AES
Established Member
Well Ladies & Gents, AES finally “bit the bullet”!
It was my birthday a few weeks back (the big seven oh! - but apart from my back problems I can hardly believe it). My lovely Lady agreed with my request that as part of the celebrations we visit Munich which is less than 4 hours drive for us.
There were several reasons for this destination, not the least of which was the opportunity to visit Dictum GmbH “mehr als wekzeuge” (i.e. more than tools). I had contacted them beforehand (their English is better than my German!) and when we arrived, set up waiting for me to try out was a Hegner Multi Cut-SE at one end of the bench and an Excalibur EC 21 CE at the other. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but just in case I brought along several bits & pieces of pattern already mounted on various types & thicknesses of wood – and even a couple of bits of shim brass & steel. To my surprise, I was left alone to get on with it – help if I wanted it but otherwise I could play for as long as I liked, no pressure at all. I ended up with over an hour on each machine and my wife had a little go too.
Despite the frequent advice from members of this Forum I eventually settled on the Excalibur. Reasons?
1. The Hegner undoubtedly felt to be the “better” machine – the Excali was certainly low on vibrations (especially compared with my cheapo Einhell!), but the Hegner was even better, and overall just felt to be “a better machine”;
2. Against that, although I’m sure that I would get used to blade changing on the Hegner, I found it a bit of a fiddle during that hour trial, whereas I was changing blades “like a profi” within the first 10 minutes (tool-less) during the Excali trial;
3. Using the same blade on each (very fine jeweller’s blades that I’d brought with me) the Excali seemed to do a better job of cutting 15 thou brass and 30 thou steel (both Imperial measurements - suitably sandwiched between thin scrap ply). That feature is important to me;
4 I’m not sure how important it will turn out to be for me, but the tilting head on the Excali is wonderful – both convenient and accurate as well as very comfortable - especially compared with any tilting table saw I’ve used (including the trial Hegner);
5. Most Forum members seem to feel that although VERY good machines, Hegners prices, both for machines and for any spares needed, are simply too high these days. In this case my Excali was a little over 100 Euros cheaper than the Hegner I tried – for a bigger (capacity) machine with an (arguably) better overall spec. Although clearly labelled as made in Taiwan, a very close look at the Excali showed no lack of quality of engineering or materials when compared to the Hegner. Time will of course tell, but to confirm one of the points Chippy Geoff posted a while back, my table is already beginning to mark slightly after very little use so far – clearly some sort of self-adhesive plastic film or a birch ply sub table will be needed soon;
6. Although IMHO very silly very large and non-standard size, the dust extraction port of the Excali is a lot better than on the Hegner. A bit of work with some scrap ply (the first job I did on the Excali when back home) solved the dust port to vacuum hose fit problem. However it is still rather large and bulky under the table, but as you’ll seee in my pics, I get away with it OK on my sawing table (just!). But it does work well, and about the only dust not efficiently extracted is a small pile under the table, mostly on and around the head angle adjustment knob. You might just spot some in the pics.
About the only other comments I have are reference Dictum and General International (the Excali makers).
Dealing with Dictum was an absolute pleasure and I got the feeling that even if I had not been spending a relatively large sum I would still have been welcomed with open arms. Their shop in Munich is not quite as large as it looks on their web site video but is very well stocked, is clean and tidy, and even includes a comfortable sitting area with free coffee and books and mags to browse (both woodworking and non). They even pay your multi-storey car park fee. A great shopping experience for both of us.
However although clearly knowledgeable and enthusiastic woodies, the people I dealt with are clearly not scroll saw specialists. I asked about an optional foot switch and they didn’t know anything about it. Indeed the manual included with the saw (German and French only) does not mention a foot switch as an option – just the table/stand which I didn’t want. It was only when I got my own saw home that I found an English manual “hidden” under the thick ply packing base. (Of course I found that only AFTER I had visited the General International web site and downloaded and printed out the .pdf English manual!).
I therefore E-mailed General International asking about the availability of the foot switch here, and whether I could use it on our 220 Volts mains here in Switzerland – I know the US uses 110 Volts but can’t remember if Canada uses 110 or 220 Volts.
Anyway, I’m disappointed to say that despite a total of 3 messages spread over 2 weeks, all sent to the Customer Service E-mail address shown in the manual and on their web site, I have received precisely NIL reply!
I find that very disappointing for a company manufacturing a range of machines which can hardly be described as “cheap and cheeful”.
That’s rather dulled my pleasure in the whole thing I’m afraid, and at present I’m in 2 minds as to whether or not to follow up with Dictum or to use my Skype and call the non-responding “Customer Non-Service” people in Montreal. We’ll see, and if anyone’s interested I’ll advise the final outcome.
I hope the above is of some interest and not too “windy”. Please remember I am far from being a Scroll saw expert, but if anyone has any remarks or questions I’ll be pleased to respond.
It’ll take me a little while yet, probably after my next hospital stay, but I hope to post a couple of “look what I’ve made” items here in future.
Meantime, thanks to so many members here for all the info and inspiration freely shared.
Krgds
AES
It was my birthday a few weeks back (the big seven oh! - but apart from my back problems I can hardly believe it). My lovely Lady agreed with my request that as part of the celebrations we visit Munich which is less than 4 hours drive for us.
There were several reasons for this destination, not the least of which was the opportunity to visit Dictum GmbH “mehr als wekzeuge” (i.e. more than tools). I had contacted them beforehand (their English is better than my German!) and when we arrived, set up waiting for me to try out was a Hegner Multi Cut-SE at one end of the bench and an Excalibur EC 21 CE at the other. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but just in case I brought along several bits & pieces of pattern already mounted on various types & thicknesses of wood – and even a couple of bits of shim brass & steel. To my surprise, I was left alone to get on with it – help if I wanted it but otherwise I could play for as long as I liked, no pressure at all. I ended up with over an hour on each machine and my wife had a little go too.
Despite the frequent advice from members of this Forum I eventually settled on the Excalibur. Reasons?
1. The Hegner undoubtedly felt to be the “better” machine – the Excali was certainly low on vibrations (especially compared with my cheapo Einhell!), but the Hegner was even better, and overall just felt to be “a better machine”;
2. Against that, although I’m sure that I would get used to blade changing on the Hegner, I found it a bit of a fiddle during that hour trial, whereas I was changing blades “like a profi” within the first 10 minutes (tool-less) during the Excali trial;
3. Using the same blade on each (very fine jeweller’s blades that I’d brought with me) the Excali seemed to do a better job of cutting 15 thou brass and 30 thou steel (both Imperial measurements - suitably sandwiched between thin scrap ply). That feature is important to me;
4 I’m not sure how important it will turn out to be for me, but the tilting head on the Excali is wonderful – both convenient and accurate as well as very comfortable - especially compared with any tilting table saw I’ve used (including the trial Hegner);
5. Most Forum members seem to feel that although VERY good machines, Hegners prices, both for machines and for any spares needed, are simply too high these days. In this case my Excali was a little over 100 Euros cheaper than the Hegner I tried – for a bigger (capacity) machine with an (arguably) better overall spec. Although clearly labelled as made in Taiwan, a very close look at the Excali showed no lack of quality of engineering or materials when compared to the Hegner. Time will of course tell, but to confirm one of the points Chippy Geoff posted a while back, my table is already beginning to mark slightly after very little use so far – clearly some sort of self-adhesive plastic film or a birch ply sub table will be needed soon;
6. Although IMHO very silly very large and non-standard size, the dust extraction port of the Excali is a lot better than on the Hegner. A bit of work with some scrap ply (the first job I did on the Excali when back home) solved the dust port to vacuum hose fit problem. However it is still rather large and bulky under the table, but as you’ll seee in my pics, I get away with it OK on my sawing table (just!). But it does work well, and about the only dust not efficiently extracted is a small pile under the table, mostly on and around the head angle adjustment knob. You might just spot some in the pics.
About the only other comments I have are reference Dictum and General International (the Excali makers).
Dealing with Dictum was an absolute pleasure and I got the feeling that even if I had not been spending a relatively large sum I would still have been welcomed with open arms. Their shop in Munich is not quite as large as it looks on their web site video but is very well stocked, is clean and tidy, and even includes a comfortable sitting area with free coffee and books and mags to browse (both woodworking and non). They even pay your multi-storey car park fee. A great shopping experience for both of us.
However although clearly knowledgeable and enthusiastic woodies, the people I dealt with are clearly not scroll saw specialists. I asked about an optional foot switch and they didn’t know anything about it. Indeed the manual included with the saw (German and French only) does not mention a foot switch as an option – just the table/stand which I didn’t want. It was only when I got my own saw home that I found an English manual “hidden” under the thick ply packing base. (Of course I found that only AFTER I had visited the General International web site and downloaded and printed out the .pdf English manual!).
I therefore E-mailed General International asking about the availability of the foot switch here, and whether I could use it on our 220 Volts mains here in Switzerland – I know the US uses 110 Volts but can’t remember if Canada uses 110 or 220 Volts.
Anyway, I’m disappointed to say that despite a total of 3 messages spread over 2 weeks, all sent to the Customer Service E-mail address shown in the manual and on their web site, I have received precisely NIL reply!
I find that very disappointing for a company manufacturing a range of machines which can hardly be described as “cheap and cheeful”.
That’s rather dulled my pleasure in the whole thing I’m afraid, and at present I’m in 2 minds as to whether or not to follow up with Dictum or to use my Skype and call the non-responding “Customer Non-Service” people in Montreal. We’ll see, and if anyone’s interested I’ll advise the final outcome.
I hope the above is of some interest and not too “windy”. Please remember I am far from being a Scroll saw expert, but if anyone has any remarks or questions I’ll be pleased to respond.
It’ll take me a little while yet, probably after my next hospital stay, but I hope to post a couple of “look what I’ve made” items here in future.
Meantime, thanks to so many members here for all the info and inspiration freely shared.
Krgds
AES
