Is an Excalibur Scrollsaw worth the wait?

You made a good choice; it is an excellent saw. I picked my up locally so I didn’t have to wait. The decision to wait is up to you. FYI it is so easy to cut bowls with the tilting head.

-- Bryan Cramer at Great Plains Design Works www.greatplainsdesignworks.com

I tried to find one locally but very few places in CA carry them. So far I’ve gotten 3 different stories from them regarding the delay, unexpected demand, then they had to fix a design flaw in the drive system, then they are having problems with a needle bearing supplier.
I’ve checked out the dewalt and delta, but they don’t impress me as much as the Excalibur, and I certainly can’t afford a Hegner or Hawk. It just really upsets me that they’ve had almost $900 from me for almost 5 months by the time I get one, if I in fact ever get it!! You can be sure I will be very hesitant about recommending General International products based on the customer service I’ve received so far.

-- Snow's Wooden Toys & Gifts

My sweat lady of the house bought me a excaliiber 21 and i think it is worth the wait.

-- Dick F,Burg Iowa

My 2 cens I have a dewalt 788 love it have never had a problem, I was using it 5-6 hours a day, never a hiccup

-- Tite Lines, May the wind be at your back

Generally speaking General and Gen. Int. have outstanding customer service. You’ll find the machine in perfect condition when you do get it because they would not accept second rate other parts to take the place of the ones they are short on currently. And should it ever break they have great reps to help you out. It may seem a big deal now but once you’ve had it for a week all this frustration will be forgotten

I recently purchased the “30th Anniversary EX-21AK Scroll Saw – Ltd. Ed.” from SEYCO. They are in Rockwall, Tx. which is a 3 1/2 hour drive from my house, so I went on a day trip and picked one up. It saved me the $94 shipping charge. Ray Seymore at SEYCO was great to do business. Here’s a link:

http://www.seyco.com/
It looks like they still have some of the 30th anniv. saws left for $849.95

Hope this helps you on your decision, I love my Excaliber.

-- I may be slow, but I'm easy to stop!!!

Have you checked out CL? I picked up a 20” RBI Hawk, in very nice condition, with a lot of good quality blades, for $275. I could claim that as a gloat, but a few days before that I stupidly walked away from a new looking 18” Hegner, a recent model, that I could have had for $250. A few hours later, when I called back, of course it was gone. The RBI was my consolation.

-- I admit to being an adrenaline junky; fortunately, I'm very easily frightened

I bought my Excalibur from Seyco about a year ago and can’t say enough good things about both Seyco and the saw. I wrote a review of the saw here on this site.

General can be frustrating to deal with at times. In fact, the only reason I have a Delta Unisaw instead of a General 650 in my shop now is because after a 3 month delay, I got tired of waiting. Ordered the Delta through Woodcraft and had my saw the next week.

At this point, if General is telling you it’s going to be a while, see if Ray can set you up with a saw (get his magnifying lamp, it’s worth it!), and cancel you order through Woodcraft. But the saw is superb.

I think it is definitely worth the wait!

Sheila

-- Designer/Artist/Teacher. Owner of Sheila Landry Designs (http://www.sheilalandrydesigns.com) Scroll saw, wood working and painting patterns and surfaces. "Knowledge is Power"

I love my Excalibur. I like the tilting head rather than having the tilting table. It would be worth the wait. Did you order it from International? There are a lot of them on Amazon and other sources on the internet. I bought mine locally at ACME Tool. I know ACME has a mail-order department too.

-- Wayne - Plymouth MN

To Richard Miller…I hope you meant to type “sweet lady of the house”

Yes. It’s worth the wait. The dual link parallel arm greatly reduces vibration.

-- Rich, Seattle, WA

to teejk you are so correct thanks .

-- Dick F,Burg Iowa

Just trying to help Richard…english is a very difficult language (in your case what a difference a single letter makes). Anyway, I’m watching this thread because it’s time to buy a new scroller.

Richard, a sweat lady vs: a sweet lady?????
I would like to have an Ex. scroller, but having my bucks for that length of time is kinda goofy. Do they not charge when product(s) is shipped?
Bill

-- [email protected]