I want to cut a double bass bridge for this task. (See photo attachment.) Is it a job for the scroll saw?--I'm just assuming that it is as I have never used one.
Questions:
a) Scroll saws can be fairly cheap or expensive. The saw will only be used occasionally. (I don'want to buy to cheap as gone are the days of buying cheap tools!)
b) Buy a quality brand? Recommendation?
c) Which make of scroll saw do you use and like?
d) Best make of blade and TPI to buy for a precision cut?
e) Can the scroll saw be controlled by a foot pedal? If so recommended make?
Look forward to your experiences of using the scroll saw,
Many thanks.
First, you'll get some other ideas if you re-post in the Scrolling and Scroll Saws section. ("We" have our own section here)!
Second. IF, as I presume, the item shown is made out of wood, and if it's less than about 2 inches thick, max, then YES definitely, a Scroll Saw is THE tool for the job! Especially if that little "squiggly bit" at the top of your pic is a cut out then NO other machine can do that without leaving any evidence that it's been cut out.
Third, ANY scroll saw will do that job (if meeting the criteria above). It's largely a question of how much you want to pay, how much you appreciate using a "convenient" tool, and how often you'll use it in the future. In brief you can buy a new scroll saw from Lidl and Aldi and DIY chains for about a hundred plus quid. And S/H machines of all sorts come up frequently, in various price ranges. And at the other end of the scale, my own Excalibur/Pegas machine today will today cost about 700 or 800 quid (in UK prices, I THINK - NOT UK resident). Strangely, both new and S/H, there is little choice between the 100 to roughly 250 quid at the low end, and the top end, like mine (above), or Hegner, or (IF you can find one, S/H only, the US-made Delta - I believe no longer inported into UK).
Fourth, back to the 100-250 quid "cheapo end", there are lots of machines on the market, and apart from the colour and the name, plus the number of accessories included, they are ALL much of a much-ness, having all/mostly come from the same 1 or 2 factory/ies in China. ANY one will do the job you describe, subject to blade, and if you'll never use the machine again I'd suggest you stick to that end of the market.
Fifth, re blades, again I strongly recommend you do go to the Scrolling section here. Right at the top is a sticky with several downloadable tables telling you BROADLY what blade to use on what job. "What job" largely means what type of wood (or other material - scroll saws can cut lots of stuff - with the right blade!) and the thickness of the material. The two main types are pinless and pinned blades, and all those come in a variety of TPIs and thicknesses (width of kerf). The tables mentioned above will start you off with ROUGHLY the right blade, but as you practice a bit - also strongly recommend - scroll saws seem a bit weird until you get used to them - then you will develop your own preferences along the way. Basically at the cheapio end of the market, some saws take ONLY pinned blades, others in that range take either, or can often be cheaply modified. Pinless are MUCH more convenient to use, and cheaper, though blades (usually sold in dozens) aren't really all that expensive. At the start you WILL break a few however. At the top end (above, Excalibur, Hegner, etc) machines will take both pinned and pinless.
Sixthly: Some machines come with foot switch, some not, though it's possible to add one to most machines that came without. Again the Scrolling section here is your friend.
Lastly. Personally, after many (quite lengthy) steps I ended up with a brand new Excalibur. Mine is now over 10 years old and I'm still thoroughly delighted with it. Others on the Scrolling Section swear by Hegner. Again a wade through the many posts in the Scrolling section already mentioned will, IMO, help you a lot with your learning curve.
Hope all that helps, good luck.
P.S. Another sticky at the top of the Scrolling section here is called something like "Scrollsaws - Why pay more?" It's by a member here called Scrimper UK (he also has his own Scrolling channel on YouTube). He's an out-and-out Hegner fan, but the above "Why pay more" will tell you a helluva lot, and is by no means applicable to Hegner only. There's also someone else who posts in the same section, but sorry, I forget his name (old age)! He specialises in sale and repair of S/H Hegners and clearly has a LOT of Hegner knowledge. Hegners are known for ridiculously high spare parts prices from the official Hegner source in UK. The above bloke seems to be more reasonably priced.
Again, HTH
