blades breaking on new ex21

[thumbs]

To put it mildly, I'm not too impress with new excalibur ex21 I just bought. It is one of the new green ones, and I have just broke more blades in the last 15 minutes than the three years with my Dewalt 788. The new one has a tension knob in the back. I have to turn it all the way down to even get the blades to clamp down. then I push the front tension level toward the back an the blade is loose if I turn the tension knob in back even a little , the blade comes off. If I do get the blade tensioned(by sound)I start to cut and the blade breaks. What am I doing wrong??? I has to finish on my Dewalt. The project was a 3-d orniment 1 1/4 x 1 1/4. Any one have a clue as to what's up---Richard aka thumbs

[JohnB]

G'day Richard,
I feel for you mate. It's a lot of money to spend on saw and then not have it perform out of the box.
I had heaps of problems with my EX21 and was on the verge of just giving up.
The last hurdle I've got to conquer is the opposite to yours, the blades keep coming loose in the top clamp.
I've ground the ends of the thumb screw and grub screw, I clean the blades prior to fitting, but just can't seem to get them to stay put.

Now for your problem,
DON'T touch the back "tension" knob. It is not designed to alter the tension, but to alter the depth of cut. What I do is have it wound right off, eg the top arm as low as it will go. When you fit a blade this should give almost an inch of blade protruding past the lower clamp screw.

The nylon lever at the front has two positions (two different tensions). For thin blades #5 and under have the lever pointing straight up when clamping a blade then push it back. For larger blades have the lever pulled right forward towards you, clamp the blade and push it all the way back.
Make sure that no blade protrudes past the top aluminium clamp block as the nylon lever will snag on it.

Now when you blade gets blunt you can loosen of the bottom clamp and wind the arms apart and this gives a bit of new blade.

Hope this fixes your problem, now back to mine

[turningnut]

Thumbs,

Sorry to hear your having trouble with your EX-21. I have one also and John gave me the same advice. Now I have no problems with it at all, it cuts like a dream. After learning how to set the blade tension lever for the size blade your using and leaving the "tension" knob alone, I have not been breaking blades like before. Stick with it, it really is a great saw.

[thumbs]

Thanks Johnb and turningnut, I'll play with the after church to see if I can get it fixed. By the way do either of you feed through the bottom of the board? The instructions say to feed though the top but I don't see why I can't do it both ways--Thanks again Richard aka thumbs

[JohnB]

G'day Richard,
I feed that way and don't have any problems.
The saw is ideally suited for feeding either way.

[turningnut]

Richard,

I feed through the bottom of the board but there are those that feed through the top on the EX-21. As John said, you can do it either way. I tried through the top and just can't get the hang of it. Every time I try, I tend to bend the blade and it's a blind feed to get the blade in the holder when you get the blade down there, for me, I see no advantage. Good luck

[thumbs]

I think I have it all figured out. If you bottom feed it is a lot easier. This is one time when you don't follow instructions. I have been cutting on my footprints cutting and I did 3 lines on 1 blade. only reason I changed was that it was getting dull. So all is well with the ex21---Richard aka thumbs

[Jediscroller]

I'm curious about these new EX's. On the original Excaliburs, the tip of the thumbscrew rotated. Does it do that on the General International version? I found that I was breaking a lot of blades when I first bought mine (original EX-30) but it was due to my overtightening the blade in the holder. It took a lot of getting used to not have to really tighten the thumbscrew. I exclusively top feed though as the type of stuff I like to cut requires careful planning and it's much easier to see which hole is which from the top (it also increased my cut rate from 30 - 40 cuts per hour to 60 - 75 cuts per hour).

[thumbs]

Kevin--the new General Int'l version has a different upper blade clamp assembly. I thought it would be like my Dewalt 788 with the tension lever that went left to right to tension. Now once you have the blade installed you flip a neopreme lever front to back. I used to top feed on my Dewalt but for some reason I couldn't get the tension right on the EX 21 doing so. I have no clue why they put the knob in the rear of the saw. something about getting more clearance to allow for thicker wood. only problem is that if you turn the rear knob your blade is too short, I'll keep playing with it. It's a great saw and I know I'll learn to use it. Of course it true that you can cut fast top loading . But hey i have more time than money anyway---Richard aka thumbs

[Jediscroller]

That's the way the original EX's were, the Dewalt style tension was something they changed and then changed back after a lot of complaints from former Excalibur owners. As John said, the knob is not for adjusting the tension, it's for ensuring the arms are parallel to each other though the way the table sits I'm not sure exactly how to go about it on the new style. I adjusted the parallelism of my arms the day I purchased mine about 4 years ago and haven't touched it since. I have the same flip lever that you describe. It sounds like you may have gotten the arms out of parallel by playing with the adjustment. On mine, I measured the distance between the arms on the front and back and ensured they were even. From what I've read their new manual is not very clear at all in this regard. Once you have the arms parallel to each other, you shouldn't need to mess with tension at all. I've used everything from 2/0's to #12's without having to adjust it at all.