Messages

1

Ask Steve a question. / Re: Jigsaws

« on: September 02, 2017, 02:15:28 pm »

Thanks Dave.  Found it.  Will definitely give it a try.

Tony

2

Ask Steve a question. / Re: Jigsaws

« on: September 01, 2017, 11:43:47 am »

Thanks Daveo.  I didn't know that there was self adhesive photographic paper.  Which manufacturer and weight do you use?  How good is the adhesiveness?

Thank you so much.  It looks just what I need.

Tonyuk

3

Ask Steve a question. / Jigsaws

« on: September 01, 2017, 10:34:37 am »

Hello Steve from over the pond,

Recently, after recovering somewhat from a long illness and a loss of interest in my main hobbies (woodturning, scrollsaw work and astrophotography), I was asked to make a couple of jigsaws.  This request fired my enthusiasm - just what I needed.  So I looked for your jigsaw book which I purchase a year or two back but couldn't find it.  I must have forgotten to transfer it over onto a new computer.

After purchasing a new booklet I set to work.  This eventually brought a question I'd been meaning to ask you before I took ill.  How do you stick your photographs onto the timber. plywood etc without getting glue over the photographs particularly when you rub the photograph down to exclude air bubbles?  This is what you do in your video which is also very useful.  Thank you.

I know it's a silly question but I'd love to know how YOU do it.

Kind regards

Tony Smith

4

Ask Steve a question. / Jetsaw review

« on: November 02, 2016, 05:35:50 pm »

Hi Steve,

I watched your review with interest and was particularly interested to see how you attached the vacuum hose - the blue sleeve.  Since it seems a very similar problem to the one with the Excaliber which I use I would be interested to know from where you got the the sleeve.  A link would be great.

Many thanks.

Tony Smith in the UK

5

Intarsia / First intarsia job

« on: January 24, 2016, 06:20:21 am »

I'm about to start my first intarsia job.  It may be a silly question - OK no question is silly.

I realise that any thickness of timber can be used within reason but generally from what I've seen no thickness is stated in a plan.  It seems to me that about 3/4 inch (18 mm) is generally the thickness used.  Is this so?

Tony

6

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Dust extraction with the new Excalibur model

« on: January 06, 2016, 10:55:27 am »

I ended up removing the plastic shroud on my Excalibur, allowing chips to fall through the table and out of the way...Then, I simply do the same thing that I've always done; vacuum everything after use...I'm not much of a fan of dust collection except when using my orbital sander...MOST other activities crate sawdust/chips that aren't near as much of an issue as compared to the dust that is created while sanding (and that sanding dust gets EVERYWHERE)...When looking at dust collection for scrollsaws, I see more disadvantages than advantages (my opinion/experience):
1. The design of the dust collection system inhibits the ability to perform "normal" functions of the tool (i.e. the shroud doesn't let the chips fall through, or as already mentioned, they get stuck in there).
2. Continually running a shop vac while cutting adds a lot of unwanted noise.  The Excalibur is a relatively quite saw compared to my previous saw, and now that I've lowered the noise level to a real comfortable level, I don't want to turn around and raise it by adding a shop vac.
3. The blower (located above the work piece) is blowing dust away to provide a clear view of the blade/pattern, while on the the other hand, the dust collector (located below the work piece) is limited to what falls below. The point is that you'll need to vacuum afterwards anyway, regardless of how effective the dust collector is at capturing stuff below, because the dust collector (as designed) can't capture the dust created by the blower. On my Excalibur I have TWO blowers; the integrated one that came with the saw, and another one that I mounted on the side of the upper arm and connected to an aquarium pump. The integrated one blows from the side across the work piece, and the one that I installed blows back away from my face. As a result, I don't have any issues with dust around my face.

Back to the original question as to how it can be improved, here's my input...In order to allow the chips to naturally fall through the table, and not inhibit any normal function of the machine, the dust collection port should be located BELOW the travel path of the lower blade clamp (picture a wide shop vac attachment held upside down under the  front of the machine).  Use the same inverted vacuum attachment concept to catch the dust created by the blower by mounting a narrow channel/gutter all  the way around the circumference of the edge of the table (some would say to simply replace the blower with a vacuum attachment, but I don't think it would be as effective at clearing the blade/pattern path as a blower; not to mention that it is easier to blow from above, and vacuum from below). This gutter doesn't need to be any wider than say one quarter inch, if that; it's only there to collect dust from the blower, not chips...Just some food for thought.

Thanks for that.  I totally agree with you.  The problem I have is that I've had throat cancer three times which, after radio therapy has left my throat particularly sensitive hence my need to remove as much dust as possible.  I'm 71 and don't scroll every day.  I'm a relatively light user.  Woodturning is also a passion of mine and I use a full head mask when sanding however it is too cumbersome to use when scrolling.

Your post has given me food for thought so many thanks for taking the trouble to reply.

Tony Smith

7

Pattern Requests. / Pattern for Honda Fireblade motor bike

« on: January 03, 2016, 10:57:51 am »

I'm a relative beginner and have been asked to cut a Honda Fireblade motorbike.  I haven't a clue as to where to begin.

A picture of the bike is at

http://www.honda.co.uk/motorcycles/range/super-sport/cbr1000rr-fireblade-2014/specifications.html

or a Google search will provide many others - search "honda fireblade".

Or perhaps somebody can point me in the direction of a simple introduction to the production of patterns.

Any help would be gratefully accepted.

Tony

8

General Scroll Saw Talk / Dust extraction with the new Excalibur model

« on: January 02, 2016, 12:18:39 pm »

A few months ago I purchased an Excalibur scrollsaw.  It is a newer model in that it has extra holes in the work table round the main hole for the saw blade.  These are to facilitate dust extraction.  However, though this works satisfactorily inevitably small pieces of wood pass through the main hole and some collect between the plastic underneath the work table and the table itself at the point where it is connected to the extraction duct.  Eventually the airflow is severely restricted and the bits have to be removed.

As far as I can tell the plastic is stuck into place so removing the wood bits is messy to say the least using a combination of placing the dust extractor above the work table and thin wire to coax the bits out.

Does anybody have any idea how this can be improved?

Many thanks for any help.

Tony

9

Tutorials, Techniques and Tips / Re: Cutting letters

« on: September 05, 2015, 03:12:50 pm »

Thanks for the suggestions folks.

I do use packing tape but not on the back.  I'll give that a go and up the speed again.

Tony

10

Tutorials, Techniques and Tips / Cutting letters

« on: September 01, 2015, 01:07:00 pm »

I've been asked to cut several of the 'Anchors Aweigh' pattern published by Steve.  I'm using 3/4 inch oak and find the lettering particularly taxing for a relative newbie like myself.  Letters like 'e' are notorious because of the cross grain just where I don't want it. 

Because of the thickness and toughness I'm using a No3 scroll reverse blade.  I'm using an Excalibur with the speed reduced to about 25%.

I guess most of my problems are due to lack of experience but does anybody have any tips for this work.

Thank you for any help.

Tony Smith

11

Tutorials, Techniques and Tips / Re: Blades for cutting silhouettes

« on: August 27, 2015, 03:53:32 pm »

Thank you all for your suggestions.  The timber I will use will either be oak, of which I recently obtained two 10 feet pews from a local church who were having the interior renovated, or 1/4 inch birch ply.  I'm undecided on that.  In the last 2 days I've practiced with small head portrait silhouettes about 3 inches square and found it very exacting so I've run the saw much slower than usually.  I also found that a No 3 blade is too big for some cuts so I picked up some No 1 blades locally today.   If I do more of this work I'll order some No 1 FD blades from Mike's.

Thanks again for your help.

Tony

12

Ask Steve a question. / Re: Foot speed controller

« on: August 23, 2015, 10:07:22 am »

Hello Janis,

I'm sorry not to have replied sooner.  I've not had chance to look at this forum for quite a while.

The people I ordered from is here

http://www.axminster.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=Excalibur+scroll+saw

They happen to have an outlet near to where I live.  I can recommend without reservation.

Hope this is still of some help.

Regards

Tony

13

Tutorials, Techniques and Tips / Blades for cutting silhouettes

« on: August 23, 2015, 09:52:32 am »

Although I've been scrolling for 2 or 3 years now and have moved up to an Excalibur I still consider myself to be little more than a Newbie.

I recently got a request to cut some silhouette pictures of relatives and so I read about it (as I always do before attempting something new) and found that spiral blades are recommended so I ordered some as well as others from over there (I'm over the pond in the UK) because I can't get Flying Dutchman blades over here.  I guessed I needed a fine blade so opted for a No 3.

On trying one out I was surprised to find the kerf being so wide such that fine work isn't possible.

So my question is what size blade do you experts suggest I use?

Thank you for any help.

Tony

14

Ask Steve a question. / Re: Foot speed controller

« on: June 16, 2015, 08:49:16 am »

No Tony, It wont hurt the saw or the blade to stop the motor suddenly at the corner.
Sometimes you can just stop cutting at the corner and back the blade up back down the cut (with the motor running) and turn over to the other side of the corner or, you can stop the motor and do the same thing. Then after cutting out all of the center section out, go back in the opposite direction to clean up the corner to 90 degrees. (or what ever degrees is required)
Everyone has their own special way to skin this cat. 
I don't think you can hurt a scroll saw short of throwing it on the floor or setting it on fire. The electrical problems are the only real worry and they can usually be repaired. Wearing it out from use or lack of mantaince are the real issues.

Rog

Thanks Rog.  It's much appreciated.

Tony

15

Ask Steve a question. / Re: Foot speed controller

« on: June 15, 2015, 12:24:26 pm »

Hello Jim, Nancy and Rog,

Many thanks all for your help.  Clearly I got my 'facts' wrong so I'll stop searching.

However your advice makes me ask the following.  If, say, one stopped the cut each time one reached a corner to prevent over cutting (as is so easy for us newbies) would that cause any damage to the saw?

Again any help would be much appreciated.

Tony

PS Nancy it sounds as though your pupil plays much like I play the piano - tends to cover up some (many?) errors.