Question for RBI Hawk owners

[utbva]

I have a question for RBI Hawk owners about the upper blade clamp. I seem to have a problem especially when I use the smaller blades. Sometimes it seems that I tend to put the blade too far back and the screw will miss the blade and not hold it properly, or sometimes I can tighten it too much and it will cut right through the blade. I was wondering if anyone has used this after-market blade clamp Scroll Saw Retrofit Items and if it has helped.

[Puzzled]

I don't know about the first part of the question but regarding tightening too much and cutting the blade.... I had a similar problem and found that I needed to tighten the set screw on the opposite side of the blade holder knob. It felt like that set screw needs to be flush on the inside of the holder. It had backed out leaving a slight hole/indent so that when I tighted the knob against the blade it forced the blade against the hole, cutting it.
>Puzzled<

[sawdustus]

No I have not but it looks like they adapted the mechanism from the Delta quick clamp design. If so, I would love to try it but I'm not sure that 49.95 is worth it. I usually look from underneath as I position the blade in the holder and have not had a problem cutting blades. Breaking thin ones yes, but then I push hard when I saw.

sawdustus

[Rolf]

My top clamp is the older style of RBI clamp but I use the newer ones on the bottom (the one with the set screw)
The set screw should be adjusted so that when you clamp the blade it is centered in the hole. if it isn't you will get side to side motion in the blade and you don't want that.
The other blade clamp looks like the one on my delta. I like them and they are very fast but you still have to be careful with blade placement.
You should not be cutting the blade a slight bend maybe but not cut.

[Mike Crosa]

I found that when my blades were coming out of the clamp or were to short that I needed to adjust the arm tension at the back. A little let off or let up solved the problem for me.