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General Category => Ask Steve a question. => Topic started by: caselman74 on March 31, 2012, 11:36:34 pm
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Hello,new here.
I recently purchased a new Porter Cable scrollsaw and the blade clamps STINK!! I keep bending or breaking my spiral blades.I have seen alot about this in other post but none have seemed to show me if or wher I can buy retro fit replacement clamps. Could someone please point me in the right direction?
Thank you.
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What kind of spiral blades do you use?
Where does the blade break?
There are different versions of spirals, some have twisted ends and some have straight ends.
Also do spirals not take the same amount of tension as a straight blade would do.
The clamps are pretty much the same as on a lot of machines and to my point of view some of the better working ones.
You might run some sand paper through the clamp to get the screw tops flat.
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I had the Porter Cable (PC) saw (packed away when I got my Delta). Yes, the blade clamps stink when dealing with spirals! One solution is to get the flat end spirals, however I believe those only go down to a #1 size. When I used regular spirals, I actually made a small addition to the clamp, so it would squeeze the blade, instead of twisting onto the blade. I should check if the Delta thumbscrews will fit in the PC clamps. If so, that would probably solve the problem, 'cause the Delta/Dewalt thumbscrews have a surface that stays stationary while the screw turns (unknown to me what it's called). The PC thumbscrews don't have that feature.
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Okay, I went out to the shop and checked my theory. The Delta thumbscrews DO fit the Porter Cable blade clamps perfectly! Wish I'd known this when I was trying to solve this problem myself!!! ::) Anyhow, here's a link to ordering Delta's thumbscrews. Not expensive, and obviously, you'll need two!
http://servicenet.deltamachinery.com/Parts/Detail/18996
Good luck!
Glen
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Glen, please make a photo of the Porter Cable blade clamp. Just to show off what the talk is about.
To my point of view it's more a problem of the blade then of the clamp, cause that one is working like nearly all clamps are doing it.
And yes, most blade clamps are compatible to any scroll saw. The clamps are kind of standardized. So you can mount any clamp you want by just exchanging them.
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NOT true Torsten!
DeWalt and Delta 40-690 clamps will not interchange with any other saw
~~~GB~~~
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Okay, I've posted pictures to the gallery of the thumbscrews and diagrams showing the difference in how they apply pressure to clamp the blades. Although the thumbscrews are the same diameter and same thread, the blade clamps on these two types of saws are not even remotely the same, due to the completely different types of saw they are. The Delta/Dewalt are Parallel Link saws and the Porter Cable is a Parallel Arm saw. I hope this clarifies things for all.
Glen
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Glen, the porter Cable applies the pressure directly like most blade clamps do. the DeWalt has an extra part in between the screw and the blade.
right, those parallel link saws have another system. So the interchangeability is limited to Parallel Arm / C-arm saws.
Those always have at the end of the arm a screw going through and that one is about 1/2" away from the end of the arms:
(http://www.torsten-harms.de/holz/div/clamp.jpg)
The clamp on the picture is mounted to my Hegner (dove tail ending cut off). It's one of those pretty simple clamps where the screw directly clamps the blade. Works fine, if needed one can pull some sand paper through the clamp. Have done that twice because blades broke to early. Solved the problem just fine.
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Glen, the porter Cable applies the pressure directly like most blade clamps do. the DeWalt has an extra part in between the screw and the blade.
Uh-huh, that's what my pic and diagrams clearly show!
Those always have at the end of the arm a screw going through and that one is about 1/2" away from the end of the arms:
Except in the case of the Craftsman I had before my Porter Cable, which by the way also squeezed the blade. The thumbscrew didn't contact the blade at all.
Anyway, my point here is that I solved my problems with spiral blades on my Porter Cable saw. In my case it didn't have anything to do with sanding the thumbscrew or the grub screw (which I did do to help keep blades from slipping). Even with them sanded, the thumbscrew was still twisting the ends of the spiral blades 'til they snapped. It wasn't a matter of too much tightening, because if I didn't tighten them that much, I couldn't get any real tension on the blade. If I'd had some Delta/Dewalt thumbscrews, life would have been much easier, but I didn't know they were setu up that way.
So, caselman74, take whichever advice you choose. I can tell you that if I had to do it again, I'd order some thumbscrews from Delta or Dewalt.
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<ereplacementparts.com> carries them!
~~~GB~~~
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Look at http://www.ereplacementparts.com/ (http://www.ereplacementparts.com/) ;)
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<ereplacementparts.com> carries them!
~~~GB~~~
GB and Russ, I looked there too! Same price as Delta (probably same source! ;))