cutting long straight lines

[gilljc]

been trying out spiral blades, and can see lots of advantages, but can anyone give me some tips for cutting straight lines?
As usual, my ideas are in advance of my abilities, and want to do portrait of my glider and the towplane, but it will be 20" wide and only got 14" saw, done a couple of 'cheats where I have cut guide line with straight blade, and then widened it with spiral, but still getting a lot of blue smoke above my head when it 'twitches' :roll:

 

[bodgerbaz]

I think the nature of spiral blades is that they travel in any direction and are therefore a tad unstable in straight lines as they have no directional stability. They also tend to follow the grain a bit easier than across the grain. To get straight lines, why not try the spiral blade to do the sideways bit (so you don't have to turn the piece) then switch to a standard reverse-tooth blade for the straight bits? You could also switch ends to take you up to 28".

Either that Gill, or shorten the tow rope so it'll fit on your 14" table :mrgreen:

Barry

 

[martinka]

Gill, I was looking at your glider scene cut out of hardboard on SG's site and it looks good. I think I would cut it with a #3 FD-UR blade rather than a spiral. With a new blade you can easily make two cuts to make even the thinner lines. If you are intent on using a spiral blade, practice makes perfect, but cutting long straight lines east/west, or vice versa, is still difficult. North/south, in my opinion, is easier. You could try twisting the blade 90 degrees with pliers, while it is in the saw, so that you can cut the long lines from the side.

 

[ChrisR]

Just a thought, and I have not tried this in a scroll saw, and the limiting factor would be the blade clamps, but try using two blades at the same time to make a thicker cut.

I repeat, that I have not tried this with my scroll saw, but have used the same method with a hack saw, to cut a wide slot in metal. (Not my original idea, was shown this method when an apprentice many, many years ago).

Take care.

Chris R.