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I wanted a quick project to try out my Hegner so I whipped this out. From a Steve Good pattern. I asked him to include a palm tree for me to fit our "beach" decor. Sadly, the brand of tissue that Barb uses is an oddball size box. Who knew? Puffs is about 1/8" bigger in one direction. I'm still lacking in knowledge of staining. I wanted it darker. Oh well...maybe next time it will fit and be the right color.

Well I think the amount of foot lazyiness on my saw,,,, I find is directly related to the amount of Irish Whiskey consumption,,, Fust skidding.. hick...!!

Something new for me….name puzzle…..teaches name, colors & shapes before pre-school…..will be making these for my grandkids, whenever that is…..1/2" sanded ply, 1/4" sanded ply for the backer.....only painted the letters.....routed the edges to eliminate sharp corners.....comments always welcomed

I also use Deft Spray Lacquer and prfer it over other brands. Available at Ace Hardware. I have had blushing/fogging problems with other brands. I see in you pic you use Krylon. Although I like Krylon for their paints, it is one of the brands I've had blushing problems with. I'm in Florida with high humidity and very high temps this time of year. I do have a small AC unit in my workshop, but temps still run well into the 80's in my small shop. Of all spray finishes, lacquer is the easiest to use as it dries quickly and provide a godd solid coating after multiple coats. Spray poly is hard to use with a long dry time and is effected by humidity. Oils do protect the wood, but they tend to allow the piece to collect dust and really require maintenance coats ove time. IMHO, unless you use a quick drying primer and paint, lacquer for natural or stained products intended for indoor use is you best choice. My Deft cans do not clog (at least they haven't ) on me. The proper proceedurre of turning the can upside down and flushing the nozzle after use is a good idea even though I haven't needed to do that.

This reminds me of a couple of churches my daddy pastored. I enjoyed cutting this pattern by @Whitley WoodWorks

Anything from Hegner is expensive. If you ordered an empty box, it would still cost you a ton plus the shipping.

Blushing is a condition where if there is excessive moisture in the atmosphere or even in the finish itself (think moisture in the compressed air of a spray gun set-up), it will cause the finish to look cloudy. The moisture gets underneath the finish and gives it a milky appearance. Sometimes it will go away as it cures. Sometimes it doesn't. I typically don't use lacquer, but am aware that it is especially sensitive to moisture. Shellac is as well, but the one time I experienced blushing, it went away on its own in a few hours.

Thanks everyone for your input! I'll try to buff it out, as per Bear Woods recent reply, and at the end of the day...use the saw as intended. It is afterall a piece of machinery that is meant to be used...like a truck! HAHA I have a buddy who does Powder Coating so if the table top gets too ugly...I give him a call. Thanks Scott McCaul

Looking at the video, the foot switch is wired directly into the speed control box... I wonder is it could be retro fitted into a control box that is on a current Hegner like mine or would one have to buy a whole new setup... that could be pretty expensive, I would think..

I honestly don't think it matters what you do.. that top coat no matter what it's coated with is going to scratch and wear over time.. possibly even with the magnetic pad on top.. Over time with vibration and just plain spinning wood on top of the surface with or without the grit.. it's going to wear off. Even the tape if you tape stacks together is going to grip into the surface at some point and time.. if you can get a paper cut from paper or tape.. it can do the same thing to that table surface.. best thing to do to keep it looking new is don't use it.. but that takes all the fun out of it. In some ways.. I like the painted surface.. mostly because I can somewhat judge how much use a saw has had when looking at used saws..

I tend to agree with Kevin. The coated surface of my EX-21 started showing signs of wear shortly after I started using it. Quite honestly, I don't care all that much. It's a tool and the table is a wear surface. I also wonder why they bother putting any coating on it. A smooth, plain metal surface with a coat of paste wax applied once in awhile is all that is needed.

My footswitch rests on the floor. It is mounted to a piece of 1/2" plywood to help keep it from sliding around. I also mounted a piece of 2x4 to the plywood base, right in front of the switch. This gives me a place to rest my heel and puts my foot at the same height as the footswitch. It seemed to be a much more comfortable and natural position for my foot. I don't experience any fatigue.

When all the grandkids would get together back in the day, this is where we would hang out. This is a Charles Dearing pattern but looks so much like the barn at my grandparents farm. It was the most fun right after the hay was cut.

I spray most all of my projects with Deft spray lacquer and never have a clog. But I don't live in a humid climate and I spray inside with a temp of 72 degrees year round. Deft might be worth a try.

Let me rephrase. Instead of using the term push perhaps i should have said rock which is a natural motion of your ankle and is the exact same operation as the standard pedals. This pedal is just like driving your car. Maintaining speed should not be a problem for most. So your saw does not need to be turned on and off by hand just by the foot switch. Same as all the other saws. Whether you take your foot off is up to you.

Welcome to the Village Scott! I'm not exactly sure how to say this but I'm not really sure WHY these saws paint the table surface.. I don't care what kind of finish you put on it.. it's going to wear off and get marked up.. No matter how you roll the dice.. nice clean smooth sanded wood being rotated on a painted surface is going to cause for friction / wear.. Does any of the top of the line scroll saws, table saws, bandsaws, or any other tool have a painted table surface? I didn't think so.. so why does ALL of these Excaliburs, Jet, King, and Pegas type saws have a painted surface? Seyco uses the magnetic sheet which also wears out but can be replaced.. The painted surface does help prevent corrosion and does give a smooth slick surface.. but in short time looks like crap.. though still protecting the metal surface. On my saw most of the paint itself is worn off but the primer coating underneath is still holding up quite well, LOL I've been considering repainting mine. I'm not a finish expert but I've worked many years with automotive finishes and I think "good quality" epoxy finishes are stronger than powder coat.. I may be wrong on that.. These saws are advertised as having a "epoxy" finished slick table top.. I'd think it'd hold up better than any other type of top coat. A Porsche is something you just drive.. lets talk pick-up trucks.. They come new with just a painted truck bed knowing full well you buy a truck to haul stuff right? Yet they have this truck bed liner stuff you can "pay extra" to keep the truck bed from getting scratched and start rusting away.. a truck is meant to be used and get ugly over time unless you do pay extra to get the line Ex coating or a plastic set in liner or rubber matt etc.. My suggestion is if you're going to " use " the saw as it is intended to and you're worried about how it looks in a year.. buy the magnetic cover / liner..

I received my Pegas last October and love it. In addition to all the above comments, especially Johnson's paste wax and circular scratches, I attached a vacuum pickup line to the bracket that previously held the hold-down foot. With the blower blowing from the left and the vacuum sucking from the right, it keeps the cut line clean and easier to see.

My Pegas sits on the Steel Pegas stand at the top of the adjusments in the back and one hole lower in the front. I sit on a stool that I had to modify the legs to get the right sitting position for me to work comfortably. When I sit on the stool my short legs do not reach the floor. So, I rest my left foot on the front horizontal cross brace of the stand. I use the HF foot switch, but needed to raise it upon some wood blocks so my right foot can reach it comfortably. The switch is mounted on a piece of 4 X4 (total 3 1/2" high) that sits on a 8" diameter disk of double thickness of 3/4" ply so the total height is 5" to the bottom of the switch. I added a piece of the rubber non-slip shelf liner on the bottom, but it is still easily moved around some such that I have to reposition it occasdionally during a cutting session. My foot does not get tired but as others mentioned, occasionally the leg/ankle will unintentioally relax, releasing the switch and the saw will stop cutting. Generally I do not need to "PUSH" down hard, I mostly just let the weight of my foot keep the pedal pressed down allowing a quick stop by just a slight lift of my foot. If a variable saw speed contol was used, the saw would have to be set at full high speed to accomodate the full range of the control. I'm affraid there would be tendancy to cut at much higher speed than is prudent. Holding a constant speed somewhere in the middle of the speed range would most likely prove difficult.

Thanks Les. It's in the pattern library under scenic. It's called Sunday Prayers.

8x10 1/8" BBply #1 Spirals No finish yet.

Steve Good pattern, I believe. Not a difficult cut, just time consuming...and we've got one of our daughter's friends staying with us for the week, so instead of one moody 12-year-old, now there's two giggly 12-year-olds with no volume control. LOL Pattern called for 1/4" bbply, I used a piece of 1x8 I had left over from building the tortoise enclosure. Used 2 Pegas MG #3 blades, stained Minwax Honey.

I thought I would try this pattern.

This takes me back about 8 years when I was trying to think what I was going to give to my wife for Valentines day. I was looking through some patterns and found this one a on a CD I had purchased and decided that that my wife might enjoy having this one for her decors. I hit the target with it, as she loved it and has it now in a prominent place in our home to this day. I also had a request for one of these from my grandson, for their wedding gift. They did not need anything for their wedding, in the way of gifts, except to maybe one of grampa's tower clocks. So this clock with always have a special place in my heart. Dick heppnerguy

Exactly My hero. Lol

Ahhhhh, come on... ahhhh,,, well you are correct.... but I love my Hegner..

I have only purchased a couple of cans of Deft from my local Ace store but when I went there a couple of weeks ago, they didn't have one single can on the shelf. I'm hoping it's just a sign of the times and it will re-appear.

Shellac also is very easy to apply with a spray can, but has some of the same issues as lacquer when it comes to temperature and humidity. Very high heat will cause dried shellac to soften and high humidity during application will cause blushing. Otherwise, it fits your criteria pretty well. I've not had problems with the nozzle clogging as long as I take rudimentary steps to keep it clean.

I have a foot pedal on my EX21 mounted on the mobile base. It is situated so that my relaxed left foot depresses the switch when I am sitting at the saw. I did not do this by design. I did not like it on the floor because it kept moving around every time the cord got bumped. I added a power strip to the back of the stand to have a convenient place to plug in my lights and turn everything on at once. As I was tying up all the wiring, I decided to mount the pedal and tie down all the wiring, so it didn't move around. Totally by accident, I came up with a workable solution for me. I was about ready to give up on foot peddles. I don't know what kind of switch it is. It came with the EX21 when I bought it. My RBI Hawk does not have a peddle, and it does not bother me to use it without one, perhaps because I used scroll saws for years without a footswitch.

Irreguaredless of how the speed is set, a "Push to ON and push to OFF switch" vs the more common "Push and hold to stay ON and Release to OFF switch" is something only an individual scroller could decide as to which is better. IMHO, I find it very important to be able to stop the saw instantaneously by the slight lift of my foot. I feel my foot would get severely tired holding it on/above the switch in anticipation of having to jab it to stop the saw. So, for me, the "hold to run" switch works very well.. When I first started to do some serious scrolling, the thing I hated most was having to switch the saw off with my hand, using the saw on/off switch. Once I installed the "hold to run" foot pedal it was soooooo much easier to control the work piece and there was much less tendancy to accidently damage the piece when stopping because I had to take my eyes of the work. For those long perimeter cuts, I find it easy to stop for a rest along the way at an apropriate point. On such long cuts my brain/eyes gets foggy keeping the blade track on line way before my foot needs a rest. Again, my leg/foot/ankle does not get tired when holding the pedal down because I have carefully arranged the pedal height such that I only have to use, nominally, slight toe down pressure along with the weight of my foot to hold it on. As the say, to each their own.

The video states that you can set the speed variably anywhere from slow to fast and once the speed is achieved you can remove your foot and the saw will maintain the speed you choose with the pedal

very nice job

I agree 100% with Frank... You could however adjust the "top" speed the foot switch would go fully pressed by adjusting the saws top speed on the dial.. then is tight corners etc. let up on the foot control when needed slower speeds? If you feel you need to slow up often.. you may be in the wrong hobby.. get yourself a sewing machine as that might be the better hobby for you,

Thanks for posting this I was looking at this bandsaw and their newer scrollsaw last night. My hawk is taking forever to get made and shipped and bandsaws are a few months from shipping. And this one has a little dust collection drawer at the bottom and that was one big thing that sold me on it. I don’t plan on using dust collection more than 115 cfm so that will help me quite a bit.

My table also scratched soon after starting use. The scratches have increased. However, it has not caused any problem but I do need to rewax on a regular schedule to maintain a nice slippery surface. The coating appears to be quite soft and just the roughness of the wood causes the scratches.

It looks great, I'm sure someone will want to buy it from you, or just tell your wife to get a different brand. Marg

It looks like you must have had some grit on the underside of your wood. The only explanation I can think of. The wood didn't cause that.

That looks good. I made a bunch of those last year for Christmas presents, but luckily I knew of the different sizes. I had done what you did the year before when making one for my wife, and learned my lesson. The next ones will be perfect. Tom

That’s sharp! Great job.

Welcome, Glad to have you join... I just spent about 4 hours visiting with a scroller from Arizona .... @heppnerguy We have, at least I have a great time every time we are able to get together... Maybe you and him live close enough it would work to meet.... Great times...

No noise makers here.. Not something I want to get into either.. Though not like CT would give me a permit anyway.

This was my first band saw box. I made it for my Mom. I asked her what she wanted for Christmas one year,, she said "not a thing". So in the drawer of the box I wrote on a little card, "Not A Thing". She's been gone now for 3 years.... The Good ol' days.

I've been working on this project for about a month. (I only get to work at scrolling about a day or day and a half per week.) The wood is from a discarded table and is MDF with veneer on both sides. It is 3/4 inches thick and very heavy. The piece is 11 x 14 and the pattern is from "Grandpa." (Thanks Paul) I cut it using Pegus MGT #3 and #5 and also some FD #5 UR. I finished it with natural oil and gave it a half dozen coats of clear gloss. I chose this piece of wood because I thought the dark and light grain in the veneer was unique but now that the project is finished I wonder if I made the right decision. The picture makes it appear to have a rough finish but it is actually very smooth. My wife works for a school and the mascot is a lion. She has already claimed it as her own and she is happy with it. I guess I should just remember the old saying, "Happy Wife, Happy Life!"

Very nice, looks peaceful.

Gorgeous cutting on a really nice pattern. Who is the designer? I'd love to cut that.

I can understand why you enjoyed cutting it. Just wonderful pattern and cutting.

Good looking saw. Let us know how it cuts!

I've made a lot of these name puzzles. I usually set my saw at a 4 degree angle so the letters go in easier. This is the font I use so I don't have to worry about islands.

All my saws get the top covered in Formica. It,s very slippery and I have the back of the saw higher than the front by 1 foot. I would like to try higher but at my age doing less is better!!!

Don't have one of these saws and took the 'hold down' off my saw when I bought it. I just wanted to say that your post did make me smile. You sounded just like a kid at Christmas... Enjoy your new toy