Excaibur or Similar

[nerdyboy]

HI All,

Can anyone advise me on where I can purchase an Excalibur "Contractor" saw. I've tried Woodford but unfortunately they won't have stock for 60 days.

If they are the only stockist in the UK can anyone advise something similar from another manufacturer?

All the Best

John

 

[marcros]

I think that they are the only stockist.

Which is the contractor? Is it the tilting table or tilting arbour?

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I find that incredible. I was reading about the Excalibur last night...its clearly a superb saw. I hadn't realised it was the Delta Unisaw clone....3HP motor and the very saw Norm uses. And of course takes a dado head. I cant believe it's not more widely available

 

[Steve Maskery]

Woodford have the UK distributorship on the Xcalibur, so if he has no stock at the moment, then that's it. I'm not aware of any other machine to touch it, but there was a guy selling Deft a few years ago and that was, I believe, very similar. There were a number if issues with that trader, IIUIC, so I'm not sure if he is still operating.
It's a pain having to wait, but, TBH, it's probably worth it in this case. Just remember that it all comes from the far east, so Roy is at the mercy of international trading as much as anyone is.
S

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Do you think it's feasible to lop the ends off those very long rip fence supports to shrink the footprint of the 10" version of the cabinet saw without too much grief? I don't really do cutting metal very often. I guess to make it neat and accurate, you would need to tap Ian Tuffsaw's and get one of his metal cutting bandsaw blades? I presume they would handle aluminium extrusion?

 

[Steve Maskery]

The rip fence supports are steel, not ali. And they are not hard, so you could cut them with a hacksaw.
Better still, just buy some stock steel for not very much money and keep the long rails intact until such time that you have the workshop of your dreams! That's what I did. I spent about £20 on steel and the same again having it powder-coated. It gives me about 18" crosscut capacity, and I still have the original rails for my future paradise.
S

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

How long have you owned the Excalibur then Steve? And I assume you rate it highly by context?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Well I have had an Xcalibur in my possession since 1996. I should make it clear that I have it on loan, although I assume that if Roy wanted it back he would have asked for it by now. But I recommend it because it is excellent, not because I can use it for "free". I borrowed it to make my films and I still have it.
Mine is the older model and it has a few foibles. But they seem to have been addressed in the current model. The switch is on the left (mine is on the right) and the blade tilts away from the fence (mine tilts to the right), which is much better from a safety point of view.
But even so, it is an excellent machine, built like a tank and will do anything asked of it.
Get your blades from Doug Perry at Cutting Solutions and you will be a very happy bunny indeed.
S

 

[Harbo]

It's a great pity that Lyndhurst went bust - I bought a Deft T30 5 yrs ago from him - great machine and still going strong.


Rod

 

[marcros]

The deft does look a great bit of kit. I keep an eye open for a secondhand one but they seem few and far between.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Thanks for that Steve and I will take your advice re Doug just as I did with Ian at Tuffsaw's. Glad I did as he's a good bloke and has persuaded me to slightly modify my blade choice for cutting green wood bowl blanks with one of his super fandango sabre cut blades (which incidentally was cheaper than the last blade I bought from Record at an exhibition).