Leaderboard

Over 3 years ago and as a newbie, my new Sears scroll saw broke. I found a Dewalt 788 Type 1 on Craigslist and was a happy camper for a long time. How much use it had before was unknown. Over time the noise of the saw increased and I read all the threads about 788 repairs here and watch the You-tube videos on the subject a couple of times. Not being a mechanic I admit to being kind of intimidated to tackle doing a rebuild. Since new saws were not in the budget and lately CL has lots of $50.00 Craftsman, a couple of $1000 Hegners, and Dewalts at $500 and up (really?? for a used machine that is going for $490 at Home Depot?). It was time to dive into DIY repairs. I studied the videos until I almost had them memorized. Ordered sleeves from e-replacements and bearings (INA brand) from my local distributor Bearings Inc. They are less then 10 miles for me and were very helpful – great service. The job is done and the saw has quieted WAY down. Just kind of purrs. My observations: Should have done this much sooner! Not that there were any big issues, just that after 15-20 years of life everything was slightly warn. I found nothing nearly as bad as what was shown on the vids. The parts lists that are on other threads here, seem for type 2 machines and there are some differences in part numbers. If you have a Type 1, verify your part numbers. The videos show using the new bearing to push out the old one in one operation. Bearings Inc people told me to do it in two steps. Push out the old one and than install the new. Their reasoning was the the side with the part numbers on the bearings is hardened steel and the opposite side is not. Pushing on that side could deform the bearing and shorten its life. I have know idea if that is true or not. Going forward, I will be doing a disassembly and applying new grease probably every year.So my recommend that if you have a Dewalt that is less than ideal, be braver that I was and go for it. I have a like new saw at a cost of about $150 in parts.

Recently "Old Dust" posted a thread about compound cutting. I have made a few mini bird houses and really enjoyed it but Old Dust's thread renewed my interest. I remembered a book I purchased several years ago, filed it away and forgot about it. This morning I dug it out and I am curious if anyone is familiar with it and this type of compound cutting? I have not tried it. As I understand these, you cut them with the patterns provided, and when done you look at one side of piece and you see one thing, turn it and you see another. I have never seen any that have been cut other than the pictures in the book.

I had posted some work in progress pictures a while ago. Now that Mother's Day is past and the gifts have been given, I can post the final. Each heart represents a city where a child lives. They are framed in shadow boxes from Michael's so there is a little glare off the glass. This was a collaborative effort with my wife, who owns almost as much scrapbooking stuff as I own woodworking stuff.

I suppose it depends. Would I update the software? Yes. I pretty much had to do that. Being behind on software upgrades will eventually bite you. And It kinda did to me. I wasn't horribly out of date, but it was getting bad and really needed to be done. Plus, if I didn't upgrade, SSV probably would be no more. I'm going to be better with sofware updates in the future. Would I switch servers? I guess time will tell. Right now, all I can think of is how much of a PITA it was. Moving servers is always fraught with problems. I've had to do that twice before, and each time sucked. But I'm hoping this new server will fill our needs much better and I don't find any new issues. --crossing fingers--

Will be pleased to do so after receiving, set up, and a fair trial run.