Scroll Saws & projects

[Jim]

I've had a scroll saw around for years, but never did much with it. Lately, I've been putting in the hours to learn more about this handy tool.

Do you have one? What have you done with it? Any tips?

[Jim]

I have an old 16" Ryobi scroll saw that I picked up in the 90s & was made in the 80s, I think. It has the parallel or C arm system which is a huge improvement over my first one which was a rigid arm with a spring on top that pulled the blade down & let it spring up. The vibrations, even when bolted to a bench were fierce! On the downside, I have to be careful to go slowly since the face of the blade isn't always parallel to the wood since it rocks back & forth slightly. Both of these are single speed, too.

The newer saws have a parallel link system for holding the blade that keeps it completely vertical all the time plus the motor is in the rear so I've read that there is less vibration. Many are also variable speed which is something I'd love to have. I'm getting one of those router/fan speed controls to see if that will work with my current one since fine tooth blades & thick, hard woods like maple & cherry often result in overheating.

[Jim]

Blades! There are a bewildering variety of different blades for the scroll saw. They can have pin or plain ends.

Pin ends are like those for a coping saw & are easy to change, but the blades are thicker & there are far less choices in the size & type of tooth. They also require a bigger hole to thread through, at least 1/8" or slightly bigger in thicker wood. When doing fine fret work, that's often way too big.

Plain ends need a clamp to hold them which is a pain, at least on those that came with my scroll saw. I had to make up piece of wood to hold the clamp & blade so I could line it up & tighten properly. Also, I had to put a wire to hold on to the top clamp else it will fly off & get lost if the blade breaks above the wood. Still, these blades come in the most varieties & with the finest teeth. You can see most of the different types & sizes in this chart:
http://www2.woodcraft.com/PDF/Olson-s...

I've found this chart handy for narrowing down the selection:
http://scrollsawer.com/wp-content/upl...

[Jim]

The next hurdle has been good patterns. There are a LOT of books of patterns for scroll saws available, but the ones I find the most are paper. Copying a pattern is a challenge since the binding often deforms the picture if I'm not careful. The best way I've found to get around this is to cut the picture out of the book & scan it. Once it is an image file on my computer, I can print it out as often as I want. Best of all, I can easily change the size. I dislike doing this to books, though. Seems like sacrilege.

I've been making a lot of puzzles. While I'll often like the overall shape, sometimes the pieces could be drawn better. For instance, I found a neat rabbit, but the puzzle pieces made a mess of what could have been a rear haunch, so I wanted to change that.

I use Irfanview, a free picture viewer with some simple editing features, to wipe out some of the puzzle lines. I can't draw with a mouse, so I print them out & redraw the lines free hand. That's usually pretty messy, so I use carbon paper to transfer clean lines to a new page & then scan that in for use later.

Irfanview is also really handy for coloring in the pieces. They can be complicated & trying to get a few colors in the proper places can be difficult. I stick to simple colors & usually use food dye so only have a handful to choose from. I have to be careful to sand the pieces well with 150 grit or else the dye won't soak in to hard woods like maple well. I cover it with a coat of oil-based polyurethane to make sure it won't come off later.

[Jim]

I finally figured out a great clamp for the brackets that hold plain end scroll saw blades. I got a bunch of speakers from work & knocked the magnets out of them. The screw that held small tweeter speakers in front of the 6" basic speaker turns out to be exactly the diameter needed. The magnets from those tweeters is about the size of a dime, so I glued them on either side. They hold the blade up to the center of the clamp & the screw holds the clamp still so I can use the Allen wrench without twisting the blade out of line.

In this picture, the Allen wrench is held where it normally is between uses. It's actually used on the bracket at the bottom of the picture.



The curved, flat magnet at the end is from an old computer hard drive. The wire is on the top bracket to keep it from flying across the shop when the blade breaks. I don't know why saws don't come with something like that stock.

Here you can see how I flipped the tool around when putting it through a hole for one of the many internal cuts. Each one starts from a hole, some as small as 1/16". (I should have the paper facing away since the bracket I'm putting on is the bottom one.)



Not pictured is the Allen wrench on the curved magnet. It's important to keep it at hand & easy to find since this is basically a 3 hand operation at the best of times.

[Jim]

Making game pieces, I decided to try doing a 3D scrollsaw piece. It requires gluing the template on to 2 sides of the block, cutting one side, taping it together, & then cutting the other side. The finished figure pops out & it's really cool.



Here's another view of the block popped open.



I found that it's best to make as continuous of a cut as possible on one side. Makes sense since then it holds itself together better & less tape is needed.

[Jim]

The aquarium pump I've been using on my scroll saw has been blowing less air, so I broke down & bought a new one that puts out a lot more. It's really nice. No more bending over to blow the sawdust off the lines while I'm cutting. Trying to figure out what the right output of air is for a scroll saw when hooking up a pump made for an aquarium was interesting, but I got it right. It’s 18 watt, 2.9 psi (0.02 mpa), 10 gallons (38 liters) of air per minute, in case anyone is curious.

[Jaye]

Jim wrote: "The aquarium pump I've been using on my scroll saw has been blowing less air, so I broke down & bought a new one that puts out a lot more. It's really nice. No more bending over to blow the sawdust..."

I'm always curious and interested in things new to me.
And if i have a question i know where to start my asking !

[Jim]

I've saved up a fair amount in my 'tool fund' so I looked into buying a new scroll saw. Even with the tool I made for attaching the pinless blade brackets, it's a pain to put them on & some of the new ones supposedly fixed that issue. Also, they now come with variable speed which would be really nice. I was shocked at just how crappy the new ones are, though. Most still seem to have all the same issues as mine which is 30 years old plus they're made cheaper. My old 16" Ryobi was about $300 new & now many sell for a lot less.

I found that the 22" Dewalt had the pinless blade holders built in, but reviewers don't like the way the top arm swings up to allow threading the blade through the project. It also can't use pinned blades at all. That's not a big deal, but many also mentioned that the top arm wasn't aligned with the lower one so they had to bend it back by hand. I can't bend my top arm by hand, it's too solid, so I'm not sure how long something that weak will survive the vibration. While the extra depth of cut seems nice, I can't recall ever really needing it & that might explain why the arm gets bent.

The reviews also point out all the old short comings I've had to fix on mine: crappy air blowers, work lights that don't hold position, & no dust collection. It amazes me that manufacturers haven't fixed these perennial problems. I've overcome all of these on mine for a few dollars & a bit of time, but all they seem concerned with is pushing the price down. That's ridiculous. It's a tool that can/should last for decades so quality counts & those 'minor' issues become a major PITA after a while. Anyway, it just doesn't seem worthwhile getting a new one.