Record Power SS upgrade?

[Skeety]

Hi All,

Been using a Record Power SS that I bought about 18 months ago on a whim having always wanted a SS. Been using it on and off, more off until I fettled with it and bought some Pegas blades which have made a huge difference

Recently I have been cutting animal figures and other pieces, cats, dogs, mice etc. for friends and family. One friend is now ordering £60 quids worth of stuff at a time and that's likely to increase.

I know the Hegner is very very well respected on here, i'm considering an upgrade which will have to be second hand due to current circumstances at home.

Would really appreciate your knowledge and expertise!

What would be the main benefits of upgrading? What features should I look for?

Cheers,

Jon.

 

[jonluv]

Hi Jon,
If you have "Fettled" the SS, I.e. eliminated vibration--- smoothed table, managed blade changes and threading of blades and controlled tension and got the cutting position ( seated or standing) right --- I don't think you will find a whole lot of difference. However if you intend to use the machine daily 6 or so hours for the next 20 or so years the Hegner may be for you.

The Hegner is a good machine but is it worth the inflated pricing--- not just machine but spares

In my simple mind for most users, the Hegner is not worth 10 of the average Chinese machines -- relating to price!!

I craved one for years and when I got it was most disappointed but it was an old one --- single speed and tiny table


But I could be wrong !!!

John

 

[Skeety]

Hi John,

I pretty much got rid of the vibration by making a solid base and bolting the SS to it, then use 4 clamps to clamp it to the workbench. I have smoothed the table to an extent and waxed it with the stuff I use on my other tools, when I get chance I will take it off and block it with wet and dry to 1200 wet. Always have clear tape on the job which helps it flow nicely. Blade tension i pretty much have figured out (most of the time lol) but can tell when I need to stop the saw and add just a little more as the blade ages.

The light is crap as it wobbles and provides inadequate light and the blower has never worked properly. I now use it standing but the table is probably at about just under 5ft, needs to go a little higher as i'm 6' 5"

Thanks for your input

Cheers,

Jon.

 

[Claymore]

Blimey Jon I'm 6'4" and the thought of standing up to use my scroll saw would leave me crippled lol I have mine on a normal height kitchen unit (bought a full kitchen for my workshop storage etc) It has a thick granite effect worktop and my seat is one I bought years ago from a secondhand shop its a draughtsmans seat (abit like a swivel office chair but much taller and has a handy footrest) only cost a fiver and worth every penny.
Don't have a Hegner myself (I have an Axminster which is a Hegner clone and love it) It sounds like your going to be very busy
Cheers
Brian

 

[scrimper]

Hi Jon,
If you have "Fettled" the SS, I.e. eliminated vibration--- smoothed table, managed blade changes and threading of blades and controlled tension and got the cutting position ( seated or standing) right --- I don't think you will find a whole lot of difference. However if you intend to use the machine daily 6 or so hours for the next 20 or so years the Hegner may be for you.

The Hegner is a good machine but is it worth the inflated pricing--- not just machine but spares

In my simple mind for most users, the Hegner is not worth 10 of the average Chinese machines -- relating to price!!

I craved one for years and when I got it was most disappointed but it was an old one --- single speed and tiny table


But I could be wrong !!!

John

Sorry but I have to disagree with most of the above! The Hegner does cost a lot of money agreed, however you are getting a quality machine that will last a lifetime and give endless pleasure to it's users, it's the sort of machine that will go on being used for generations.
You could buy 10 cheap Chinese fretsaws for the price of the Hegner but you would still get 10 inferior machines that are more awkward and not comfortable to use whereas the One Hegner will enable the user to do the job quickly and efficiently and be enjoyable to use too, most cheap Chinese saws end up frustrating the user.

I don't think you can really compare an old single speed small table Hegner with the modern Multicut variable speed machine available today, I bought my Hegner 16 years ago and it still performs as good as it did when I bought it and I always enjoy using it which is quite the opposite to the cheap Chinese saw that I bought from Wickes many years ago, I still have it but it never gets used as it is an abomination after using the Hegner!

I do think the Axminster 'Hegner clone' looks to be a decent machine and IMHO looks to be a blatant copy but I have never tried one so don't know if it is as good as the real thing but it certainly looks to be good value.

The quote below seems to make sense!

A further school of thought.

Its unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little.
When you pay too much, you lose a little money-that is all.
When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can’t be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do that,
You will have enough to pay for something better!

John Ruskin 1819-1900.

 

[Bryan Bennett]

I bought the Baby Hegner the Multicut 1 single speed,over 20 yrs ago.I still get the same pleasure that I had the first time I used now.
I did not know then the wonderful projects that I would make over the twenty years,and still enjoy finding patterns that interest me to make.
John is right in saying,that you only get what you pay for.If you think different I am afraid that will get disappointed often in the real world.

Bryan

 

[Chippygeoff]

Record tools used to be a great British company making sound and reliable tools and machines but sadly they now import everything and their scroll saw is no better than all the other Chinese imports, put together using low grade materials. I agree with everything Scrimper has said. Of course when people buy one of the cheap imports they assume that they are getting a decent machine and despite the problems manage to make a few things but as time goes on more problems arise. As you discovered John by using quality blades things improved quite a bit, couple the good quality blades with a good quality scroll saw you have the perfect set up.

I use my Hegner on average 8 hours a day five days a week and it has never let me down, it is made from the very best materials. If you get the chance to use one you will instantly see the difference between the Hegner and the cheap Chinese imports. The Hegner is ready to go straight from the box, no tuning required, not bits falling off. Yes, they are expensive but in my line of work any other scroll saw would just not cope with the demands I put on the Hegner.

 

[scrimper]

Record tools used to be a great British company making sound and reliable tools and machines but sadly they now import everything and their scroll saw is no better than all the other Chinese imports, put together using low grade materials.

Indeed, I find it very sad, the original Record company spent several million pounds building a new gas powered forge at Sheffield and up until that point made quality machines and tools that lasted a lifetime, then AMT (American Tool Company) took them over and closed down the lot then put the once famous Record name on cheaply made Chinese machines.
When you bought Record tools before the take over you knew they would be quality made, after AMT you might just as well buy a cheap unbranded item as pay more for the same thing with a Record badge stuck on.

At the moment Hegner is still a quality made product as Record once were. fortunately for German industries their government is protective and keep stuff being made in Germany rather than selling off to the highest bidder closing the factories and selling the land to build houses as they do in Great Britain.

 

[Mechanism Man]

Ok, deep breath... Devils advocate time...
I completely agree with all you lucky Hegner owners - they are beautifully made with great parts that will probably last a lifetime, but, and for some of us is it's a big but, they are blimmin' expensive!
While buying a Hegner would be the perfect choice, it is possible to buy cheaper machines that do the job (dare I say it) just as well at a fraction of the price.
I do up to 10 hours at a time sat at my Rexon machine, and it does everything I ask of it. I have used a Hegner Multicut and do you know what? It cut wood just like my Rexon! Who knew? Now I know that realistically my machine will be pushing up the daisys long before your German beasties, but after 5 years mine is still going strong and hasn't missed a beat, and I still have the extra £500 in my pocket.
At the end of the day, a scroll saw is a machine that simply makes a thin blade move up and down at high speed. So, when you're looking around for a machine, insist on variable speed controller, ensure that it has clamps to take plain end blades (you probably won't get quick release clamps, but heck, I quite like my Allen key system for its simplicity), spend £120 or so and it WILL work just fine. The only negative I've found is that the insert around the blade will probably be plastic and ill fitting, so cut a new one out of wood as your first project like I did.
At the bottom is my £100 Rexon, and another photo of the kind of work I do on it. If you can comfotably afford a Hegner buy a Hegner, but don't think for one second that a cheaper machine won't do the job just as well.
At the end of the day, whatever you end up doing, enjoy it! It's very easy with any pass time to get caught up in the tools and equipment and forget that the end result is, in our case, beautifully cut wood (have you ever listened to photographers arguing over who has the best camera?), so buy what you can comfortably afford and practice!
Worked for me!
;-)

 

[loftyhermes]

Well said, Mechanism Man.

 

[Bryan Bennett]

Hi Mechanism Man.
From the photos,the quality of your work can not be questioned,and a credit to you.I only own a Hegner because at the time I bought it I did not know that there were other machines around.

Bryan

 

[Skeety]

Some fantastic work in the posts above from some of the "cheaper" saws, if they work, they work

My Record decided it had had enough tonight, sparks and popping from the motor, then wouldn't hold speed, up and down and then finally stopped. Motor wasn't even warm to the touch and was only cutting 18mm MDF with a brand new Pegas blade!

Took the brushes out and they looked fine, commutator didn't look so happy re-installed but same issue.

Haven't been pushing it hard and only using it a couple of hours a day for a week with soft materials

Decision made!!

Jon.

 

[marcros]

there is a hegner for sale on the forum, may be of interest. I know nothing about them, just saw it earlier.

 

[Skeety]

Thanks Marcros

Think I'm sorted with a replacement

Cheers,

Jon.

 

[Claymore]

someone at our local crafts fair was telling me he had bought a Hegner with a knackered motor (it had been standing in a shed for years and was totally seized up etc) so I gave him my old Parkside scrollsaw which had a knackered arm and yesterday he phoned me to say he had rigged the Parkside motor up to the Hegner lol and best of all the Parkside has a speed controller unlike the old seized Hegner motor that was fixed single speed. So he's hoping to do some scrolling now and I have told him to join the forum.
cheers
Brian

 

[powertools]

someone at our local crafts fair was telling me he had bought a Hegner with a knackered motor (it had been standing in a shed for years and was totally seized up etc) so I gave him my old Parkside scrollsaw which had a knackered arm and yesterday he phoned me to say he had rigged the Parkside motor up to the Hegner lol and best of all the Parkside has a speed controller unlike the old seized Hegner motor that was fixed single speed. So he's hoping to do some scrolling now and I have told him to join the forum.
cheers
Brian

Does he now call it a Parkner or a Hegside.

I think that the input from Mechanism Man should draw a line under this debate for ever. The intricacy and quality of his work is second to none of anything that has ever been seen on this forum and he is therefore well qualified to give advice.

If you want to get into scrolling and you have the funds to purchase a top end saw then why not but if you want to get into scrolling and only have the funds for a lower quality saw and are prepared to learn scrolling and understand the workings of your saw and are happy to spend the time setting it up just do it you you wont be put off, you will have a greater understanding of the hobby and you will enjoy it, even a top end saw will need to have adjustments made to it after many hours of use that a cheaper saw may need from new.