Newby and help needed

[Kathdo]

Hi all,
New here from Maple Shade, NJ...
I actually bought my scroll saw in 2006, but forgot it, stuck it in the back of the closet and never opened the box !! Well, I just decided to take a look at what I had....OK... It's a scroll saw, what now?

Started a search, found Steve's videos and then his site and forum, so here I am with my first question....
What is the "normal" sized hole that needs to be made for inside cut outs? I tried to go small but can't get the blade through the hole with the pin on the end, so in making the hole larger, cut into another cut out opening destroying what I was making :-(
I was able to get the pin out of the blade, did this with 3 cuts... and it was going great, till the pin flew out the window I think... cuz I can't find it anywhere !!!

Just to give you some info, I live in a small 2 bdrm rancher on a slab, no basement or garage... So, the saw is on my kitchen floor sitting on a sturdy box with a stool for me to sit on, I added a foot pedal as Steve had suggested, which I use with my knee.. and a light since the saw has none... I do not have a drill press or saw table to make "perfect" straight lines but doing my best with what I have.

I'm glad I found you guys and really look forward to chatting with you all....Next time I'll find out what to look for when shopping for wood at Home Depot !! (or MFD ?)

Kathdo

[Kathdo]

Me again.. In reading other new member posts saw something about Flying Dutchman blades.. I looked on ebad site(Can I mention other sites here?) and found that they are not much more $ but what to look into getting? Spiral Reverse (What does that mean when cutting?)
Ultra reverse, Reverse and Superior Puzzle pack are the ones mentioned (Or being sold now) I haven't broken a blade yet (Knocking on wood) but even with tension up and a nice high pitched pling when picking like a guitar string, still have the blade turning on me, so instead of getting a tight turn, it wants to follow the wood grain (I think that's where it's trying to go!)
Kathdo

[dgman]

Hey Kathdo, Welcome to the forum. I'm Dan from Southern California. Come on in and join the fun! Looks like your saw uses pin end blades. Like you found out, the pins prevent you from feeding your blade through Very small holes. Most of us use plain end blades, without pins. What Kind of saw do you have? There are aftermarket adapters that will allow you to use plain end blades. Some one will come along with a link for the site where you can get the adapters. Otherwise, you will have to stick with patterns with larger inside cuts. Flying Dutchman blades do not come with pin ends. also you will not find any spiral blades wit pins, so without the adapters, or a better saw, You are kind of limited on what you can do.

[daliclimbs]

Hey there I'm Scott from West Virginia. Like Dgman said it totally depends on whether your saw will accept plain end blades. Once we get an idea of what kind of saw you have we can start offering a lot more info to get you cutting in no time!

[Kathdo]

Hi Dan and thank you for the reply... The saw is a King Craft (No Name Brand) and after doing a little research on the F/D blades did notice that the pins were gonna cause a problem (they aren't made with them!)
I will now look up an adapter kit to loose the pins, but if anyone has a link for me, please send it along!

I've looked on craigslist for another saw (I really wanna get good at this)but none of them tell me if they take pins or not, is there anyway to know.. or is there a list out there to know what I'm looking at or for ? (I'd like to know.. pins? light? Variable speed? foot pedal? blower? (but even better wud be a vacuum as I have COPD and more dust is not what I need!) Even the cheap one I have has a blower tho.. what else do I need to find out?) I need to find one that is small, as with no room to put it permanently, it will have to be moved (I also need it light enuf for me to lift, after major back surgeries, can't or shouldn't be lifting much!) O, I'm also disabled, so low price is a MUST! (Hence the reason I bought the one I have now)

Thank you again Dan, I bet the weather out there is nicer than here.. lastnight it got down to 25 degrees.... too darn cold for me already, I can't wait for winter to actually arrive.... I'm gonna be staying home a lot till the temps go back above freezing!!
Kathdo

[UHMNL]

Check with Frank if he can help you with different clamps:
http://www.pozsgaidesigns.com/
FD Mike

[Russ C]

Glad you found us. Hi I'm Russ from Florida. Welcome to the Scrollsaw Forum. A day without saw dust is like a day without sunshine. 

[tux_linux]

Welcome.

Check if your saw is able to hold the not pined blades and refer to Frank if not so.
The FD Blades are much smaller than the blades you are suing currently and will be turning around much better. Mike will probably already have contacted you - He's got a great service and it's a good recommendation to stick with him.

In the mean time:
Don't try to turn the wood while cutting, instead move back and cut into the curve from the other side.
And do some simple projects to get started:

http://www.stevedgood.com/3dornaments.pdf - Tree and Star from this one.
http://www.stevedgood.com/treeornaments.pdf - the last two ones here, not to fine inside cuts.

http://www.torsten-harms.de/pages/bauplaene.php - Christmas Trees from my page. Simple to make, great effect.


Torsten from Munich, Germany

[Russ C]

Unfortunately your King Craft only uses pined blades. I have no clue about adapters for that saw. If you can get a hold of Scrollsaw Woodworking & Crafts Magazine (Fall 2010 issue 40) it compares 23 scroll saws as a buyer's guide. I believe you can order back issues. Scrollsaw Woodworking & Crafts
As far as buying a saw off of craigslist, you will have to do some research and reading on the internet for each saw listed. As far as weight, most of the cheaper saws that i have seen  are heavy to help compensate for vibration.  

[julief]

Hey Kathdo, welcome to the forum.  Glad you found us.  I'm Julie from Texas.  If you can adapt your saw to pinless blades, go straight to Mikes workshop for your blades.  He is less than you will find on ebay and the customer service is unmatched.  If you go for a new saw, the porter cable got great reviews in the issue mentioned by Russ.  I know a couple of people with this saw and it really is a nice starter saw.  You can pick one up at Lowe's.  If you stick with what you've got you are limited, but great things can be accomplished with pinned blades.  Your limitations are the size of inside cuts you can make.  As far as your turns go, practice, practice, practice.  Watch some of the videos out there and watch what they are doing.  Sheila Landry has a really good one on her website that shows turns very clearly.

[JMAC]

Hi, and welcome.  i also have copd have the vaccum always on ,its a bit loud but i have my radio on louder 

trouble is it only deals with underside dust so i have my blower pointed away from me, seems to work ok.

But be carefull using hard wood as the dust is more aggresive. hope you have lots of fun with scrolling you will get hooked on it just as we have 

[BilltheDiver]

Welcome Kathdo!  One thing you can do to help with the copd is to purchase a standard "box" fan and tape an a/c or furnace filter to the intake side.  Then put it as close as you can to your saw and it will help remove sawdust from the air.

Bill in Florida

[ChuckD]

Welcome Kathdo, I don't like blowing dust so I a big believer in collecting the dust by hooking up vacuum cleaners or dust collectors to get rid of it.  More details if you need it.

[glenn wouters]

Hi Kathdo

I'm Glenn from Belgium.
A huge welcome here.

I worked for the past 10 years with a pinned end blades machine (or how do you say that?)
And what i tried to do is find patterns with not to much small details.
In my case i have to drill a 4 MM hole to fit in my blade.
There is a lot of patterns you can do with those pinned blades, i didn't have a dull moment with it the past 10 years.

Last week i ordered a excalibur, and it will be delivered end of january.
So from then on a new world will open for me.

But the main thing is to never give up and keep on trying.
You can make a lot of nice things with your type of blades, no need to buy another saw or spend a lot of money.
First get used to scrolling, read a lot here, ask all you want and most important.... have fun.

Greetings Glenn

[Marcellarius]

welcome from the Netherlands!
have fun and don't wait another 5 years before posting your work