£20 for a Delta saw Yes or no?

[Bodrighy]

Someone in our club (woodturning) is having a clearout and there is a Delta scroll saw going for £20. The writing on it is in French and it has a round bed. Beyond that I can't sday much. It has obvioulsy been well used and I am wondering if it is worth it. I have heard good things about the oldr Delta and £20 sems pretty chap for any kind of reasonable saw. What is the advice of the experts?
I am going to do a bit of Googling and see if I can find any more info.

Pete

 

[Gill]

Dunno what the experts might say, but I'd happily venture £20 of my own cash.

Gill

 

[StevieB]

Yup go for it - a saw doesn't get 'well used' if it doesn't work very well, and you will make the £20 back on e-bay no trouble. Just check the plug if it is an old French machine

Steve

 

[loftyhermes]

I'd snatch his hand off for £20

 

[big soft moose]

at the end of the day you could spend more than 20 notes on a night out , or on a decent bottle of wine, or on sanding pads, or wood or...

go for it , at that price even if its a lemon it would be worth someone having for spares so you'd get your money back on the 'bay if the worst happens

 

[Bodrighy]

Thanks guys (and gal) you've twisted my arm. It's part of a job lot being sold by the widow of a club member and is in the club house so I can can test that it works first. It has an english plug. The Pro in the club says that it's the same as the one that he has and he does some pretty freaky work so the potential is there. As said £20 is neither here nor there in some ways except I have just gone self employed with my turning and so am not willing to waste any money but worst comes to worst I can recoup via Ebay.

2nd question. As far as I can see all scroll saws have 5" blades and the best are the flying duthcman ones. If I get this saw (which I suspect I will) what would be the best thing to get. I know about pin and non-pin but regarding TPI and width.... a selection, one specific one or what. Please don't say depends on what you are going to be doing as I haven't got a clue. I know what I want to do eventually but initially I just want to play and get to know how to use the thing. Get used to shaping things, doing bends and curves etc. If ignorance is really bliss I am ecstatic. :lol:

Pete

 

[big soft moose]

except I have just gone self employed with my turning and so am not willing to waste any money

remember that tools under a certain limt ( I think its £100 but it might not be) are considered to be consumable items for the purposes of tax and thus the £20 will be deductable - rather than having to be depreciated -( make sure you get a receipt) , therefore even if it turns out to be a pile of cack you can still set it against your profit.

 

[big soft moose]

2nd question. As far as I can see all scroll saws have 5" blades and the best are the flying duthcman ones. If I get this saw (which I suspect I will) what would be the best thing to get. I know about pin and non-pin but regarding TPI and width.... a selection, one specific one or what. Please don't say depends on what you are going to be doing as I haven't got a clue. I know what I want to do eventually but initially I just want to play and get to know how to use the thing. Get used to shaping things, doing bends and curves etc. If ignorance is really bliss I am ecstatic. :lol:

Pete

flying dutchman are reputedly the best , but i have always been happy with the (cheaper) ones from axminster - if you consider what a scrollsaw blade is , virtually any ought to be okay (except that very cheap chinese generics break too often)

linky http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp? ... =1&jump=44

 

[Bodrighy]

Thanks ,

at the moment I am keeping every bit of paper and sticking everything into a spreadsheet. I am having a 1/2 day session at some tax office teaching me the ins and outs so hopefully that'll help. Can't see me making enough to pay a lot of tax in the foreseeable future. Just that I was unemployed and selling too much to take the risk. Word of mouth has got to be the best advertising agency going :lol:

Pete

 

[stevebuk]

i use a delta pete, its a great machine, go for it..

 

[chrispuzzle]

flying dutchman are reputedly the best , but i have always been happy with the (cheaper) ones from axminster - if you consider what a scrollsaw blade is , virtually any ought to be okay (except that very cheap chinese generics break too often)

linky http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp? ... name=fret+
saw+blades&user_search=1&sfile=1&jump=44

Axminster's blades are £12.50 for 60 blades, whereas nearly all FD blades are between £15-£18 for 144 blades or £8-£10 for 72 blades. Even after postage, which is not a lot, FD blades are almost always cheaper than generics bought in the UK.

Although they might all seem just the same, you certainly notice the difference if you examine the teeth through a lens - the best quality blades (Olson, FD, Pegas etc) have a clean, sharp profile and regular tooth depth where cheaper blades have a more erratic profile. That doesn't mean they can't be used for decent work - I use Niqua Yellow Packet blades from Hobbies quite a lot which I regard as better than generic but not as aggressive and clean as FD.

I see the Axminster pack is a bundle of five different sizes or so it seems and would surely provide the variety you need, so you can find which size of blade best suits the work you do. Beyond that there are lots of specialist blades for different materials and effectd such as reverse tooth blades when you want to have a smooth cut on both the surface and underside of the workpiece. But you won't find out whether you need special blades until you start a "special" piece of work and find normal blades unsatisfactory for some reason!

One thing I do know for sure is that without a 2/0 size blade or better you won't be able to make jigsaw puzzles like Carter's or mine. You'll never get the knobs small enough without an unusually fine blade.

 

[stevebuk]

i have just received my latest batch from Mike at Flying Dutchman, great service, great blades and great prices too.

 

[wizer]

Pete, I have some FD blades that I've never used (didn't fit my machine). I'll send you some if you want to try them out?

 

[Gill]

If you contact Mike directly ([email protected]), he may well send you some complimentary samples.

 

[StevieB]

For a general blade, start with a #5. This is fine enough to give you a decent cut and ability to do curves, but not so fine that it will break every 5 seconds. The thicker the blade the easier it is to saw to a line since it will wander far less. I would order a pack of #3, #5 and #7 to give you an idea. Regarding reverse tooth, skip tooth etc, I wouldn't worry too much - until you get used to what you want to do the difference will be negligeable. Far more important to concentrate on getting a smooth cut, sawing to a line and getting sharp points on corners. All these can be practiced with any blade.

Once you decide what you want to make we can decide which blade might be best for that application.

Steve.

 

[Bodrighy]

Pete, I have some FD blades that I've never used (didn't fit my machine). I'll send you some if you want to try them out?

PM'd you

Pete

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Pete,

I bought some from Hegner at Yandles. Saved me a few quid on postage. I still don't know what I want to do but I do enjoy playing a bit more now. I'm going to do some christmas decs for the house soon (if I don't start early it will never get done).

You may be wondering why you would want/need 144 blades. Sorry, can't help you with that one but I have broken a few blades already (and I haven't done much).

Dave

 

[Gill]

You've got to be prepared to break a few blades when you first start. Moreover, they have a limited life expectancy anyway; twenty minutes is often all you get before you notice the blade dulling.

Christmas decorations, Dave? Get a move on - Carter starts his Christmas jigsaw puzzles in January and most other scrollers are at it by the time the new school year starts! Once folk see your work, everyone will want you to make them something for when their Christmas decorations go up.

 

[goose]

I got a set of FD mixed blades from Mike, low cost and swiftly posted.
A great way to get a range to experiment with.

On the original point.. £20 for a fret saw, even a chinese clone is still cheap and you can almost be certain you will get your pennies back if you decided to pass it along to someone else.