• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Heads up on Hegner

9fingers

9fingers

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Hegner arguably produce top of the range scrollsaws but the price of the spares can range from eye watering to limb donation.

I'm in the process of help a chap from UKW with a non-functioning saw - either the motor or speed controller is FUBAR.

Failures are fairly rare it seems but Hegner UK have users over a barrel when it comes to spares.
A new motor is £500-600 and the speed controller is £187 which is extortionate in anyones book.

I've set myself the challenge to understand these controllers as they are making a single phase induction motor variable speed - traditionally something that is very unusual so my curiosity is piqued!

Fairly soon I hope to be equipped with sufficient information to be able to repair these controllers and to produce instructions so people can bypass the controllers to test if the motor is at fault (rare I believe).
I will be reverse engineering the controller circuit and making it freely available.

Watch this space - I feel a new chapter in my motor paper will be written soon.

Bob
 
Thanks Bob :eusa-clap:

I have a Multicut 1 vs and has been no problem since I bought it new a few years ago though it's only lightly used but I know where to come if that changes and will keep an eye on any progress you make.
 
I've done a first draft of my write up on sorting out problems with the motor/electrical side of the variable speed Hegner fret saws.

Please would you mind taking a look here
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/en11ye66ax54 ... Ltbga?dl=0
and proof read for me. I don't expect everyone to understand to the full extent but comments whether you think it helpful and the writing style etc will help me as you guys will be the target audience.

With a bit of topping and tailing and perhaps a bit more worthsmithing I intend to release this to the interweb to help Hegner owners to repair their machines without necessarily being stuffed by Hegners extortionate cost of parts.
Thanks
Bob
 
Tour de force, Bob ! :eusa-clap:

My two pennorth...

1 Suggest ‘take a photograph ‘ at ‘If not document….’

Which are the tacho leads ? How will they measure the frequency if they don’t have a frequency meter ?

Any suggestions as to where to get the alternative motor ? Or the best Google terms ?

Typo in 2 If the motor runs AT full speed….replace , with full stop and start new sentence. If it does not run at all …

What’s a ‘;gate’ ?

In 3, when turning the shaft, is the motor running ? Powered up ?

Digging into the depths…..photograph everything !
 
Thanks for taking the time to comment

Maybe I’m spoilt but my dvm displays frequency along with ac voltage and I’ve got used to the feature.

It possibly not a significant test. As long as the resistance display varies as the shaft is turned manually then it shows both continuity and voltage generation and will almost certainly show functionality.
Bob
 
Most of that, as you can imagine, is way over my head. I have a single speed Hegner that is about to get a run out on some inch thick oak.
It is nice to know that this information is out there in case I have trouble.
A great resource Bob.
 
Bob, thanks for writing. This is way beyond my "electric/electronic-comprehension", and unable to comment.
 
Thanks Bob, I've downloaded and saved your pdf, hope that's ok.

Most of it is over my head so can't comment, you've made me think though, I have a good quality ( I think) multimeter I'll have to look to see if it measures frequency.
 
Lons":1odcxfxk said:
Thanks Bob, I've downloaded and saved your pdf, hope that's ok.

Most of it is over my head so can't comment, you've made me think though, I have a good quality ( I think) multimeter I'll have to look to see if it measures frequency.
Click to expand...

Bob, I've got a frequency meter and other meters. If you ever need a hand ....
 
RogerS":20usd1u2 said:
Lons":20usd1u2 said:
Thanks Bob, I've downloaded and saved your pdf, hope that's ok.

Most of it is over my head so can't comment, you've made me think though, I have a good quality ( I think) multimeter I'll have to look to see if it measures frequency.
Click to expand...

Bob, I've got a frequency meter and other meters. If you ever need a hand ....
Click to expand...

Thanks Rog I'll remember that though I'd have to learn how to use one. My voltmeter is an aging Megger AVO 310 and these days I have to get the instruction book out when I need to use it. :oops:
 
Lons":jv5x4z5e said:
RogerS":jv5x4z5e said:
Lons":jv5x4z5e said:
Thanks Bob, I've downloaded and saved your pdf, hope that's ok.

Most of it is over my head so can't comment, you've made me think though, I have a good quality ( I think) multimeter I'll have to look to see if it measures frequency.
Click to expand...

Bob, I've got a frequency meter and other meters. If you ever need a hand ....
Click to expand...

Thanks Rog I'll remember that though I'd have to learn how to use one. My voltmeter is an aging Megger AVO 310 and these days I have to get the instruction book out when I need to use it. :oops:
Click to expand...

No, marra. I'd come to you !
 
Thanks to those who offered a useful critique on my draft write-up

A final version has now been updated and placed in the dropbox (top right of every forum page)

NB the earlier one has been deleted to avoid possible confusion.

Bob
 
Bob, I have been following both here and on the U.K. Woodworking forum. I want to say a huge thank you for all that you have done to not only help out a fellow woodworker but also for helping out any other Hegner owners that may have this experience with their saws. I have one question, is this information relevent to only saws that are 240 volt or will it come in handy for those of us who have the 110 volt saws? Right now, mine if working fine but I always wondered what I'd do if it suddenly stopped working. I no long have a boat in need of an anchor so some other option would have to present itself. Thanks again. You have truly helped out your fellow man.
Ray
 
Ray,
Thank you for your kind words. I have learned a lot about woodwork from these forums and the assistance I try and give in return is in the form of using my electronic/electrical knowledge to provide information and support like this. It has a second benefit to me as it helps keep my mind active in retirement after a career of problem solving in an electronics research company http://www.roke.co.uk

As for the 110v version, the motor and its capacitor will be designed for 110v but the controller I would expect it to be very similar to the 230v design simply with a different value of R4. This is a component most likely to fail due to heat dissipation and when it fails the resistance, marked with coloured bands, becomes difficult to read.

If you are willing to open yours up, just four screws, and take a nice sharp photo of the circuit board I would be able to look of any differences in design and possible update my paper to assist Hegner owners in the 110v world. Without that I'm unlikely to get access to a 110v machine from here in UK.
When opening it, the leads from the tacho generator (thin black & brown) may be quite short and may well disconnect from the circuit board. In fact to take a clear photo, these need to be removed.They are simple push on connectors onto pins on the board and can be replaced either way round.
If you do take some photos, please mail them to <motors@minchin.org.uk>

Bob
 
Andyp":2y12fviz said:
Welcome to the Woodhaven Ray.

Whereabouts in the 110v world are you?
Click to expand...

To answer: I live in sunny Southern California about 1 mile from the Pacific ocean. A very nice place to live but the cost and the crowds, along with the terrible political picture almost make the great weather not worth it. We have moved away twice and returned twice but if we were younger, we'd move again. You can't run anyplace with one party rule.
 
9fingers":gia4we8f said:
Ray,
Thank you for your kind words. I have learned a lot about woodwork from these forums and the assistance I try and give in return is in the form of using my electronic/electrical knowledge to provide information and support like this. It has a second benefit to me as it helps keep my mind active in retirement after a career of problem solving in an electronics research company http://www.roke.co.uk

As for the 110v version, the motor and its capacitor will be designed for 110v but the controller I would expect it to be very similar to the 230v design simply with a different value of R4. This is a component most likely to fail due to heat dissipation and when it fails the resistance, marked with coloured bands, becomes difficult to read.

If you are willing to open yours up, just four screws, and take a nice sharp photo of the circuit board I would be able to look of any differences in design and possible update my paper to assist Hegner owners in the 110v world. Without that I'm unlikely to get access to a 110v machine from here in UK.
When opening it, the leads from the tacho generator (thin black & brown) may be quite short and may well disconnect from the circuit board. In fact to take a clear photo, these need to be removed.They are simple push on connectors onto pins on the board and can be replaced either way round.
If you do take some photos, please mail them to <motors@minchin.org.uk>

Bob
Click to expand...
Thanks Bob, I will do that quite soon. Be on the lookout for pics. And just to set your mind at ease, I'll be sure to disconnect the wall plug prior to opening the control box. I've been knocked on my kiester a few times so I learned my lesson. At the tiny age of 4, I had a penchant for taking the wall plates off of outlets to see what was behind them. My parents soon supplied me with a Erector Set so that my mind would be on something more creative.
 
I am indebted to Ray for sending me photos of the control board as fitted to his Hegner scrollsaw.
This has provided insight into a newer version of the control board design as well as differences for 110v operation
An updated version, 1.2 of my paper on the subject is now in the dropbox.

Bob
 
Is the downloadable repair sheet still available, please? Says 'deleted' at DropBox. Could really use it: we've had one of these brought in to our repair cafe with the same fault. Motor windings give sensible resistances, 240V comes into the board, nada goes out to the windings. Have ordered a triac because that seems like the most likely fail. But would be good to know more - especially how the board's PSU works - maybe that's via the X2 and I've seen that kind of PSU fail before due to capacitor fade but don't have the enthusiasm to plot out a circuit-diagram and there's a limit to how much replace-and-hope I'm keen to play at. All help would be very welcome!
Cheers, Ian.
 
Many thanks. Haven't got the board here (our RC liability insurance doesn't cover working-at-home). But from your notes I'll order that PSU resistor, as well as the triac, ready for the next meeting. Cheers, Ian.
 
Finally got to look again at the Hegner saw which came in to our repair cafe. The failure was indeed one of the components you list as likely. In this case the 18K 2W in the PSU. Nice easy fix. Many thanks for your help.
 
Social media, of which this forum is one, gets such a bad rap in the “mainstream” media this thread is a first rate example of the good that is out there.
👏👏👏
 
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