Buying a scroll saw

[Chippygeoff]

I would just like to go over a point that was mentioned some time ago and this is aimed at the beginner who is thinking of buying their first scroll saw. It's a sad fact that all the British manufacturers are no longer with us, that's not strictly true, there are still one or two but they no longer produce the much loved machines that they made in a bygone era, they import everything they sell. Most of the machines we buy come from China and other far eastern counties. Container ships sail from China bound for the UK with some 4 thousand containers filled with all manner of goods and a lot of these are filled with wood working machines.

In the scores of factories where these machines are made are hundreds of production line workers, most have no idea the uses the machines will be used for, all they do is fit x number of nuts and bolts, or fit a motor etc. To them it is just a job, they do not have time to make sure something is lined up properly, or the arms of a scroll saw are parallel with each other.

When the containers reach the UK they are delivered to their respective customers who then put them into storage and wait for the phone to ring with orders. They are then delivered to the shops and other outlets and they eagerly await us scrollers to go and make a purchase, these companies include names like Screwfix, Axy, Draper, Silverline, the list is endless. We make our purchase and take it home and as we open up the box we assume it is right and ready to go. We get it on the bench and plug it in to see how it works and then we manage to grab it before it vibrates off the bench.

The problem here is that the suppliers do not open up the boxes to check the machines over before they are despatched. Imagine the man hours it would take, not to mention the time and the financial outlay incurred, its just not financially viable to do this so as a result when you get you scroll saw it is seeing daylight for the first time since it left the factory and when you have it on your bench you could be faced with a shedful of problems. You can read the badly written manual but it only tells you to take the plug from the mains when changing the blade and other useless information. When you switch it on for the first time it may be fine, on the otherhand you may detect that something is not quite right, you read the manual again, and again but still the problem persist. It;s then a phone job to the supplier who may have some knowledge of your problem and I must admit, the best people I have ever dealt with are the guys at Axminster. I have bought scroll saws in the past and the only way to get them to work properly was to strip them right down and re-build them. Its amazing what you find when you do this, missing bolts, some with wshers missing, some bits out on the wrong way round.

I know we are powerless to do anything about it but it would be nice to take a scroll saw out of the box and know for certain that everything is spot on and it will give us many years of service without any problems, sadly it's not going to happen, even if we paid an extra £50. Speed is the name of the game, knocking them out as fast as the production line can make them and then shipping them out on the next available ship. Even Heger fail to open the boxes and check the machines over. Mine went back soon after I bought it and prior to using it for the first time I took an hour or so to make sure everything was as it should be. The only machine I have that was truly ready to go straight from the box was a Dewalt cross cut saw, but then at £650 I would expect nothing less.

 

[Stooby]

That's a glum post with not a lot we can do about.

How about you guys with experience use this as a post to list as many "out of the box" issues and where known the "fix" or wherever it is a case of sending it back to the suppliers, that would be a huge help.

 

[jonluv]

In the early fifties I was laughed at for buying a German motorbike (NSU) Then a decade or so later the West laughed at the thought of cheap Japanese rubbish Motor Bikes--- Where is the UK motorbike manufacturers now?

If anyone is interested Google "Chinese Scroll Saws" you will find dozens of Hegner Cones or are they clone?
If Hegner did not buy parts from China or Taiwan I would be amazed they are in business to make money

 

[Farmer Giles]

I agree with the OP, not much you can do except vote with your money, don't buy low quality tools, unfortunately it may be too late as most of the quality manufacturers have either died or jumped on the low quality clone/badge engineered band wagon.

Not only is the manufacturing low quality, but the design is often appalling too, I bought an Axi belt sander a while ago, it has a habit of destroying the dust extraction outlet while your centring the belt.

Now I spend more time selecting tools and if possible buy second hand quality and renovate or but slightly more expensive new. When I bought a MIG welder recently I joined a forum and got advice and I worked out that after I bought a cheaper machine mart/clarke machine and modified all the poor design out then I may as well buy a decent one in the first place so bought a British made Portamig, undoubtedly some components are bound to be from the far east however the box is tested and comes with a meaningful warranty.

I bought a scroll saw recently, the reviews of the clones weren't sparkling and my use didn't warrant a Hegner so I bought a Proxxon which is marginally dearer than the clones but is reasonable quality.

I just bought a second hand ELU RAS of this forum as the seller has a reputation for excellent tool maintenance. For milling machines and lathes I bought old quality machines and renovated, you have to be selective to make sure the bits you need to renovate won't cost too much. I made a couple of mistakes here, I bought a second hand Elektra Beckum spindle moulder, the motor burned out not long after buying it and will cost about twice as much as I paid for it to repair, but I got lots of cutter block etc, with it. My previous RAS has a worn out arm casting which is neigh on impossible to fix without a donor machine. In both cases these machines were ex-joiners shop tools so probably not a good idea to buy where they gets lots of use.

So you can get quality but you have to look around, buying more low quality tat just makes the problem worse. I'm just annoyed that I missed the old belt sander that was advertised on the site today!

Cheers
Andy

 

[Grayo]

I bought one of these Chinese imports not so long ago. Took it out of the box placed it on my bench turned it on 20 minutes later it broke five minutes later it was packed back into it's box ten minutes later it was delivered back to where I bought it from for a full refund, I was asked if I wanted it replaced but I declined the offer. I then went and bought an old but in excellent condition Hegner multicut 2 and it's like chalk and cheese no comparison to the cheapy Chinese scroll saw.