws. If I didn't have a second saw, I probably would buy the Harbor Freight saw.

[BadBob]

I was searching for something else, and this popped up on the list.

[TAIrving]

16 hours ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

Yea I guess we can teach ourselves new tricks. I just found bottom feeding no problem and it was quick and efficient for me. 

And I found top-feeding to be no problem and it is quick and efficient for me.  

There is a trick to it for either top or bottom feeding.  It is easy once you learn the trick.  

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

3 hours ago, BadBob said:

I was searching for something else, and this popped up on the list.

I watched that video and have to say I do not know what speed he was cutting at but that saw sounded clunky. That was not a good sound. Now maybe if he speeds it up some it would go away but he had no problem cutting a thick piece of cherry at the speed he was cutting at so I assumed that was what he is accustomed to. The Pegas blade clamps would be a huge upgrade also on that saw. I guess you can call this a midlevel saw because the design fits in that category. Does it hold up, time will tell like with all saws. Needs to be proven. The warranty is what will drive this saw I believe.  That back pin has to go. Just use a block of wood. You start putting pulleys and things like that you now can cause a problem when trying to spin large pieces. Has anyone looked at saws that basically come off the same line as to that pin. Do those saws use it too. I know Dewalt did not. Might even be able to use the Jim Dandy  easy lift bar Dewalt used. Good luck to those purchasing these and after about 500 hours report back to us. 

[BadBob]

My old Hawk had a tension lever on the back, and I think the new ones also do. Once I got used to it, this was never an issue. I don't believe the pin would be a problem for me. It would simply be something new to get used to.

My Pegas and my EX-21 both have a sweet spot where the vibration is the lowest, and I run them there most of the time.

[kmmcrafts]

52 minutes ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

I watched that video and have to say I do not know what speed he was cutting at but that saw sounded clunky. That was not a good sound. Now maybe if he speeds it up some it would go away but he had no problem cutting a thick piece of cherry at the speed he was cutting at so I assumed that was what he is accustomed to. The Pegas blade clamps would be a huge upgrade also on that saw. I guess you can call this a midlevel saw because the design fits in that category. Does it hold up, time will tell like with all saws. Needs to be proven. The warranty is what will drive this saw I believe.  That back pin has to go. Just use a block of wood. You start putting pulleys and things like that you now can cause a problem when trying to spin large pieces. Has anyone looked at saws that basically come off the same line as to that pin. Do those saws use it too. I know Dewalt did not. Might even be able to use the Jim Dandy  easy lift bar Dewalt used. Good luck to those purchasing these and after about 500 hours report back to us. 

 

Based on my experience with these type of saws.. I don't think it'll be trouble free in 500 hours.. I'd say it'd probably be a miracle if it made it to 300 hours without the need for some bearings or some other part.. Maybe I've had lemons and or maybe my style of cutting or how I run the saw but I'd say around 250 - 300 ish hours you're going to start getting the bearing knocks.. One of these saws might make it much longer before they completely go to pot.. I don't know how long one could actually run one of these with the knocking and added vibration before it actually became unusable.. I've always taken them apart and cleaned / regreased or replaced parts when I get to that point.. which for me was around 250 - 300 hours on my DeWalt the two times I rebuilt it and same scenario with my Excalibur.. this is just my experience, maybe I'm harder on these than others are or maybe I got a lemon and also replacement parts were not great.. but based on my personal experience for whatever that's worth.. this is how these type saws last for how I use them.. your mileage may vary a little or a lot.. I just don't see these making it that many hours.. BTW there is a huge discrepancy in hours from those that say they are in the shop for X hours a week and actual saw runtime hours via a hour meter hooked up to the footswitch on the saw..  Type of cutting makes a huge difference in hours too.. ie if I am cutting puzzles instead of fretwork type stuff I can run 2 times the hours in a saw sitting time.. there is way more down time when swapping the blade out to the next hole to cut than one might think.. Doing fretwork it's tough to get 10 - 15 hours on a saw in a weeks time.. doing puzzles etc.. is much more easily done.