Axy AWFS 18

[Gill]

I consulted the gurus at t'other place as promised and they all seem to think the Hegner system is good enough for them so they're not terribly interested in the idea of developing new blade clamps. Pity.

As far as I was aware, the DeWalt 788 is no longer retailed in this country and in the US it has been re-badged as a Delta. If you say they are being sold again in the US under the DeWalt label then it would appear my info is out of date. If I was looking to buy a high quality saw now in the UK, I would certainly be considering the Excaliburs from APTC. I've never used one but the 'Murricans seem to rate them highly and price-wise they are very competitive with Hegners. That said, if you're patient there are lots of bargains to be had at online auctions. A couple of years ago I bought a little-used Hegner Multicut Quick with stand for £200. Currently, the saw with the stand retails for £1,176.

 

[Chippygeoff]

Hi Gill.

It is a shame that Axy will not refine their Hegner clone to bring it in line with the real thing but even so, for many it is still a bargain. Yes, the DeWalt is available across the pond. I was a bit curious so I had a look at some of the American sites and on average the DeWalt can be had for $468 (£297) but the carriage is a bit steep at $162 (£102) and then I expect I would have to pay VAT on top of that which is another £60 so I would be looking at almost £460 for the 788. There is no getting away from it though, it is a very fine scroll saw and many would say the best in the world.

Here in the UK we do not have much in the way of very good scroll saws, as you say Gill, there are the Hegner's and then there are the two Excalibur models which are probably as good as a Hegner but for around £500 a lot cheaper than the Hegner. I personally think the Hegner's are vastly over priced although again a very fine machine with many followers but I cannot see people paying over £1000 for one so it is a matter of looking at the auction sites. I think at the end of the day it all depends on what a person wants from a machine, if they are only an occaisional user then the cheaper saws will probably meet their needs whereas the professional user may well want a top end machine for reliability, ease of use etc. It's horses for courses and at the end of the day you get what you pay for. I have a friend coming back to me today about the DeWalt 788 he has and I may get it for around £100. Although a bargain I don't know how I would go on if it broke down and I needed a part, no doubt I would have to look to America for the solution.

 

[hawkinob]

Hi,
I have a Hegner lookalike - WMS mine is but it seems all the different names, and there are about three here in Oz, refer to the same machine - made in Taiwan.
Had mine for just over four years, and whilst I don't pretend to be a scrollsaw expert, I would recommend the machine.
A couple of points:-
The steel pin that the 'tensioning lever' turns on. Mine had no clips at either end inorder to stop it falling out, I used to remember to push it back into place until, one day, I forgot. Lost it. Replaced it with a small split pin - cut to length - no problems now.
The Hegner manual seems to offer a little extra detail, i.e. mentions adjusting for a shorter stroke (if needed). A copy can be found here :-
http://www.advmachinery.com/t-manuals.aspx
The quick change blade from Mike is not the sme as the Hegner one - Sorry but I guess is already mentioned! The Hegner one is quite expensive but I reckon is very well engineered (Mike's one is meant for a different purpose (it is handy for folks - like me - with ancient wrists) - I have both and use Mike's, to replace the knurled knob, if I find the Hegner knurled knob a bit difficult. However Mike's I've found does bend the top of a blade.) It is possible to use an Allen key in the side of the Hegner quick clamp but that sort of defeats the object!
My two bob's worth.
Bob H.
p.s. The invoice for my machine - WMS - states :- "It is a copy of the Hegner MultiCut2S"

 

[chrispuzzle]

The steel pin that the 'tensioning lever' turns on. Mine had no clips at either end inorder to stop it falling out, I used to remember to push it back into place until, one day, I forgot. Lost it. Replaced it with a small split pin - cut to length - no problems now.

I had the same issue with the pin but have avoided losing it! It's an easily replaceable thing as you say.

I don't know how it compares with a Hegner but I think the calibration on the table tilt is crude. If you wanted to do compound cutting then it would probably be a good idea to make up your own calibrated scale to be sure you were accurate. Again, a trivial job.

Otherwise I love my saw, it has cut dozens of jigsaw puzzles for me, I don't worry much about blade changes because I don't do work requiring many inside cuts. Quiet, plenty of power, very reliable.

 

[Edwin]

I've been looking at this forum for the past week because I've become interested in buying a scroll saw. The AWFS gets high praise here and everywhere I've looked. Yesterday morning an unused one appeared on eBay, I made a successful offer, and collected it in the afternoon. It has never been out of the box it was delivered in. However, I'm totally new to this and I ould like a few bits of advice. First, a dumb question. What's the best way of lifting this machine, given that it weighs 29 Kg? Obviously it would be disastrous to lift it by the top reciprocating arm, but what about the table? Second, the stand sold by Axminster and referred to in the saw manual was part of the deal. It looks to me to be too rickety and spindly to withstand the vibration that so many of your members refer to as a problem with their scroll saws. Does anybody use one, and is it OK? Third, can anyone point me to a good book that explores what a scroll saw is capable of?

I have used a lot of tools, but never a scroll saw. My immediate task is to make a small inlay of sycamore and mahogany to insert into the lower end of a guitar I'm making. The final question is, if I laid one wood on top of the other and sawed through both to cut out a shape, using the thinnest blade, would the pieces cut out be interchangeable (i.e. the mahogany cutout could go into the hole in the sycamore) and form a tolerably close joint?

I apologise for going on at such length in this first post, but I'm not likely to have much more to say for a long time.

 

[DaveyP]

Hi Edwin

Best way of lifting is from underneath with bent knees and a straight back .. lol

The stand is a bit naff but does work, however and a far better one can be constructed from 4x2

Have a look at this web page for pictures and words for the method of inlay

http://oudluthier.blogspot.com/2008/06/ ... inlay.html

 

[Edwin]

Thanks DaveyP. The luthier web page seems to have the ideal solution. I'll try it out and give the stand a whirl at the same time!

 

[DaveyP]

Your very welcome Edwin

But as with all skills /arts ..getting it 100% right only comes after lots of swearing and in our case lots of sawdust

I've seen some good examples of filled cutouts, with bronze / brass / silver and so on that look very good and are a darn sight easier to achieve... however, inlay / faux marquettery is best.

 

[chrispuzzle]

I have the stand. It is clearly not made for the machine since you have to be a bit imaginative about the placement of the bolts, and was probably designed for the lighter saws Axminster sell. Nevertheless it does the job. My machine has very little vibration.

 

[Edwin]

The question I have probably applies to any scroll saw. I want to cut a piece out of the middle of another, keeping both pieces and losing only the sawcut - say a 1" circle out of a 4" square. So I draw the circle and drill a hole somewhere on its circumference just big enough to allow the blade through. My saw, and probably others, has two correctly spaced recesses for holding the blade clamps while the blade is being fixed, but they don't allow for the possibility that the blade may have a 4" square piece of wood around it. The only solution I can think of is either (a) to mount the blade into one of the clamps before it goes through the wood and then to attach the other clamp when it's on the machine, or (b) to devise a holder independent of the machine that gives the right spacing and can accommodate any wood around the blade. How do other people deal with this?

 

[gofer]

Edwin
You fix the blade in the bottom holder, then place holder and blade in machine , thread blade through wood and fasten blade to top hloder. it works for me

 

[Edwin]

Thanks Gofer. That's more or less what I've concluded, but I'm new to this and nervous of tightening the clamps while they're in position. When I took the blade out for the first time the clamp screws were so tight I thought the Allen key could break, and that replacing them equally tightly while in position on the machine might do some damage. Maybe they were far too tight in the first place. But also, the Allen key is fiddly and I gather from other parts of the forum that it's a good idea to change to a system that doesn't need tools and is much quicker. If the grub screws were replaced with thumb screws, these would be heavier and they would be right out at the end of the arms, so I wonder if they would lead to increased vibration. I've already decided to replace the two grub screws on the blade guard and the one on the anti-kickback holder, all of which need Allen keys.

Incidentally, I've recently spent a great deal of time without success on the internet looking for a worklight with a magnetic base and a flexible neck. I'd given up, then found one by accident in a local shop (The Toolpost) and it's brilliant. It's in the Charnwood catalogue (see their web site) and costs £28. It has a turn on/off magnet and a bright, bluish light from 28 LEDs.

 

[gofer]

Edwin
I do not think replacing g screws with thump screws will make any difference to the vibration, I have removed blade guard and anti-kick holder as i found they got in the way but thats a personal choice to make.
The more you do the more confident you will come

 

[Edwin]

Thanks again. It's great to be able to "talk" to people with practical experience. I've already found the blade guard a nuisance because the plastic distorts the view, so I'll take it off. (I hope the H&E people don't read this.) At present I'm mainly drawing curved lines on thin ply and trying to follow them. The main discovery is how tight the curves can be.

 

[hawkinob]

Hi,
Try this site for a few lessons and instructions on scrollsawing, better, or at least as good as, a book. I believe you can also ask questions (via email of course). Some of the lessons contain video demonstration.

http://lumberjocks.com/scrollgirl/blog/24198

Hope it helps.
Bob H.

 

[Edwin]

Hello Bob,

Thanks for the web site reference. It looks very useful and I've got it tabbed for easy reference. I've also got a book (Scroll Saw Workshop) that takes a similar approach. I've already got much better at keeping the blade on track; at first I was scared of changing direction too quickly with such a delicate blade, and I've had to force myself to get used to the idea that that's the whole point of a scroll saw.

Next i'm going to make a more substantial stand. Also, I would like to make the blade changing a far more slick operation, but I'm not too clear from comments on the forum exactly which Hegner parts would be needed.

 

[DaveyP]

Hi Edwin

This part is what you need..

HM0450 Quick Clamp for Piercework

http://www.hegner.co.uk/catalog/search. ... rds=HM0450

Then for stage 2 ... which makes a great clamp even greaterer you want a good knob from Mike
(well its a quick lever lever that is adjustable for its parked position ... but that didn't sound quite as good as knob)

http://www.mikesworkshop.com/newprod.htm

Next week I'll be showing and telling Stage 3 and 4 which should at the very least put the Axxy into pole position, but for this ultimate tune up a bit of fettling will be required.

 

[chrispuzzle]

You're not going to fettle the knob???!

 

[DaveyP]

No Chris.... Mikes knob works well and needs no improvement

 

[Edwin]

Hi DaveyP

I've checked the references. So the only modification is that the top clamp locking screw is replaced with one that can be adjusted by hand. I had the impression that more was needed. I'll follow it up because the Allen key system is a curse, but maybe I should wait for Stages 3 and 4 and see what the "fettling" involves before I make a move.