Excalibur 30 is GONE.

[greatdane2]

I spent about 6 hours trying to adjust the shake out of it. The table shook so bad I could not cut a straight line. I also did not like the mickey mouse switch and throttle knob.
The only fault I ever had with my Dewalt was the 20" reach. And that was not a big deal. Sooooooooooooooooooooooo...............thinking about it I went back to the Dewalt. I ended up with a credit so got a Mikita air compressor, a Delta 9" bandsaw ( used for cuting waste off) and a Mikita 2"nail gun. and some more carving knives.
Set up the new saw on its cabinet and started cutting. I am back in bussiness. It could be I was doing something wrong with the Excalibur but it was nice to get the Dewalt going. Its been 8 monthes since I had a saw. So all is well.
One other point, with the Excalibur it says put blade in and flip the tension lever. It does not alow fine tuning for different blades. I find with the Dewalt after a few minutes with a new blade the blade stretches a bit. all I do is twist the lever and don't even slow down.
Anyway no more excuses its time to cut wood and smile.

[Ramjet]

I had the same problem with the blade stretching so I thought . A couple of things I did was clean the end of the blades. I believe they have an oil residue on them . Also besides sanding the ends of the blades I cleaned the end of the blade thumb screw , sanded and eventually replaced it . Seams to work much better now. Also check the center alignment of both thumb screws . It cost around $10.00 to replace the thumb screw . Dewalt in Vancouver is where I got my screw .Tried to buy just the end . Only comes as a unit . Sounds like you have been around machinery for some time .
Cheers . Roger

[Mick Walker]

Surprised to read this, I thought the Excaliber was a high end saw. What did the dealer have to say when you returned it?

[greatdane2]

Not much they could say, this was the first 30" they sold. They have sold a couple of the smaller Excalibur but have had no feed back on them. I am on a first name basis with these guys, having bought nearly all my tools there. A big benifit of buying local.
Ramjet I tried to see if it was just an adjustment problem, with a dial gauge. But at the end of the day I went back to the Dewalt. Half the price and I know that it will do 99% of what I want. The only excuse to go bigger was to be able to cut backer boards easier. Some of them are up to 6 ft across. Back to the jig saw, for that.
Alan.

[Jediscroller]

Sorry to hear you gave up on the saw Alan. As long as you're sawing though that's all that matters.
Mick, it is definately one of the premier saws. It sounds like the guys Alan was dealing with didn't know much about it though. I talked to Ray from Seyco while at the PA show and he does have people who have complained about vibration but he can usually solve their problem over the phone. Of course, he's been selling Excaliburs for 25 years so he has a little more experience. I think he sold more than 3 saws just at the Texas picnic. I'm curious, did you ever just put the saw on cement to see if the problem was the stand or the saw? That's usually the first thing that Ray recommends doing as most times it's the mounting that's the issue. I still don't quite understand the need to change the tension though, I've never had to adjust mine in the 3+ years I've been using it. Blades don't stretch, it's usually slippage that causes what people call stretching.

[greatdane2]

I had heard about sliping before, but I found it only happened with small blades when cutting 3/4" wood. It would not happen again on that blade so I still think it was streching.
I now have a 165lb mut trying to get on my lap! have to get the vacum out for my keyboard. The guys in the tool store I deal with have been there for years, but you are right they do not know everything. But they are the first to admitt that and will find the answers to anything I ask of them. In this case I spent hours on the web and could not find the answer myself.
I have had 3 auto accidents that have left me very stressfull. My last saw lasted for several thousand hours cutting intarsia, and so I went back to what has worked for me.
It took me a long time to save up to buy the Excalibur and a new table saw. I had just bought a new 20"bandsaw when my table saw went up in flames. By then the Dewalt needed all new brgs.
Anyway at the end of the day, I am cutting again and I might of been hasty taking the Excalibur back. But I just sighed when I turned on the new Dewalt. It works for me.

[minowevie]

Gosh, I am loveing my Hegner more and more. sorry about your troublale. dang, I thought that saw was the next one I would get. but,,,,, not........ your friend Evie

[greatdane2]

Wait and see maybe it was not that big a problem. I just did not want the stress with the tool I use the most. My 20" bandsaw is a cheapy(sort of) and I just use it for resawing, so I got what I paid for and thats ok.
I would of thought you would be on the couch,you have been busy and it is looking great. you will have to come up with a name though, that ain't a container anymore.
Alan

[f250]

I started with a 16" Delta and that was a good saw. I used my buddy's DeWalt a bunch of times and that is also a good saw, I nearly bought the DeWalt for my upgrade. Instead I got a Hawk G4 and man do i love that saw. I took it out of the box and threw together the little that needed and I was off and running.

If I ever kill this saw, I will buy another Hawk to replace it.

Tom

[Jediscroller]

I think most of us with the higher end saws feel that way Tom. I know I would definately buy another EX-30 if my current one ever died (not very likely though). All I've ever done with mine is set it up and cut and it's been performing flawlessly for over 3 years. In talking to Ray at Seyco, he feels that the new version is even better than the original.