Yeah, I have one - a mid-size Excalibur, called 21 (the table is actually 23.5 inches front to back, the actual throat dimension is 25.5 inches).
Before buying my saw (70th birthday pressie from my good lady) I did a lot quite a lot of research. I also tried my machine alongside a Hegner and chose the Excali.
The somewhat complicated story is this:
Some years ago a Canadian bloke developed the present range of Excalibur scroll saws, the main feature of which, apart from the parallel arm "up and down" linkage like a Delta for example, is a tilting head (rather than a tilting table).
A while ago that bloke sold out to a larger Canadian company called General International (who also makes various other wood and metal working machines - apparently all well regarded). GI made a number of detail differences and improvements to the basic design.
AFAIK, all Excalibur scroll saws (I'm not sure about other GI machines) are made in Taiwan, but don't let that put you off, the general engineering quality of mine is EXCELLENT, AND, unlike Hegner for example, spares are reasonably priced.
Even if you think the tilt head facility is not so important, don't be so sure., I've found mine to be invaluable, and NOT just for "normal" scroll sawing jobs either - it's easy to move the head, solid as a rock, dead accurate, and very easy to bring back to zero degrees (vertical). A further pointer - a couple of machines new to the market also now have tilting heads that look very similar to the Excali range - Jet for example.
Which brings us to SCIES. A Swiss company that also makes excellent files both hand and Swiss files, plus wood rasps. They are based in the French-speaking part of Switzerland in a place called Vallorbe, which is also the brand name of their files, etc. They also themselves produce the Pegas range of scroll saw blades there.
GI do NOT sell direct to the public, only through distributors/importers - e.g. the UK distributor is Axminster Tools. The distributor for Switzerland and Germany (and I think Austria too) is the above SCIES company in Vallorbe. Certainly when I bought my Excali (from Dictum in Germany, where I also had the chance to try it alongside the Hegner) the machine I took home with me actually came from SCIES in Switzerland (although as is often the case here, it was cheaper in Germany than it would have been buying it from the local Swiss agent of SCIES here)!!!!
"Talking" to Claymore of this parish ("Brian") I discovered that apart from very minor differences, such as a NVR switch which my machine does not have, his "Axminster Trade Excalibur 30" machine that he bought from Axi is 99% the same as the my Excali bought as above. My "German/Swiss" machine has GI, Excalibur and Pegas badges on it, but I THINK if I'd bought mine from the Swiss dealer, it would "only" have had a Pegas badge on it (or perhaps Excali as well).
When buying some spares about a year ago (no breakdown, just the "standby" items recommended in the Manual), SCIES would NOT sell direct to me, I had to order from either Dictum in Germany, or the local Swiss dealer. I chose the latter but of course, he didn't have them in stock so had to order them from SCIES on my behalf, who sent them to me!!!! Such is the international tools business.
So unless things have changed in the last year or so, if you contact SCIES direct, seeing as you come from UK, they will send you to Axminster.
But in all material respects, all Excalibur scroll saw (are by General International of Canada, but manufactured in Taiwan) are 99.9% the same machine, whatever the badge on the side says.
If you want any further info I'd be happy to help, but perhaps you may like to start off with a couple of posts I made a couple of years ago in this section, the 1st headed "Biting the bullet" which explains in detail why I chose Excali over Hegner and the 2nd about the (considerable hassle) I went to buying a foot switch for it.
HTH, if you need any more info just ask (or PM).
AES
P.S. Several other members here have Excalibur scroll saws and seem very pleased with them, like me.
