Xcalibur/Harvey set up

[r0nmlt]

I took the pictures but never got round to post them. Got some comments to make on my setup to do too now that I have used the machine for some time. Too late for all this now today.

Oh and please don't complain about the weather. Tomorrow is going to be 32 degrees Celsius and am working in that heat!!!!

 

[wcndave]

Any news?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[memzey]

It would be great to hear how you guys are getting on with these saws now that you have been living with them for a few months

 

[wcndave]

It would be great to hear how you guys are getting on with these saws now that you have been living with them for a few months

Is there anything specifically you'd like to know?

Apart from the usual setup fiddling, the saw in use is a real pleasure.

I got some Axcaliber contract saw blades (Rip, general purpose and fine laminate cutting), however they turned out to be very poor compared to the blade that came with the machine.

The tool-less quick change between the two supplied riving knives is excellent, one is for partial through cuts and is the same level as the blade. This means i never have an excuse for not having the guard in place for normal cuts, whereas on my old TS I would leave it off most of the time due to the hassle of fitting it.

It's got some power, I have mine on separate 16A circuit, and it needs it. I had a few outages when it was connected to shared building site power.

It's very smooth, the included mitre is very good for a stock one, with mechanisms to take out any slop etc.

I find the sliding table very good indeed for all kinds of jobs, especially for sheet goods. It did take me quite a while to get the mitre dialled in to 90 deg and therefore I tend to leave it there as although the mitre is adjustable it's a pain to get it back to exact 90. I cut a lot of boards down to rather smaller ones using the 5 edge method, so decided to fix it there.

However then if you want to rip a wide board that is longer than the distance you can pull the table back (about 5 feet), the mitre gets in the way.

For these rather than go through the hassle of setting up the fence again i tend to get close with bandsaw or track saw and then finish on TS.

These cases are pretty rare though, and I am not sure there's much one could do, other than have some kind of "return to a fixed position" stop included.

The telescopic part of the sliding table is fairly useless, offering about 15cm extra reach. My old table saw offered about 2m max length, here I only get about 80cm, so that could have been better. Again, rare that it's needed anyway.

Overall very good, I am very happy with it, once it's been set up. I built some outfeed tables, and it's now definitely the centre of my shop.

 

[ScouseKev]

This saw was also for sale for a while in the Uk by Lyndhurst woodworking, it was badged as "Deft"

They had two models with different rise and fall mechanisms for the blade. The cheaper one was a swing trunnion and the better one was a really solid dovetail.

The dovetail one was also called the "gold top" due to the higher quality aged cast iron top.

Ive had one for the last 5 years and it's been flawless. powerful 4hp motor and all solidly built.

 

[wcndave]

Currently on sale in US as Baileigh

 

[Harbo]

I'm surprised nobody sells them over here?

Rod

 

[wcndave]

If you mean the uk, they are sold by woodford.

I believe there were links in earlier posts.

http://woodfordtooling.com/accessories/ ... ge-30.html

 

[Harbo]

Sorry I hadn't realised that the new type Xcalibers were the same as the Defts
When I bought my DEFT a few years ago, the Xcaliber was definitely different.

Rod

 

[wcndave]

However they now don't come badged as Xcalibur. There is no badging at all.

Looking for the product number, these seem to originate in China as "Harvey"

 

[memzey]

Ron - it would be really good to see some pictures of your router table setup. Particularly whether it's possible to line the fence up with its back to the blade rather than facing it as the pictures show.

 

[MBcarpentry]

Hi wcndave
I am looking to buy this cabinet saw from Woodford but can seem to get the exact sizes from there site I only have a small shop and am tight on space so would only be going for the saw with the right and left extension tables without the sliding table. if you wouldn't mind could you let me know what the front to back dimension of the saw is including the the fence rails etc and the overall width of the saw with the 2 cast table extensions fitted?
Thanks
Mark

 

[wcndave]

Hi Mark, the table is 35" front to back including rails, and 40" wide (just the tables).

However the rails extend past the tables - widthwise, but of course you could always shorten them.

You do need of course outfeed space to, and having almost 1m of cut width to parallel fence is great.

One of the benefits of this saw is its substantial heft and stability, however to take advantage of that when you'd be cutting reasonable size parts from time to time, which would necessitate some space all around the saw. If you only have space for the saw and tables itself and no more, you might want to consider something cheaper, or smaller, like the axminster TS. Of course, this is a great saw, I just sorta feel it needs adequate space to flourish ;-)

 

[MBcarpentry]

Hi Mark, the table is 35" front to back including rails, and 40" wide (just the tables).

However the rails extend past the tables - widthwise, but of course you could always shorten them.

You do need of course outfeed space to, and having almost 1m of cut width to parallel fence is great.

One of the benefits of this saw is its substantial heft and stability, however to take advantage of that when you'd be cutting reasonable size parts from time to time, which would necessitate some space all around the saw. If you only have space for the saw and tables itself and no more, you might want to consider something cheaper, or smaller, like the axminster TS. Of course, this is a great saw, I just sorta feel it needs adequate space to flourish ;-)

That's great Dave thanks for the info mate, I have a smallish shop but do have space all of my other machines are on mobile bases so can be moved around into better positions if I need to work on long stock even outside if needs be and this saw would also be on a mobile base, as long as I have space to manover them I'm fine and I have track saws to break down sheet goods and roller stands etc for out feed so large sheets arnt really a problem. I'l have a measure up and see if it's plausble for me to accommodate this saw in my shop I hope so as I really like the look of it. I think I would need to trim those fence rails down a bit though are they just box section mild steel?

 

[wcndave]

I can't find my hardness tester ;-) It was no problem to cut with angle grinder or large hacksaw. What I did, as I had to cut a little bit away for sliding table, was to cut with angle grinder and then smooth it out and take off the plastic cap from the piece i'd cut to the new end. You can't tell the difference.

It needs a decent mobile base, as it's quite heavy.

I gotta say I do love the sliding table, I can't imagine doing cabinets without it. it only really takes extra front to back room, however, you can't put it on a mobile base with that

You'll probably need a good aftermarket mitre fence. The one that comes with is not bad as they go, however the sliding table fence is order of magnitude better, and the stock fence doesn't really get a look in.

In any case, it's a great machine!

 

[MBcarpentry]

I can't find my hardness tester ;-) It was no problem to cut with angle grinder or large hacksaw. What I did, as I had to cut a little bit away for sliding table, was to cut with angle grinder and then smooth it out and take off the plastic cap from the piece i'd cut to the new end. You can't tell the difference.

It needs a decent mobile base, as it's quite heavy.

I gotta say I do love the sliding table, I can't imagine doing cabinets without it. it only really takes extra front to back room, however, you can't put it on a mobile base with that

You'll probably need a good aftermarket mitre fence. The one that comes with is not bad as they go, however the sliding table fence is order of magnitude better, and the stock fence doesn't really get a look in.

In any case, it's a great machine!

Thanks for the info Dave :wink: sounds easy enough to shorten the rails. Yeah. Think the sliding table is a no go as I definitely need the mobile base, would probably go for the Jet heavy duty mobile base I think it's rated to 270kg so should be upto it. I have an Incra 1000 HD mitre fence which is very accurate once adjusted and I would think will fit the slots on the table but not sure with them being t-slots not sure if it makes a difference?

 

[wcndave]

Lucky fella!

Should be fine, you can see here: http://incra.com/miter_gauges-miter1000hd.html that it's fitted into a t-slot.

If you have that mitre guage, what TS do you have now if you don't mind me asking?

 

[MBcarpentry]

Lucky fella!

Should be fine, you can see here: http://incra.com/miter_gauges-miter1000hd.html that it's fitted into a t-slot.

If you have that mitre guage, what TS do you have now if you don't mind me asking?

I have a Dewalt dw744 portable contractor saw, I'm a joiner by trade and have had the saw about ten years and it's been well used on all manor of carpentry and don't get me wrong it's a good saw and is fairly accurate and will continued to be used and kept in the van, but I'm now wanting a stationary saw (on a mobile base lol) which is powerful as well as accurate as I'm now going to start doing some finer woodworking as a bit of a hobby making boxes, cutting boards and who knows what else. I have got a Hammer (Felder) planer/thicknesser and bandsaw which I picked up in excellent 2nd hand condition for a good price and would have loved there k3 panel saw which has a sliding table and is about the same size as the Xcaliber but it's nearly double the price of the Xcalibur saw which is a bit rich for my taste and have never seen one for sale 2nd hand yet

 

[wcndave]

ok, sounds like you'll have a good set up at the end, do you really take that beautiful incra on site? Otherwise not sure where you'd use it!

 

[MBcarpentry]

ok, sounds like you'll have a good set up at the end, do you really take that beautiful incra on site? Otherwise not sure where you'd use it!

Not as a rule, I used a few times to make some precssion cuts on some high end stuff but I mainly bought it for the hobby side of things and have used it on a few small projects but feel the need for the bigger saw and I'm sure it would feel more at home on the xcalibur