Excalibur 16 Tension Question

[newdog]

Hi.
I am fairly new to scrolling. I recently bought the EX-16. I was doing some work last night and had some issues with the blade (reverse 12) breaking and bending. Foolishly I turned the knob at the back of the saw. After reading several posts and watching some videos on Youtube, I realize that I probably didn't have to adjust the knob at the back. All that said, can someone with an EX-16, who hasn't adjusted the knob at the back, please tell me what the factory default setting is? I'm thinking this could be discovered by measuring the distance of the bottom of the top blade holder to the top of the table?
I would appreciate any help or advice that you have.
Thanks!
New Dog

[wood-n-things]

Tighten a blade in the blade holders, place a piece of square wood at the rear of the blade . Turn on your saw and adjust the back knob until you see the blade running as close to straight up and down as possible while looking at the blade from the side.

[newdog]

Thanks Mike.
I'll give that a try.
Sharla

[RegisG]

I'm new with my Ex-16 and it is my understanding is that you initially adjust the knob on top back so that the arm is parallel to table. The front to back movement is adjusted by turning the motor a little if necessary. I have seen that very minor tention adjustment can be made by that knob.

Regis

[scrollerpete]

Regis is right.
I have just purchased the same saw (1 month ago) and I noticed lot's of back to front movement, here is what I did to fine tune it:
1. Loosen the 3 screws holding the motor
2. Get a square piece of wood that will fit against the back of the blade
3. Apply the normal tension on the blade
4. Turn the speed to the lowest
5. Turn the saw on and rotate the motor until you see the blade just touching the piece of wood straight up and down
6. Stop the saw and make sure all 3 screws are tight
After I did this my saw purrs like a kitten and no vibration at all.

Hope this help.

[Jan]

Scrollerpete has the back to front blade adjustment exactly right. NOW.......there is NO rule about not touching the back tension knob. It's use is not to make the arm parallel to the table. It's job is to adjust the useable distance from the arm to the table so that you can shorten the blade if cutting very thin wood and increase the length visible if cutting thicker stuff. It's a matter of adjusting the blade for the thickness of the wood or your comfort level in the length of the blade that is above the table. Twisting that knob is NOT going to cause you trouble or blade breakage or any other ills that I can think of. If the blade tension gets loose by all means adjust it with that knob and then leave it alone unless the tension loosens again.

There is nothing, I repeat, nothing critical about that knob. Now relax and enjoy your saw.

Jan

[RegisG]

I agree...sort of. When I called Seyco about front/back movement on my new Ex16, this is what they said.
First, make sure the blade is in all the way
Then adjust the rear knob so that the arm is parallel. Suggested making block to exactly fit as a guage.
Then adjust motor just like scrollerpete said.
Knob on top of arm can be used for minor tension adjustments.
He said that a lot of people keep adjusting the knob and it eventually needs brought back into alignment.
Tis all I know about this. Sure am happy with my Ex.
Now I need to get better at USING my fine saw.
Regis

Scrollerpete has the back to front blade adjustment exactly right. NOW.......there is NO rule about not touching the back tension knob. It's use is not to make the arm parallel to the table. It's job is to adjust the useable distance from the arm to the table so that you can shorten the blade if cutting very thin wood and increase the length visible if cutting thicker stuff. It's a matter of adjusting the blade for the thickness of the wood or your comfort level in the length of the blade that is above the table. Twisting that knob is NOT going to cause you trouble or blade breakage or any other ills that I can think of. If the blade tension gets loose by all means adjust it with that knob and then leave it alone unless the tension loosens again.

There is nothing, I repeat, nothing critical about that knob. Now relax and enjoy your saw.

Jan

[Keith Fenton]

If your front-to-back motion was minimal at parallel, as you go away from parallel you start to get more and more front-to back motion up to the point of not being able to cut anything accurately. I really don't see much use for this knob... It's not really needed for tension either.

Scrollerpete has the back to front blade adjustment exactly right. NOW.......there is NO rule about not touching the back tension knob. It's use is not to make the arm parallel to the table. It's job is to adjust the useable distance from the arm to the table so that you can shorten the blade if cutting very thin wood and increase the length visible if cutting thicker stuff. It's a matter of adjusting the blade for the thickness of the wood or your comfort level in the length of the blade that is above the table. Twisting that knob is NOT going to cause you trouble or blade breakage or any other ills that I can think of. If the blade tension gets loose by all means adjust it with that knob and then leave it alone unless the tension loosens again.

There is nothing, I repeat, nothing critical about that knob. Now relax and enjoy your saw.

Jan

[hotshot]

From what I can discern, if I adjust for front to back movement by turning the motor, and then significantly changing the knob in the back, I again increase front to back movement. Mine is out of whack as I speak so I'm off to get the arm back to level with the table, then seeing if I need the re-adjust the motor.

I probably wouldn't bother with these little tweaks, but I got used to the Hegner, so now I can really feel the Ex if it isn't perfect. When I'm working on delicate cuts with very small drill holes, I use needle nose pliers to force the blade on through, then inevitably, I slip during this process and break a blade towards the end, and try to salvage it by adjusting the arm. I got to start throwing those blades away.

-------Randy

[karen12]

Oh my goodness!

Regis is right.
I have just purchased the same saw (1 month ago) and I noticed lot's of back to front movement, here is what I did to fine tune it:
1. Loosen the 3 screws holding the motor
2. Get a square piece of wood that will fit against the back of the blade
3. Apply the normal tension on the blade
4. Turn the speed to the lowest
5. Turn the saw on and rotate the motor until you see the blade just touching the piece of wood straight up and down
6. Stop the saw and make sure all 3 screws are tight
After I did this my saw purrs like a kitten and no vibration at all.

Hope this help.

I just got my 16 in EX a few days ago and noticed the front to back blade alignment was way off. i searched here but came up with nothing then here you are with the solution! lol. i was just reading and learning stuff today and read this thread. Funny how things happen!

[smudger]

I have been trying to get mine running right but can't stop the front to back movement, I have tried turning the motor but still won't stop it, anymore ideas?

[hotshot]

Smudger, the motor will only turn so far with the bolts in, so you may have to move them to another set of holes to get a little more rotation. You should see blade travel get really bad at both ends of the adjustments, so you will have to find the best spot you can in the middle of those extremes. Make sure you arm is parallel to the table (under tension) before you begin these adjustments.

That said, at best, there will still be some blade travel on the EX. I just adjust to the sweet spot, and don't worry about the minimal travel. If I were using spirals where this travel is a bigger issue, I would probably use the Hegner.

[RangerJay]

Just a bit of an aside ....

Keep an eye on the position of the tension knob whenever you change blades.

After setting the arm parallel and rotating the motor to minimize back and forth movement of the blade I've noticed that the tension knob at the back of the saw will "wander" over time - meaning that the blade will eventually start cutting a little rougher and when you check it further you will notice the back and forth movement of the blade has increased and the arm is no longer parallel to the table. Returning the tension knob to its original "tuned" position solves the problem.


Jay

[tonylumps]

This is the way I read the manual.Adjust arm distance front to back to table without blade installed.Install blade.Check for tension high pitched sound.Adjust tension knob to get the bing sound with a pluck of your finger nail with the front lever to the rear.You should not have to touch that rear tension knob again under normal sawing.Now you can adjust the motor for blade angle .1/8" at a time.You will never get it to where there is none existent blade movement.Only very minimal Of course i may be wrong. tony

[Trackman]

Five year old tread