Advice on Record Power SS16V Scroll Saw 16-inch

[martinka]

I failed on 2 Record/RBI Hawks on Ebay this weekend, a 26" and a 20". Yesterday I had to repair a leak under the sink and forgot all about the auction, and this evening I bid in the last few seconds, was told I had been overbid, and didn't have time to revise my bid. Oh well, the money can always go towards the heating bill increase instead. :mrgreen:

Martin.

 

[Lee J]

I know you've decided to wait and buy the henger now but I actually own the Record SS16 and if you go back to the index and look half way down the page there is a thread by me telling of my frustrations. To be honest I think the SS16 is a bag of kn@ckers but I'm not the most experienced scroll saw operator in town.

I'd wait, I wish i'd put my £120 into a better second hand saw.

live and learn

 

[WoodySteve]

I know you've decided to wait and buy the henger now but I actually own the Record SS16 and if you go back to the index and look half way down the page there is a thread by me telling of my frustrations. To be honest I think the SS16 is a bag of kn@ckers but I'm not the most experienced scroll saw operator in town.

I'd wait, I wish i'd put my £120 into a better second hand saw.

live and learn

Cheers Lee, ive got my eye on a henger on ebay so hopefully i will win the auction.

 

[Lee J]

Good move mate, I used mine again last night and broke 3 blades.

It's going on Ebay this morning. Had enough of it.

 

[WoodySteve]

Good move mate, I used mine again last night and broke 3 blades.

It's going on Ebay this morning. Had enough of it.

Not good than mate, im glad i got the advice on here before i wasted my money.

 

[JustBen]

I've got a powercraft scroll saw which is almost identical to this.
Well mine is a it worse. No vari-speed, no cast iron top.

It too is a bag of crap but I still manage to knock out some decent stuff (if I may be so bold)
I've tinkered and tweaked it and it's much better, but still pant.

Just thought I'd share....

 

[WoodySteve]

I've got a powercraft scroll saw which is almost identical to this.
Well mine is a it worse. No vari-speed, no cast iron top.

It too is a bag of rubbish but I still manage to knock out some decent stuff (if I may be so bold)
I've tinkered and tweaked it and it's much better, but still pant.

Just thought I'd share....

Thats great. its good to know that these can still produce good stuff,
i was given a old preformance scroll saw it cuts too slow but ok for me to pratice
thanks for sharing.

cheers
steve

 

[OldWood]

As a happy user of one of the badged Chinese 'Record type' saws, I hope that the extra £100+ for a second hand one is justifiable for a tool that you don't know how much use you are going to put it to.

Remember that it's the operator that does the work, not the tool. I'm a complete novice and bought the saw because it was available at a good price, not because I needed it. It's been down off the shelf a couple of times in a year but has now just completed in excess of a 150 piece cut-out with just one blade break - that's hard wood cutting up to 19mm thick.

I have it sitting on a small bit of rubber matting and there's no significant vibration and no machine walk.

As far as I'm concerned this was an excellent £85 buy, but I will look forward to finding someone with an expensive machine to see just what I am apparantly missing.

Rob

 

[mac1012]

you mention badged Chinese saw may you be so bold as to what make it is as not being able to identify it dosent really help anyone on here who may be wanting to dip their toe in and buy a cheap machine that is usable

I appreciate you giving feedback about the positives of your saw but the make of saw and some pics would be useful of blade changing etc

a lot of people on here wanting to get started have bemoaned the idea of having to pay 400 pound for a hegner as the only way to start scrolling , but until people start giving some good feedback on cheaper saws and their experiences of using one and what make they are sadly that will continue.

I think sometimes cheaper saws are given a hard time on here so any positives for cheaper ones is welcome , I had a decoflex saw that cut perfectly well but the blade changing was a little fiddly so when I started making items for sale I needed something with better blade changing , it becomes a misconception that you cant produce anything on a cheaper machine even though it may have limitations.

having said all that there is nothing worse than buying a cheap machine that is pants and putting you of the hobby

your welcome to come and try my hegner anytime you like to see what you may be missing :lol:

mark

 

[OldWood]

you mention badged Chinese saw may you be so bold as to what make it is as not being able to identify it dosent really help anyone on here who may be wanting to dip their toe in and buy a cheap machine that is usable

I appreciate you giving feedback about the positives of your saw but the make of saw and some pics would be useful of blade changing etc

a lot of people on here wanting to get started have bemoaned the idea of having to pay 400 pound for a hegner as the only way to start scrolling , but until people start giving some good feedback on cheaper saws and their experiences of using one and what make they are sadly that will continue.

I think sometimes cheaper saws are given a hard time on here so any positives for cheaper ones is welcome , I had a decoflex saw that cut perfectly well but the blade changing was a little fiddly so when I started making items for sale I needed something with better blade changing , it becomes a misconception that you cant produce anything on a cheaper machine even though it may have limitations.

having said all that there is nothing worse than buying a cheap machine that is pants and putting you of the hobby

your welcome to come and try my hegner anytime you like to see what you may be missing :lol:

mark

Hi Mark - valid comment and I'm sure that there may well be other badged Chinese machines over and above the one I have.

I'm going to duck the hassle of up-loading a photo and do a direct to another current thread on the Scroll Saw board

#p813550

The machine I have is badged to the extent that it is just a stick on badge ("Wood Star") onto a grey paint base, but it is clearly the same machine as the Record - and many other importers.

It would seem that the OP of this thread ("Scroll Saw Frustrations") either has a duff machine or hasn't found the touch which seems necessary for scrolling.

As a measure of what I've used the machine for with only broken one blade, see this web page.

http://www.toymakingplans.com/website/g ... video.html

Before anyone gets excited by this project (~$16 for the download of a very impressive design pack - 72 pages worth), this is a college design exercise which has not been engineered. Tolerancing of wood thickness has not been taken into account, not has the requirement to use jigs to obtain the correct alignment of the parts. This is a definite case of Caveat Emptor as I have discovered to my cost of the hours in the workshop fettling each part to get all to fit!

I haven't done any scrolling before so have no knowledge of what a 'good' saw is like, but for cutting the wood (beech) for the boat and for the animals this machine has been perfectly capable.

I do suspect that one parameter I would like is easy blade changing, particularly if I get into piercing work; one solution I might look at is making a pair of additional pinless blade holders.

Rob

 

[martinka]

Rob, your first link doesn't work, it ends up at the forum home page.

If you have only used pinned blads in your saw it unsurprising that you only broke one blade as those blades are generally much stronger than pinless. They need to be bigger to accomodate the pins.

If your saw is the same as the Record, then the Axminster clamps will fit straight on, and cheaper than making them.
http://www.axminster.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=scroll+saw+clamps
They are better with some sort of handle or knob to replace the Allen key for the top clamp. It makes it easier for internal cuts, but changing the blade is still a pain. I removed the left hand cover from my saw and made a handle for the bottom clamp as well.

Martin

 

[OldWood]

Rob, your first link doesn't work, it ends up at the forum home page.

Thanks for pointing that out and for your tips too, Martin. The first link should be this

scroll-saw-frustrations-t74631.html

Having looked at your Axminster link, I see the Jet JSS-16 is the same machine too.


If you have only used pinned blads in your saw it unsurprising that you only broke one blade as those blades are generally much stronger than pinless. They need to be bigger to accomodate the pins.

No - a pinned blade was supplied , but I bought a selection pack from Axminster of pinless Swiss blades. The one that did break was one I took out to check for sharpness and then re-inserted. Very quickly it broke after that.

If your saw is the same as the Record, then the Axminster clamps will fit straight on, and cheaper than making them.
http://www.axminster.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=scroll+saw+clamps

They are better with some sort of handle or knob to replace the Allen key for the top clamp. It makes it easier for internal cuts, but changing the blade is still a pain. I removed the left hand cover from my saw and made a handle for the bottom clamp as well.

Martin

 

[martinka]

Having looked at your Axminster link, I see the Jet JSS-16 is the same machine too.

That was the first one I bought. It has it's limitations but I still use it

Martin.

 

[Philip n]

I've been using the Record for the past four years and while it may be a cheap Far Eastern import, there is little scroll saw related that I haven't been able to do with it.
It can certainly be frustrating to use at times but I've yet to come across a project that I haven't been able to complete on it.

Everyone should buy the best saw that they can afford - and if that's a Hegner, go for it - but no one should feel put off scrolling by thinking that they have to spend hundreds of Euro/Pounds/Dollars
just to get started.