ex21

[cliveg]

hi can anyone tell if the excalibur ex21 you guys talk of is it the same as the axminster tools 1
in the uk axminster do several copys of the hegner like awfs 18 any comments would be great as iam thinking of getting 1  regs clive

[scrollgirl]

It sure looks like my new EX-21 Clive.  Mine is green though. Mine is made by General International.  Perhaps you can phone them and ask.

Sheila

[ShadowB6]

In going to the Axminster website I see only 2 differences from my new EX21. First is that my saw is green whereas the one on the Axminster site is white. Secondly, there is a warning label above the test tube holders and mine did not have that label. Other than that, I see no other visible difference. It does have the General International label however, so I would want to believe that it is a genuine Gen. Inst. product if Axminster is a legit retailer.

Mike

[scrollgirl]

I just got off the phone with Norman Frampton of General International who is in the distribution department.  He concurs that Axminster is indeed an authorized dealer of the EX-21 and you can feel secure in knowing that you are getting the genuine article. 

Good luck and let us all know how you do!

Sheila

[ShadowB6]

Scrollgirl, did Norm Frampton happen to mention why the Euro version is white? I also happened to notice another difference. The blade inseret hole has a lot of other holes around it on the table. I would guess for sawdust to exit the table surface.

[scrollgirl]

No, Shadow.  I didn't even ask him about the colour. I also noticed the little holes on the table.  I expect you are right, that they are for clearing tiny particles of saw dust away.  Mine doesn't even have that though I think it is probably a good idea.

[dunk]

The holes are for vacuum attachment for dust removal.

[scrollgirl]

See, mine doesn't have the place on the underside for the dust removal.  That must be an option on the European saws.

Sheila

[cliveg]

thankyou very much will have a talk to axminster on tues

[ShadowB6]

Interesting concept those holes. And Dunk that makes perfect sense to me now why the holes are there. My saw is only 2 weeks old and does not have that, so it must be a euro option only. I think it's a pretty cool option however because when sawing MDF as I did the other day, my brush got a good workout in brushing all the sawdust off the table. I think I see a possible modification in my future here.

Thanks; Mike

[patch]

Why would you buy a heap of junk like excalibur ex21 I am fed up with mine I am going back to my delter

[julief]

Wow, Patch.  I've had mine for years and love it.  What's wrong with yours?

[Scr0ll3r]

We went through this discussion with Patch in Sheila's blog on the Lumberjocks forum. Please read the blog post and comments located here to see the conversation:  http://lumberjocks.com/scrollgirl/blog/22685

He works full time on his saw cutting 1" wood or thicker and according to him, everybody's Excalibur is going to wear out in a  year or two and we will all be wishing we had gone another route although he is unwilling to suggest a better alternative. Since he is pushing the limits of the saw, several people have suggested he get an industrial grade saw but he doesn't comment on that.

It is probably the number one most positively reviewed saw out there. If you search in this forum, and at http://www.scrollsawer.com/forum/ you will find plenty of good reviews to give you a good perspective of the general opinion on this saw.

It's odd that the only 2 people that I can recall that were really unhappy with the saw, both purchased them from Carbatec. One is Patch and the other got his problem remedied when General International stepped in and sent him a brand new saw because of a factory defect that Carbatec would not deal with. Carbatec claims to get their saws direct from the Taiwanese factory and doesn't follow directives from General International. Just a theory here but maybe they set the bar lower and get the saws that don't meet General's quality control standards?

[ShadowB6]

It seems that the world according to Patch is the old adage, one bad apple spoils the whole barrel. First piece of negativity I've seen since I've joined this forum. Not bad I guess.

[cgswss]

I have been waiting impatiently for Steve's review of the Excalibur  I was delighted to see the vid.  When I came across Patch's comments I was a bit alarmed as I have decided to get one of these saws.  I followed the post back to see what his problems had been.

Now I don't know what he is referring to about alum. And bearings.  Is there pivot points in the ex21 where the shafts are just running against a hole in the alum.?  First being a machinist and given his hard use, I would think that one could quickly make and install inserts or even rollers , but I'm not looking at it so I don't know.  It would appear that how ever these bearings are done, they hold up well in hobby use.

More important, it seems to me that a scroll saw is just the wrong tool for all this 2 inch thick cutting.  I do a lot of detail curve cutting for the furniture I make.  I use a Band saw with a Carter  Stabilizer and 1/8 inch blade.  If I were doing the stuff he describes, I think I would do a batch of cutting all the exterior cuts on the band saw (which would also save him some time) then only do the interior cuts on the scroll saw.  Of course I don't know the details of what he is doing and that may not work at all for him, but it seems more like ?using the proper tool? to me.  A couple of years ago I got involved with a group doing some restores and I was doing piece work cutting out thousands of pieces with some very fine detail.  I thought I was going to only do a couple of pieces, but it worked out so well that they decided to replace rather then refinish most of the work and I found my self working 10 to 12 hours a day for more then a year to make all the pieces they wanted.  I could have never finished those on a scroll saw, thankfully there were only a few pieces that required inside cuts.  I didn't do those.  I did the outside cuts then sent the whole batch over to another guy in the group that did a lot of scroll work and had a big Hagar to do it on.  He was the one that was going to do the pieces I did, but after a few days, and seeing what I did on the band saw, he shipped everything over to me.

By the way, what I did was not the final product, they were just the ?blanks? that were used to make the final pieces.  Sorry to run on off subject about this, but it just seemed like a fit to me.

Craig