scroll saw & blades

bigscaledave

Hello Gentlemen and Lades,  I purchased a ponxxon scroll saw recently, it looks like the one they sell on the Micro-Mark web site. I have only used 1 blade so far, it's one that the folks at the FlyingDuchman sent for me to try. I tried it out on some balsa wood scrip I've got laying around,"yes that's right", I also build balsa aircraft too. Well it cut 3/32 inch stock just fine, however it  chewed up 1/16 inch stock of equal hardness. My question is has anyone on the forum ever used a scroll saw? and can anyone give me any advice about using this power tool on balsa wood and plastic stock?  And as always a preemptive Thank You for any advice. 

 

I am a scroller :) I love scroll sawing. They make different  blades. They make them to cut glass stone metal. They even have a spiral blade but those are hard to use. If you youtube scroll saw you will see all kinds of stuff. To by blades go to www.woodenteddybear.com  

Flying dutch  blades are the best.  There is a learning curve. They make blades with teeth go in one direction  or and teeth that go in different  directions on one blade those are called  reverse tooth blades. Which I would  think you would want. I'd also helps to have a variable speed on your saw.  Hold the wood down tight next to the blade to prevent the wood from flopping. If you small pieces to cut out that can fit into,your  hole in the table take blue painters tape and cover the hole this makes a zero clearance. Or tape a playing card down. Also put some paste wax on your table help the wood to slide. Turtle car wax is good or the liquid. Paste is better. If you do get in to the wood working aspects of it Google "Steve Good " he has Donever a lot of video  too. Good luck. Karl

You are certainly welcome .

Enjoy that machine and what you create with it .    T.B.

You're quite welcome bigscale And, just to spend more of your money, because you have some jewelers saw blades think about buying a jewelers saw - something like this but available from many sources:

www.amazon.com/.../ref=sr_1_1

Your Proxxon will work very well on flat subjects and many materials but, for instance cutting an access panel out of a fuselage side, well it take patience. A jewelers saw and blade, a tiny hole and it's quite easy. Anyway, enjoy your Proxxon. I'm glad I bought mine every time i use it.

I just wanted to thank everyone for your advice, especially you Bick,  that web site has some jewelers saw blades that I think will work out real good. I got two new sample blades from Flying Dutchman today they are size 3/0 spiral with 38 teeth per inch, Dutchman has these spiral blades with up to 48 teeth per inch. I also noted that they have two different blades that are labelled as jeweler's specific blades with 45 and 64 teeth per inch. And this Proxxon scroll saw can be slowed down to a crawl, so I think things are going to work out just fine. Well thanks again for all of the great advice guys, and model on dudes.

Well ;

  Now that's easy ! All the way around ! . When I scroll I do some very intricate stuff so a regular blade will usually break on the back-out stroke  .A round blade lets you saw on the pattern till you come out , or back to point A .

   I have found the round blades to be stronger , cut easier and also last longer no matter what material I am cutting . I do a LOT of Lexan and Styrene Clear !

      That's why I keep saying it's the operator .You run the saw as slow as you safely can and BE Patient .The Schreibner can do 40 strokes a minute if I push it .

Which direction do you have your teeth pointing ?

... and the light :-)  Seriously,  good lighting makes ANY tool work better!

Actually :

It's Not the saw , It's the operator . I  have the Proxxon , and My Schreibner . I also have a Craftsman ( 44 yrs old ) and  a Dremel brand Proffessional . Know which one I like best ? My Dremel !. the trick is using the saw correctly !

     This means that where a particular saw is used , namely scroll saws , patience is indeed the virtue you want to practice , along with good lighting , clean working area and a finely made blade or blades . I have seen folks turn out world class scroll projects on a Harbor Freight saw . So you see , it isn't really the tool but the user .

You can try sandwiching your very thin stock in some heavier stuff and that will help on tearouts.  Mine is a cheapie HF but works alright, but have only used thin ply and board stock till now.

Hi;

    I don't have that saw . I have  Schreibner Pro saw .( I do wood-carving too ) and it works just fine with the Jewelers blades .There is also a blade made by " Flying Dutchman " that is a general use round blade . This works awesome on everything .The nice part is the saw can be adjusted to run about as slow as you might do by hand .

   That way plastic and thin balsa are no problem .

Hi Bigscale,

I also have the Proxxon scroll saw and quite llike it. However, I don't often use normal scroll saw blades with it. Instead, I prefer jewelers saw blades - finer teeth, cleaner cut and you can cut metal with them. They come in various TPI and thickness and aren't that expensive (i.e $20 for a gross - 144). Available from many sources like Amazon and Ebay and, of course, jewelry suppliers like this one:

www.gesswein.com/p-10467-herkules-white-label-saw-blades-gross.aspx

With the variable speed on the Proxxon, you can, as Don says, slow it down if you're cutting plastic and get a nice clean cut. Cutting balsa is just - well cut and follow the outline/pattern.

One thing I like about the Proxxxon is the facility to use shorter blades. If you break a blade (I do when cutting metal) you can often use the top half of the broken blade as a new one. I don't know of another scroll saw that has that facility. Within its limits the Proxxon is a nice scroll saw. Try jewelers saw blades - you might like them. BTW, I, too, build with balsa.

I have both a scroll saw and a band saw.  For 1/16 balsa I prefer an X-acto knife.  I do cut 1/16 basswood with the scroll saw, but 1/16 balsa is just too soft, and the knife is easier.

Plastic cutting with a power saw is difficult. It tends to get the blade to hot and melts the plastic.  If the saw works plugged into a speed controller, that works, or constantly applying water to the blade helps too, but you have to be careful where the water goes. If it goes inside the saw, into the motor area, that can be a disaster.  With a speed run it very slow.