Blades for cutting Birch ply?

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

gasmansteve

Established Member
Joined
21 Sep 2007
Messages
1,249
Reaction score
0
Location
North Yorks
Hi folks
Seems more to this scrolling than I thought. I intend to build a wooden clock including gears. I`ll be using 6mm and 12mm thick birch ply and wondered which type of blades to use. Any advice please?.
Cheers
Steve
 
To some extent the size of the blade you choose will be dictated by the size of the gears and the method you intend to use to cut them. If you intend to follow the outline of each cog as accurately as possible, you will need a very fine blade, possibly a #0/2 (although a blade that fine will struggle with 12 mm ply). However, if you intend to nibble cut each tooth you will be able to use a much coarser blade

I would use a blade with a reverse tooth arrangement because plywood has a tendency to splinter on the underneath. One way to minimise this breakout is to spray the underneath with a removable adhesive and temporarily attach a false laminate of cardboard, such as a breakfast cereal box.

Have you considered making the clock out of perspex/acrylic? I should imagine it would be more durable.
 
Not sure how it will cut in a scrollsaw, but Delrin is a material often used for gears nowadays. It's a form of nylon, very durable, might need specialist metal blades to cut it, being very tough. You'd have to experiment a bit, I would think.
 
hey steve,
i couldn't comment about the use of different materials as i've not used a great deal. but what i do use is birch ply, i tend to use a #5 reverse skip tooth on 6mm and i found this to be fine you just have to watch your speed but it is coarse enough to cut and small enough to be very accurate,
if you try always hobbies they have some reverse skips and they also have a wide range of the yellow saw blades you can buy them in small quantities as few as a dozen at a time so you could maybe try to experiment a bit until you find what works for you bud!
 
JAYJAY":2biftt6z said:
if you try always hobbies they have some reverse skips

Thanks for that JayJay just ordered some `Olsens` reverse blades from Hobbies will see how I go with em.
Cheers
Steve
 
Back
Top