Advice on first scroll saw please?

[goose]

Spent my first long session cutting.. infact my only second attempt..lol..

Cut over 30 centre cuts from 6mm mdf. The new mount, worked a treat.
Had great fun, sat out in the sun shine on the patio cutting as the weather was nice. So rather than work in the garage.

Lot more dust from the MDF that I had imagined, so glad I was wearing my face mask.

Even so, depsite being old and only single speed, the little hegner did a cracking job. My blades are all mixed up and jumbled that I got with it, so I am not really sure what size i was using but I estimated about 12tpi or so and was giving a very nice finish with hardly any buring on the lower edge.

I broke a few blades, but less as I got the tension right and learnt to avoid putting side pressure on the blade as i tried to cut tight curves.
I know being able to slow a blade down might help, but I found I got the nack of it and even getting quite straight lines on it fairly quickly, once I had noted the rough angle of off set for the cut.

Had to re-set the table to 90-degrees, so a 25p retractors was bought on sat and earlier a set of cycle allen keys, ones permenantly attached to a handle.
Though I am looking to get a set of the quick release clamps from hegner with the thumb screw adjuster, to speed up blade changes.
I also need to buy some more blades, still have afew, but i am sure I will be breaking a couple more before I start to get the hang of my curves etc.
Any recommendations for suppliers in the UK or abroad?

 

[chrispuzzle]

http://www.mikesworkshop.com/blades.htm is the home of Flying Dutchman blades. Mike gives great service and has an assortment pack to try out some of the different types. Email him for a quote on postage.

I also use blades from Hobbies http://www.alwayshobbies.com/Store/Craf ... -$4-Blades which are less aggressive than top quality blades, but sometimes less aggressive is what I want.

Blade choice is very personal, a great excuse to try everything there is!

 

[goose]

Have ordered an assortment pack from mikes site. Thought it best to have a play and see what works for me and what doesn't. And his shipping rates are great.

 

[goose]

Well, I just wanted to say thank you for all the opinion and info people gave me earilier this year.

My hegner has seen a bit of use since, though not as much as I had imagined. I am very pleased with it. Despite having been conviced I need variable speed, my now badly flaking once orange single speed monster is still going well.

Blade breakages are still happening but not as often. I was not able to fully straighten the tensioning rod, but fortunately the bend is near the top and so out of the range needed to slacken off enough for blade changes.

I picked up a pack of FD mixed blades, a lot are too fine for my needs but the rest are just great.

I am now hunting for a band saw to help cut my 6mm mdf down to basic blanks before doing the intricate cuts on the hegner.