Messages

31

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Dust Collecter

« on: August 08, 2021, 04:09:24 pm »

I have their small dust collector system, with the cyclone and the small vacuum.  It works *great*.
I get a little dust that blows off of the top of the wood and that's about it.

I can always tell if there's a problem because I start to see extra sawdust on the collection hose and my car that I'm pressed right up near.  Usually it's small bits clogging the inlet under the saw table (I have a bit of wire handy for clearing those out).  Every few months it's that the cyclone has gotten full.  If I let the cyclone get full then it winds up getting noticeable dust into the vacuum's bag and it can clog up.  Make sure you keep some spare bags for the vacuum on hand.  I've found that I can knock the bag back clean a couple of times before I have to change it.

The vacuum, being on the back end of my little cart, is just loud enough that I wear hearing protection.  Actually I wear it anyway because the light 'chittering' noise the saw makes matches up well with some hearing damage I have from back in the 1980's so extended time at the saw bothers my ears anyway. 

32

Brag Forum / Re: Deer Head

« on: June 20, 2021, 01:06:11 pm »

As Karl said, good work!

If you go to Micheal's you can get Finnish Birch - it's even better than Baltic Birch (cleaner, almost no voids ever, and the glue they use seems to be less hard on blades).

I've been doing some fretwork lately and where I kill my blades is feeding them up.  I use the little 'ring of poking' that Steve had a while back to help me find the hole but still, bottom feeding out in the middle is a game of hide and seek and blades get bent.  Just a matter of practice.

33

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: looking at this saw, what do you think?

« on: June 15, 2021, 08:58:00 am »

I'll just say that IF you can afford it, spring for a GOOD saw.

I had a little Ryobi 16" I'd had around for years when I got started.  Not a bad entry level saw but as soon as I really started getting into scrolling I wore it out.  Tried a nice one from Menards but between the arm not being able to be raised the way it barely allowed for pinless blades it just wouldn't work.  Took it back in a few days and went down to the local Woodcraft. 

Wound up spending $700 on a 18" Jet but I am very happy with it.  If you're lucky enough to have someplace near enough to go put your hands on various saws it will be a big help.  You can also search here to see what people say about the saw(s) you're looking at.

You do NOT need a high-end saw to do great work.  But a high-end saw will (generally) make it just a bit easier and should definitely last a lot longer.

Good luck!

34

Brag Forum / Re: The Lord's Prayer

« on: June 08, 2021, 08:37:53 am »

Wow! 

That is a lot of detail.

35

Introduce Yourself. / Re: Hello, guys

« on: June 04, 2021, 08:36:52 am »

I get most of my wood out of the scrap bin at a local lumber yard.  They have small fees posted but a lot of times I getting so little it's not worth their time in writing it up.
Ask around at pretty much anywhere that sells wood - odds are they have a scrap pile somewhere.

36

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Thick Pieces

« on: May 05, 2021, 08:54:49 am »

A tip I picked up somewhere - take your clippers and cut the top corner of the blade off to make it pointy.  It's a lot easier to get it into the holes that way.

The guy who taught me pointed out that you can bend a scrollsaw blade to the side just about as much as you want.  It's the front/back bends that kill it.  Obviously you can't make a sharp bend, but they are pretty flexible to the side.  I also find good light helps a lot.  I carry a little tactical flashlight and I often wind up setting it on the saw lighting the bottom of the wood when I'm trying to come up through a hole.

When you look at upgrading your saw you might want to look at a Jet.  Not cheap, but worth it. They use a lower blade holder that's really easy to use.  Comes with three (I keep different types of blade in each one) and you can get more on Amazon.  The table has a slot almost to the front edge so you can, if you need to, pop the blade holder out of the lower arm, bring it to the front of the table, come up through your hole, and then slide the whole thing back into place.  Lower holder is very easy to put in place and the top is a flip lever that locks and tightens the blade.

Important note: on a Jet you do NOT set the tension with the knob at the back of the arm.  It's just for getting the arms parallel.  It does have some effect on the tension, but it's way crude.  You set the tension by rotating the lever.  Clamp the blade, check your tension.  If too loose, open the lever, spin it around one turn and try again.  Once you get it set, it's set.  Oh - put a mark on that back knob so you know if it has turned itself while the lever was open.  I use a bit of tape.  I'll occasionally see it having turned a bit.  One time it was a whole quarter turn off position.  Another tip I got here.

37

Brag Forum / Re: some stuff

« on: May 04, 2021, 09:27:39 am »

Isn't it nice to be able to make some of those things?  Got the ever-indulgent wife one of those Shark vacuums that's supposed to not get wrapped up by her long hair.
Turns out, it works.  Also turned out it did not come with anything to hold the tools.  I made a quick little hanging shelf with holes for the extensions and a notch for the vacuum to stand in.  Works great, wife is happy.

38

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Thick Pieces

« on: May 04, 2021, 09:24:20 am »

Like Don I don't do much cutting of thick stuff but I agree - the key is a sharp blade and a lot of patience.  Plan for it to take as long as it takes and just let it slowly chew its way along the line.  The real temptation to rush in on curves & corners.

I'm assuming you have some thick scrap laying about now.  Draw some lines and do some practice cuts.

39

Ask Steve a question. / Love the Battleship!

« on: April 18, 2021, 04:01:56 pm »

Steve,

When you did that survey recently I mentioned that I have a lot of 1/4" scrap from making jigsaw puzzles and would like patterns that let me use them.

Boy did you hit it out of the park with the Battleship pattern (04/18/2021)!  When I get a chance to do that one it will be all from my scrap pile.  I hate throwing away good wood (so I never do) and this is a pretty cool thing that will let me use it.

KCSteve :->

(Scroll-Right.com for those who want to see the puzzles)

40

Ask Steve a question. / Simple finish gate idea

« on: April 05, 2021, 09:16:37 am »

Steve,

I've been thinking about a simple finish gate for the 04/05/21 racing game.  The best I can come up with is a pair of pegs on the outside of the finish.  Slot down the center of the pegs from the top, then string a strip of toilet or tissue paper across the track.  It should either break or pull out of the slot showing which car won the race.

I was trying to think of something with a wooden flag and the best I could come up with was using gate bars hinged on the outside that pull out from under a center structure so it tips over into the winning track but it kept getting way too complicated.

41

Introduce Yourself. / Re: Hey Everyone!

« on: March 20, 2021, 03:27:15 pm »

Welcome!

It's a friendly place here, although it can be fairly quiet.  You might want to get the memory stick of Steve's patterns - it's a tremendous resource and you'll find the patterns can be fairly easy to do while still stretching your skills.

KCSteve :->

42

Brag Forum / Re: Finally built myself a cart - HUGE improvement!

« on: March 18, 2021, 12:16:04 pm »

Thanks guys!

As I said in the initial post, I took the idea from the video Steve posted and edited from there.  I have the 18" Jet.
I have gone back and lowered the top by 3" - I based the height on the chair I was using then and then later went to a better chair.
I recommend getting your chair just right and comfy for all day, then figuring out where the top of your saw needs to be for comfort.  Once you know where the top goes that minus the height of your saw tells you how tall your cart is.  Don't forget to include the height of your wheels when you do the math - I think I did but I wound up cutting my cart down by just that much.

It's so nice to just roll the cart out of it's storage spot, lock the wheels, plug it in and lay down the foot pedal and be ready to cut.  Well, I also set a small table up next to me to put stuff on and arrange a trash bucket and a few other things, but really it's about 5 minutes from stored to sawing.  And just about another 5 to shut down when I'm done.

And remember - you made it, you can change it if you want.

43

Brag Forum / Re: only 2 months practive

« on: March 12, 2021, 04:32:07 pm »

Get Steve's memory stick of patterns, then start a collection of the ones from this year.

Whenever you need something to do, look through that giant heap.  There's always something fun in there.  And most patterns you'll be able to do pretty well.  They'll stretch your skills, but that just means you'll then be able to do the next harder ones.

I was commenting to the ever-indulgent wife the other day about how much wood there is in our living room.

KCSteve :->

44

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Kinked Blades

« on: February 16, 2021, 02:47:13 pm »

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.

As tbolt said, check your holder to see if you can make a similar adjustment.

45

Ask Steve a question. / Re: Steve, you're really killing it with the advice lately!

« on: February 03, 2021, 12:55:04 pm »

And here we show why a list of all the 'extra' stuff would be good to have. 

KCSteve :->