Advice on Hegner Saw

[SandyMat]

Can anyone advise on adjustments to the setup of a Hegner Multicut 2, or let me know if what I’m experiencing is normal for this saw?

The background is I’ve been experiencing lots of broken Pegas blades, always 1 inch from the top where they have introduced a notch.

The advice from Pegas has been to release the top screw above the Quick Clamp to allow it to move freely. However when I do this and tension the blade the Quick Clamp always pivots forward, bending the blade.
I’ve also noticed that after a while the blade is also moving in the bottom clamp.

Photos show both.

Is this a fault with the setup of the machine or normal? Are there any adjustments I can make that would prevent this happening?

Thanks for any helpful advice.

 

[George..]

Hi it seems you are not tightening the clamp with the blade upright in the centre of the clamp. This would put the blade under pressure when you tighten the overhead screw into the clamp. I normally lock the quick release lever prior to tightening the clamp as this will show if the clamp is square or not,then I tighten to leave about one millimetre gap to allow it to move front/back.
My saw is a Hegner 2S.
Good luck.
George (hammer)

 

[SandyMat]

Hi, Thanks for the quick reply. When I load a new blade I insert and tighten it in the bottom clamp and place the blade in the machine. At this point the quick clamp is held securely in an upright position by the knurled knob above it. I then insert the blade in the quick clamp and tighten it, it is inserted in the centre of the clamp and upright. The advice of Pegas was that I should then release the knurled knob above the quick clamp to allow the clamp to pivot freely, when I do this the clamp always pivots towards the front and results in a bent blade.

All of this is because of starting to break Pegas blades after they introduced a notch a the top fo the blade!

 

[George..]

Hi again, looking at your photo it’s obvious the clamp is not square to the blade. Try again.
Practice makes perfect.
George (hammer)

 

[loftyhermes]

Those Pegas with the notch are the problem, they have been breaking a lot according to our American Cousins, so much so that quite a few scrollers have been returning them. Try some blades without the notch, even try a different brand.

 

[SandyMat]

Aaarrrggghhh ....

Just had this reply to an exchange of emails with Scies (Pegas manufacturer) about this problem:

"We made some test on the Hegner we have here at the factory.
By tightening the top of the blade as low as possible in the clamp we couldn’t brake one blade, even by sawing 40mm beech wood.
Enclosed are several pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9PWUYq12nZ8mn7Az5
one shows the position (height) of the blade Vs the axe of counter-screw and thumb-screw.
One shows, ones the blade is tightened and the upper screw (above the clamp) is released, that the clamp must be vertical in the same axe as the blade.
One shows the cuts we made with the blade tightened as explained above.
For now this is the only advice we can give you. We may have another one but you won’t like it…change your Hegner to a Pegas (or Axminster). On these machines there is no problem."

Not very helpful!

I still have some noticed Pegas blades left so I'll keep trying, but after that I guess I will just have to get used to blades from a different manufacturer.

 

[George..]

Hi,it’s me again, what Pegus are saying is right, after the knurled wheel above the clamp is backed off to leave a 1mm gap the clamp should still be upright. The Pegus blade notch is about the same depth as a tooth so it wouldn’t have any effect.
Good luck.
George (hammer)

 

[AES]

I can understand your frustration, but blades aren't really THAT expensive. Hegner sell "their own" blades (which I THINK are made by Niqua, I THINK in Germany) so why not change to those? OR of course there's Olson.

Personally I find Pegas blades very good, but I have an Excalibur, not Hegner, so no idea what they're like on Hegners.

 

[Silversam]

Hi
I use a Hegner one single speed.
I get a lot of blades breaking during the course of cutting out a project.

I use all different makes of blades and don’t really notice any difference between them. They all break at some point.

Sometimes a blade will last a while and then the next one might break after a couple of mins. It’s annoying but as they are not too expensive it’s no big deal.

I generally cut hardwood about a inch thick and I can tell a difference between some of the wood. When I’m cutting one that’s really hard I know I’m going to go through a few blades.
Sometimes I know I have caused the break by pushing too hard against the wood.
My blades generally break at the bottom,usually same place.

I usually use a number 5 or number 7 blade.
I think the blades do really well when you consider how thin they are.
I once saw a YouTube video and this bloke was saying that he never broke a blade and would struggle to try and forcibly break one. I think he’s living in cloud cuckoo land.
But I may be wrong. It could be me that’s doing it wrong.
Andy

 

[whatknot]

I have an AWFS18 which is a Hegner clone

I use it with a quick clamp, I use almost exclusively Pegas blades but haven't needed to buy any for a while so am not aware of any "notched" blades

The instructions for the quick clamp are to keep the knurled knob locked down on it, its fairly obvious if you loosen the knurled knob as you say they are advising, the weight of the knob on the side of the quick clamp with throw it out when cutting

I find Pegas blades are long lasting, I won't say I never break them as its inevitable, but can usually do a few projects without changing a blade, if the snap its often due to prolonged use on similar thickness materials, and the break is usually where the cutting is happening

It sounds to me like the problem is entirely down to the blades with the notch in them, using the quick clamp as they advise negates its usefulness IMHO