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Messages - rfielder

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1
Ask Steve a question. / Re: Seyco ST21 vibration/shaking Issue
« on: May 19, 2021, 06:24:00 pm »
I will be scrolling again as soon as I can afford a new saw.  I would welcome recommendations.  Thanks Dan.
Don't hold out for a new saw.

Get a use Excalibur, test it throughly, and you may be very happy.

That is what I have, and it has been great.  Upgraded the chucks with the units from Bear Woods, and it has been working hard without issue.

2
Brag Forum / Re: Finally built myself a cart - HUGE improvement!
« on: March 18, 2021, 07:54:38 am »
Very nicely done!

I take that is the 16" scroll saw?

I took a different approach to a stand for my Excalibur EX21.  Will post some photos, and will see if I can steal any of your ideas!!  :)

Biggest differences is that I went with drawers, and my saw is too old to have the dust collection part on the bottom of the table.

3
General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Scroll Saw Bowls
« on: February 24, 2021, 10:05:32 am »
Just to be clear - I am asking about bowls, not baskets.  I have done a couple of baskets in Baltic Birch, and they looked good.

Not intending to hold soup!  More decorative, maybe hold candies or suchlike at this point.

I get the impression that Baltic Birch might be OK, but solid wood is better.  Since the next bowl I make needs to be wider, it will have to wait until I can get some wider wood.  Only stuff I have right now that could be edge jointed to make a wider board are cedar and basswood, and I don't want to use those.

Just finished my first bowl in ash, and it was OK finished with tung oil, but using 1/4" walls meant it would have been paper thin had I sanded out all traces of the drill holes.

4
General Scroll Saw Talk / Scroll Saw Bowls
« on: February 23, 2021, 03:14:48 pm »
Has anyone made a scroll saw bowl using only plywood?

Just wonder how it would look, and how durable it is.  I would be using baltic birch plywood.

5
General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Kinked Blades
« on: February 17, 2021, 07:20:18 am »
The lower holder for my Jet saw was kinking the blades (well, 2 out of the 3 it came with).  One side is the knob you turn.  I used a small Allen wrench to drive the screw on the other side just a tiny bit deeper so the end was flush with the holder itself.  Now the blades don't get kinked.
Interesting!  I just adjusted the lower chuck, but have not done any further sawing to see the difference.

Flush with the chuck?  I can do that.

6
General Scroll Saw Talk / Kinked Blades
« on: February 13, 2021, 11:06:21 am »
 have an older (2009) Excalibur EX-21, in green, purchased used and well used. The chucks were replaced with the Pegas chuck set. Great improvement! The original lower chuck was done, so the upgrade was required, not just purchased as an upgrade.

When using small blades such as Pegas Modified Geometry 2/0R, the end of the blade in the lower chuck is getting bent, or kinked. Does not effect the cutting, but makes it difficult to feed the blade through small holes. I tend to use a #71 bit for these blades, and most of my cutting lately have required the use of such a small blade.

Yes, I am a top feeder!

Attached is a closeup of the ends of the blades.  I hope iti is clear, the limit of 128kb per image seems very low.

I have not seen a similar kink when using heavier blades, such as #5.

Anyone else run into this? Any idea why the lower chuck is bending the blades like this?

7
Thanks Steve.  Will put it in my file for reference.
Jim - you are welcome.

:)

8
KCSteve, where would I find chart for identifying blades?
Jim:

The Jan 31/21 blog post has the chart.

https://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/2021_01_31_archive.html

9
General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Circle Cutters for the Scroll Saw
« on: January 31, 2021, 01:05:10 pm »
   a word of caution:  You must of course use spiral cut blades and advancing to quickly, even with the smallest of those blades will damage the edges of nearly any kind of layered wood.
Why are spiral blades required?

If the edge of the circle is in alignment with the cutting edge of the blade, won't that work?  That is how I set the one I built for my bandsaw, and it works quite well.

10
General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Scroll Saw Dust Capture
« on: January 31, 2021, 01:02:50 pm »
This is a pretty awesome idea. I have large Delta that removes the debris and fine dust particles, but still some gets into the shop.  I needed a simple solution that would fit in the shop and was mobile  and I do believe if I put a furnace filter on the front and back of my box fan it will pretty much do the trick. So thanks for the heads up. Nice idea. What my Delta misses I suspect the fan filters will pick up.
The filter on fan trick does work.  I used to set the fan in one corner of the garage and just let it run every time I was there - and the air did feel much better.

At this time, I am using duct tape to hold the filter on.  That works, but will need to be replaced with something a bit sturdier and a bit more airtight eventually.

11
General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Scroll Saw Dust Capture
« on: January 29, 2021, 11:50:38 am »
I have my setup mobile - built a cart loosely based on the one Steve has provided a video link to.  That means my dust collection has to be part of the cart.
My "shop" is a one car garage.  Everything is on wheels.  Which makes it interesting when changing projects.  On the other hand, all the carts have drawers, so it was an amazing increase in storage space.

Quote
If you have a normal shop you can use a bigger/better dust collection setup where the vacuum isn't two feet from your head and there is no noise problem.  But that does point out one thing for your shopping - check the noise levels.  If possible see it live where you can hear how loud it is.  I don't need to cover up for a few minutes work but after a while it gets to be problematic.
I have a DeWalt shopvac.  By itself, it is not too bad, but when combined with any other tool, hearing protection is needed.

If I were to upgrade to a newer scroll saw, I would need to upgrade to a MUCH quieter shopvac in order to take advantage of the dust collection.  The new shopvac would need to be considered as a required part of the purchase.  That is why I was wondering if the upgrade would make enough difference to be worthwhile.  My 11 year old EX-21 works well enough that it does not need to be replaced.

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If I win the lottery I'll get an actual shop and it will have a dust collection system with noise abatement so I only need hearing protection when I use a noisy tool.
If I win a lottery, a new home with a shop, and lots of new tools to replace the ones that are barely "good enough" would be in order.  Isn't day dreaming fun?   :)

12
General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Scroll Saw Dust Capture
« on: January 28, 2021, 02:58:32 pm »
The vacuum is one meant for copier repair guys - it's scary powerful.  The included cyclone gets almost all of the dust and I seldom have to change the small bag in the vacuum.  It is a bit noisy though - I wear ear muffs while working.
Wearing ear protection while scroll sawing is something I would avoid.  I also have hearing damage, from working in foundries when I was young, and I have hearing aids.

Quote
It does make a huge difference in dust levels!  I can always tell when the bag is getting clogged (never gets full, just gets clogged with the stuff that's fine enough to get past the cyclone) or when my inlet gets plugged with the small bits that fall down by how dusty my car is getting.  I set up in my garage right in front of my car and normally it's just a little dusty from what gets blown off the top of the wood.
That is what I was wondering!  Thanks for confirming!

13
General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Scroll Saw Dust Capture
« on: January 28, 2021, 02:55:25 pm »
For doing it on the cheap a box fan with a filter taped to the front can trap a lot of dust that floats in the air.
Thanks.  I have one of those, and it works.

My question was about the dust collection built into modern scroll saws.  What I really want to know is - will upgrading to a new saw make a difference to the dust in my shop?

14
General Scroll Saw Talk / Scroll Saw Dust Capture
« on: January 26, 2021, 10:19:11 am »
What is the general consensus on scroll saw dust capture?  Do they work well enough that you always use it?  Does it get in to the road of the blade chucks when doing top feeding?

I see that new scroll saws have something under the table to capture dust, and the ability to use a shop vac or dust collection system with adapter to suck away dust.

My  Excalibur EX21 was built before these existed.  There is a fair bit of dust falling down, which would be nice to pull away.

However, there is also dust put into the air above the table.  Does the modern dust capture systems change the above-table dust at all?  This would seem to be the dust we would end up breathing in, rather than the dust below the table.

15
The Coffee Shop / Happy New Year!
« on: January 01, 2021, 11:12:10 am »
Happy New Year to all!

Here is hoping that 2021 is a much better year.

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