trailfndr

I had this saw for a little over two years with no big issues at all. Ran well, very little vibration. The insert was the only real problem I had with it, and I simply made a new one out of MDF. Stand was fairly solid as long as the bolts were tight. I sold the saw to a friend when I bought my new Excalibur, and he is still using it after almost a year, so that's 3 years of use for under 200.00. Great saw for someone just starting out, or a on a limited budget.

They are the same saw. King bought out the com[any that built the Excalibur's, but part of the deal was to not use the Excalibur name. Its the same saw, built the same way, with the same parts, from all I have heard and can determine from my research

I have shipped many Intarsia pieces. I wrap in Bubblewrap, and pack tightly in a box so that it can not move. I have also used FedEx to ship larger pieces in what they call and Artists box. Have not had any pieces break to date.

Mine was set due to the limited space I have. I needed the saw table to be just a tad taller than the workbench next to it, and raised it accordingly. I tried the front lower option, and for me, flat is better. Everyone is different, and a lot depends on how you sit, or stand, how you cut, and your own personal comfort.

It comes in 3 widths, 18, 24, and 30 inch. I have the 24" Dust collection is great. There is an enclosed bin under the drum and it comes with a 2 1/2 inch port. Hooked it to my system and after sanding both sides of about 20 pieces of 1 1/2 x 8 inch rough sawn lumber, I had very little dust that didn't get caught. and my paper shows no sign of gumming and looks like new. The biggest difference in the three sizes is the drum itself. The 18" uses a smaller diameter drum. One of the nice things is that if you have the paper cut to length, switching from 100 grit to 220 takes about 30 seconds. And the big plus, because it keeps cool, the paper doesn't gum up, and you can reuse it many times. Company says 15-20 times taking a sheet off and putting it back on. You can also load half the drum with 100 grit, and the other half with 220 to save even more time, as long as you aren't sanding something wider than half the drum.

Finally got my new Flatmaster Sander this week, and got it assembled today. I can see many uses for it, from cleaning up the back of my Intarsia before putting the backing on, to sanding a scrollsaw piece to clean it up. Found today that it does a good job of cleaning up rough sawn lumber too. May not be perfectly even for thickness, but for Intarsia, that won't be an issue, as I sand everything when shaping. Took me about 12 passes to clean up some cedar on one side, but it beats having to pass on this less expensive lumber. This is similar to the Sand-Flee, but since I could never get anyone to answer questions from the company that sells the Sand-Flee, I opted for the Canadian version. Comes without motor, but that was no issue, as Harbor Freight sells a decent motor. Overall, the cost was still less than the sand-Flee and since the sander uses Velcro backed paper, it does not get hot, therefore no buildup on the paper, which translates to longer lasting paper.

So happy I put my shop in the basement. Took some effort to seal it from dust escaping, but while I was at it, I added insulation to sound proof it. Wife can barely hear the machines running while she is in the kitchen above me. And its so quiet, I can scroll, Sand, and run my dust collector and Air filtration while she sleeps on the second floor. Any dust that escapes, is on my person when I leave the shop, and I make it a habit to use insure that I get 90% of that off of me. Been cold here in Michigan, (in the single digits) for the last week or so.

Well, the sale was today, and thanks to advise from many of you, and a lot of encouragement, I did remarkably well. I sold 19 pieces between $45.00 and $250.00 for a total of $1600.00 in sales. Now I have to get myself back into the shop and build so I can do the next show in the spring. I was totally amazed at the response I received. I would have never believed that a craft show could produce that kind of result. I always figured that a Craft show brought in low dollar spenders, and the Art shows brought the bigger spenders. I am happy to have been proven wrong.

Dust control is a must. I NEVER hand sand. I use a belt sander, a flexible drum sander, a Dremel, and a Sanding Mop. For proper shaping, its important to understand the subject. For instance, If I am shaping a dogs face, its important for me to have a visual understanding of how it is supposed to look. I hang photos on the wall in front of my bench as I work, I can look at the pictures to see what is closer and what is further away from me, how the muzzle curves into the face, etc.. I have a dust collector connected to my machines, and a air filtration unit mounted on the ceiling that recirculates the air in my shop several times each hour. A dust mask is also a must. And as someone said...its done one piece at a time..

Dave Monk,, I need to update that profile. I used a Porter Cable for nearly 3 years, switched to and Excalibur a year ago. The Porter was a good saw, and did a fine job, I just needed a deeper throat. to many pieces need a longer cut to complete.

I definatly appreciate all the words of advise. I have been researching shows for the past year, both in person and on the internet. Square is ready and I can take Chip cards Directors chair is available, but I am not planning on taking it, (I am used to standing all day) I WILL heed Rolf's suggestion of displaying only one of any item (Thank You) Business cards are in place, and I use ALOT of them I never sign my work, However, I put a printed sticker on the back, listing the designer, and woods used. I also glue on a business card, and seal in both with Polyurathane. Prices are printed on cards next to each item I had an order book made with my company name printed along with contact info for orders Always get 50% down on orders with NO refunds after 5 days I have nice frosted plastic shopping bags (3 sizes) with stickers showing my company name and contact info attached I plan to take a cooler, and Wife will meet me there after opening in case I need to leave the booth for any reason. Someone said my display panels look professional, They ARE. While doing research I knew I needed something light, yet sturdy, and since I plan to concentrate on Art shows, professionalism is a must. I found my panels on-line for a great price used , and traveled from Michigan to Florida to get them. I will report back after the show (Dec. 3rd) I am keeping my fingers crossed for a good show.

Because I have never done a show before, and all of my display panels are new to me, I decided to set up my booth in the garage as practice and to insure that I pack everything for next weekends show. Took longer than I wanted, but most of that is due to redoing things as I found the configuration that works for me. Here are photos of what I ended up with. Next step is to tear it all down, and pack it so its ready to move for the show.

Lots of folks say that clear packing tape helps to lubricate your blades. I use it religiously over the top of the pattern on every piece I cut. It seems to help and its pretty cheap

I use a good Dust collector with a 1 micron bag, and I mounted a Jet Air filtration system to the ceiling. Since my shop is small, the filtration moves all the air in the shop several times per hour. I go thru the furnace type filters on an almost weekly basis at times. I also use a good respirator when sanding. Even with all of this, I still pick up a lot of dust upon cleaning my shop each week.

Bought a dozen to try out a month or so ago. Worked well on thin stock. Not something I would use a lot, as most of my cutting is Intarsia, but I cut a fretwork cross the other day and had no major issues. other than having to slow down my saw speed.