Scroll Saws

[JoeyGee]

I have been thinking about tinkering around with a scroll saw, but know nothing about them. There are tons available on CL all the time for ~$50 or so. Would anything going in that price range be worth it? I know that's an open-ended question, as there are several variables, but I figured that price point is based on fairly basic units.

I just want to try it out and it would be fun for some smaller and hopefully quicker projects for gifts and stuff.

What kind of thing should I look for--other than the obvious condition, etc?

[Pappy]

I have an older Ryobi that Swaduster gave me years ago. It gets the job done for the occassional use that I give it, but I don't think I would want to use it for any serious scroll/fret work. The DeWalt and Hawk saws seem to be the prefered saws for people that use them a lot for complicated work but are both high $$$.

Obviously the baldes will make a big difference in the quality of the cuts. In the past I have read good comments about Flying Dutchman blades from Mike's woodworking. I have only used off the rack blades from HD and Lowe's so the Ryobi could give better results than I am getting.

[sweensdv]

+1 on the Flying Dutchman blades, they're very good quality. There is a danger of buying a cheap quality scroll saw to just "try it out". You may well be so disappointed in the end results that you give up on scrolling altogether when the the saw itself may be causing the poor results. In a perfect world you will know someone who has a decent quality scroll saw that you can try out and determine if it's something you'll enjoy doing.

[kevincan]

I picked up a older Ryobi scroll saw at a pawn shop for $30 earlier this year. It was in decent shape and runs decent. I have not used it much but it does what I need it to do. I would think that if I were to try some of the more intricate patterns it would be a challenge.

The main reason I got it was for my son who is 12 to use. He enjoys cutting up my wood scraps. I have to get him some more practice cutting patterns. It should also come in handy for pinewood derby cars for scouts.

[pelligrini]

I've got a 20 y.o. dremel scrollsaw I bought new in college for making architectural models. It was my first power tool purchase. It logged 100s of hours of use then, between myself and the other folks in my design studios. It is still a great saw; stable, quiet, etc. I consider it to be one of the better tool purchases I have made. I need to find some plain end blade adapters for it now, one of my old ones broke a few years back.

There is a lot more selection of blade types with the plain end blades. Be sure to get one with a sawdust blower. It's not totally necessary, but it sure is a nice feature. Multi speeds is something to look for too. Mine just has two, sometimes I wish it was variable, but that doesn't come up all that often.

[frumper64]

Scroll Saw

There are basically two things to look for in a scroll saw. The biggest, in my opinion, is the amount of vibration generated. Obviously, the less, the better. Dewalt is great in this area and it does indeed make a difference if you will be using it much. The second criteria is the kind of blades it can handle. If you want to try fretwork, then plain end blades are a necessity. The entry holes you will be using will be way too small to use pin end blades. Tool free blade changes are also a biggie if you will be doing fretwork. Dewalt is a leader here, toom, but Delta also has some nice quick change designs. As someone else stated, if you get a cheap saw the vibrates a lot and is difficult to do blade changes on, you may well end up so frustrated that you give up. The only real downside to Dewalt is that they are a bit pricy, even in the used market. Delta's tend to be pretty reasonably priced, though.

[thetimbo]

I bought a Hitachi CW40 about two years ago. Great saw, but I only use it when the need arises. HOWEVER, about a year ago my wife got on it, and can't be dragged off. And she's putting out some dynamite stuff. Sometimes we even collaborate where I build the TS portions of her projects while she scrolls the rest. It's really great having her out there with me, actually.
Check out www.scrollsawer.com to see how the dedicated folks feel about this or that machine.
Good luck.

[phrog]

I've done a little scroll sawing. My saw will accommodate both pin-end and plain-end blades. I would not buy a saw that will not allow the use of plain-end blades. If you are doing marquetry, the pins will not allow you to pass through the small holes you cut when doing the marquetry. Therefore, only plain-end blades can be used. Also, weight to eliminate vibration is a big factor. The heavier the saw the less vibration with all else being equal. A variable speed control is nice also. The big name in scroll saws I believe is Hegner. However, these saws make the DeWalt appear cheap in price. DeWalt is also nice but a bit pricey. I have a Ryobi that was relatively cheap but I've been able to do what I wanted to do with it. Having said that, a bigger, heavier saw would definitely be nice. Delta did make a heavier saw that was nice for a reasonable price but I haven't seen one for a while. I believe the model number was SS350 or something like that.

[cwsmith]

I have an 18-inch Ryobi which I bought on close-out back in 2003, when I purchased my first power tools (Home Depot's big [and only] 20% off sale). It appears to be a redesign of the old gray Ridgid which was still available at the turn of the decade.

In any case, I have only used it a few times and it performs rather well. I don't have any experience with other models, but it's fun to play around with and I've done some minor stuff. That particular Ryobi model is still available as the Craftsman 21609 and now it comes with a foot switch.
http://www.craftsman.com/shc/s/p_101...7&blockType=L7

The saw is variable speed and features a segmented blower with integral work light. It takes both pin and pinless blades and has a dust-extraction port for use with a shop vac. Vibration shows up at about 80% speed, but diminishes above and below that speed. The table is teflon coated and tilts 10-degrees left and 45-degrees right (IIRC). Overall a fairly decent maching, IMO. I do understand that the DeWalt and Dremel are highly recommended and certainly the Hegner appears to be the top of the lot. The Ryobi-made Craftsman is around $200 as I remember.

I'll also give my thumbs-up to Mike's Workshop and his "Flying Dutchman" blades. At the time I bought my scroll saw, Mike was offering introductory package which consisted of a scrollsaw book and an assortment of six of his most popular blades for a very reasonable price. At the time, I had the opportunity to speak with the gentleman, and he was very nice and quite helpful. He's been scroll-sawing since he was kid back in the "old-country". BTW, the Flying Dutchman blades are excellent quality and imported from Europe. Here is a link to his website:
http://www.mikesworkshop.com/index.htm

I hope this helps,

CWS

[gsmittle]

That particular Ryobi model is still available as the Craftsman 21609 and now it comes with a foot switch.
http://www.craftsman.com/shc/s/p_101...7&blockType=L7

This is the exact model scroll saw I have. I use often—I find it's great for small, oddly-shaped parts and slot-making where you drill two holes and saw between them to make the slot (oh yeah, it does scrolling, too). It's certainly not top of the line, but it isn't nearly as expensive as a Hegner, either.

My only real beef, and it's a small one, is that the integral light and dust blower can vibrate until you get it in juuuuuust the right position. Trying to saw with a light bobbing all over is tough. Sawing with that little dot of bright light steady on the cut line is great. It's also pretty easy to make zero-clearance inserts, too. Cut them out of 1/8" baltic birch, then use tape underneath to bring them level with the saw table. This is a good thing, since I melted my plastic insert trying to cut plexi too fast. Oops.

The foot switch is real handy, as is the blade tensioner and release on the front of the saw.

Again, it's not the be-all and end-all in scroll saws, but it'll do the trick until I either hit the lottery, or start making a fortune with scroll work.

The Flying Dutchman blades are excellent, and usually cost the same or less as the blades you can get at Rockler or Woodcraft.

g.