G4

[William Young (SE BC)]

Hard to imagine trying to feed the bade into a hole in the bottom clamp for top feeding. Glad they are working on a better system. One would think they would have used a better clamp before putting the saw on the market instead of going through three different ones so far .
Yes the P-20 is slotted but not in a way that a thumb screw has to be tightened on the blade and sometimes wants to twist the bottom of it. (at least mine did) . The slot in the Delta P-20 is between two flat plates that squeeze together on the blade when moving a lever to tighten it.
I just can't imagine ever going back to bottom feeding any more.
Some saws top feed easier than others but regardless of that, If anyone ever masters top feeding I'll bet they never go back to bottom feeding. Just a matter of training the little eyes in your finger tips to "see" what you are doing underneath the table of the saw.
W.Y.

[BobD]

Spent some more time on it last night...it's getting better. I realized that I've been pushing too hard, and not opening the thumbscrew enough...the blade was getting caught on the threads of the thumbscrew.

I got an e-mail back from Hawk; they are in the process of totally redesigning the clamps and said the ones I have right now are the latest edition...they call it a funnel hole...

With some practice, I've gotten a lot better (Of the 15 holes I cut last night, I didn't get the blade down into the holder on just one).

Bob

[Rolf]

Would someone please post a picture of the new clamp designs.
I have the 2 that I posted. The first is what came as original with the saw.
and that has more of a a slot shape in it..

[BobD]

My saw is at home...so I can't right now, but here is a link to the photos...it's upside down, though <GRIN>

Bob

http://www.rbiwoodtools.com/ultrabladeholder.html

[PuzzledMoose]

Originally Posted by William Young (SE BC)

Some saws top feed easier than others but regardless of that, If anyone ever masters top feeding I'll bet they never go back to bottom feeding.
W.Y.

I'd always bottom fed (on a Dewalt) until a week or so ago - then I decided to try the top feeding - once I got used to not automatically starting to undo the top clamp when I'd finished a cut (!) I realised that it is way easier. No need to prop up the arm of the saw for one thing - just rest it on the back of my wrist .. dunno why I hadn't tried it before ... knowing where the bottom clamp is without seeing it becomes second nature very quickly ...

[Daryl185]

I started top feeding as soon as I got my dewalt and its amazing how much faster I have gotten I still have my ryobi and I may never go back to it except on extreme occasions

[workin for wood]

Email them back to re-design them little fingers too...maybe they'll listen to you..tell them where you work and perhaps you'll do a bad review

hey man...whatever it takes to get some action would be good.

that's a terrible photo on the hawk site of that blade holder...it doesn't show me anything at all. just looks like the bottom of one and the side is full of monster glare.

Originally Posted by Rolf

Would someone please post a picture of the new clamp designs.
I have the 2 that I posted. The first is what came as original with the saw.
and that has more of a a slot shape in it..

I'll try too remember to do that tomorrow...