jaxminster and jet

[mayfair456]

Hi to you all having read most of the messages on this site I have joined .Yes I am a newbe do not even own a scrollsaw yet so I am just watching from the side line however.
The saw will be used to cut window openings on small model buildings for wargaming and model railways.
1-I have may be £150 at most
2-variable speed seems to be the way to go as I (hope)to be cutting ply/mdf up to 10mm max mostly 3-4 mm
axminster tools is 5 mins away and have a jet variable speed saw that takes pinned and pinless blades for £120
as I am not into production/craft sales blade changes etc will not be a concern
all comments will be welcome

 

[martinka]

The Jet will do what you need. Even though you say blade changing isn't a concern, you will soon get fed up of the Allen keys. You can easily make up, or buy, a couple of wing screws to make it easier.
Personally, I'd look for a second hand saw on Fleabay or Gumtree as they are usually little used and cheap. Single speed would probably do for what you want. I had variable speed on my Jet saw and never used it, and now I have a single speed saw and don't miss the variable speed.

Just a thought; if you will only be using the saw to cut windows, unless the cutouts are very small, you may not even need a saw that takes pinless blades.

 

[mayfair456]

yes what you say is true but as I understand a fast speed will cause problems on thin wood as for size aprox up to 20mm x 20mm as for the blade change I was thinking on a similar vane

 

[Bryan Bennett]

Welcome mayfair456 to the forum and starting a fabulous hobby,this is where you ask questions and just sit back and more often the answer will return quite quickly. :roll:

Bryan

 

[AES]

Welcome to the forum mayfair 456. I think I can say without fear of contradiction that you'll found the nicest and most helpful bunch of members that you could ever wish to meet right here - ask just about anything and you're bound to get helpful answers - answers based on tried and tested experience too.

I don't know the machine you're looking at but I started out with a very old Dremel Motoshop scroll saw (the original model). I used it mainly for model aircraft work, cutting out ply formers, etc, and quite often with internal cuts. About the only difficulty I had with the Dremel pinned blades (apart from the fact that they are specials, about 2 inches shorter than "standard" blades) was that being wider blades it was not possible to cut nice square corners (such as your windows) in one go, like I can now with my posh new saw that takes pin less blades.

But there's a way around that - saw up to the corner on one side; back off a bit and make a curved cut to line up with the next side, then complete that cut on the 2nd side; then go back and cut the bit of curved waste away from the 1st corner. Sounds a bit complicated, and it does take a bit longer than the 90 degree turn on the spot that you can make with a thin pin less blade, but with a bit of practice it goes pretty quickly and shouldn't take you very long if your window openings are only 20 mm. Certainly quicker to do than to read the above.

But beware - if you're "only" ever going to be making model buildings from thin ply, MDF, etc, it'll be fine, but in my experience scroll sawing becomes so absorbing, and a number of members show such brilliant work on here, that quite soon you'll be wanting a "better" machine! (Why do you think I now have a "posh" machine with a tilting head that takes all kinds of blades and varies speed at the twist of a knob?).

Good luck

AES

 

[mayfair456]

Many thanks to every one yes seems that yor start with a match box(showing age) and end up with fully kitted landy (darn that DAKTARI )so yes may be the start of a new hobby but my buget st stands