So I bought a cheap scroll saw...

[Baldwyn]

I bought this cheap and the blade seems to be upside down, it seems a bit of a potch to undo the bottom clamp. Am I missing something?

Seems quite well made though

...

 

[Baldwyn]

Any thoughts? I'm not brave enough to undo the bottom clamp. What sort of thickness is a machine like this be able to cut? All help appreciated

 

[Oraclebhoy]

Looks similar to the one I bought years ago, the blades are locked in place, if I remember you have to take the bottom cover off to get in. I ended up getting a kit to make it use pin blades (been years since I did it so may have the name wrong) these ones you just removed the tension and they could be replaced.
Much easier but I never had any success with it so gave it away.

 

[Baldwyn]

I plucked up the courage to take of the side panel and swap the blade around. Good little machine, really pleased with it

 

[AES]

Thickness the machine will handle (subject to blade choice and its tension) is pretty much whatever you can get under the arm while still allowing the blade to go up and down! (And I'm NOT trying to take the mickey mate). Don't know this particular machine but it looks VERY similar to loads of scroll saws out of the same "one or few" Chinese factories, differences being limited to the name badge, the colour, and a few extra goodies included/not included.

At a guess I'd say that machine will happily cut about one inch (25 mm) thick - note caveat re blade and tension above - perhaps a little bit thicker.

If you're new to this lark, have a look at the sticky at the top of this section detailing lots of blade sizes/types from several manufacturers. Included is a downloadable "general table" which is a good starting point for what size blade to use on different thicknesses and types of wood. I found that table useful at the start of my scrolling "career".

HTH

 

[scrimper]

Providing you did not pay much for it then it will be fine as long as you don't want to do any intricate designs with lots of internal cuts.
As AES says this is a cheap Chinese made machine sold under a plethora of guises.

I tell you what annoys me is that Record was once a 'grade one' manufacturer of top quality products made in the UK, machines that would last a lifetime. Some years ago they were taken over by a US company who promptly closed down the UK manufacturing and simply bought cheap far east items and stuck their logo on with the words Sheffield England basically to make people think that they were buying a quality British made product, personally it disgusts me as it is deceptive.

The saw you have is fine for general woodworking but will be very frustrating to use if you want to do intricate fretwork.

I do cover the subject of these saws in my videos on buying a scroll saw.

 

[Baldwyn]

Fair play for posting up responses. According to the side of the machine it mad arou 2001. Does that change your view on it's quality. I reckon it'll get me through the basics and then I'll get a Hegner if I find limitations. I did watch the video by Scrimper, very good actually

 

[Baldwyn]

The blade tensioner is in a good place as per the Hegner in part 2 of the video. The blade change is nowhere near as good

 

[Stuart Moffat]

If the blade is upside down you simply must turn it over! The cutting stroke should pull the wood against the table, not lift it into the air. You can tell if (with it turned off) rub your finger up and down the blade. It should bite your skin as you raise your finger, and as you lower it. You need to get used to changing blades anyway. They break particu when your learning.

 

[whatknot]

I can't see from your photo but these usually come with two "hanger type" blade clamps for pinless blades, which assemble off the saw, there are guide recesses usually on the top arm to get the length right

Or does yours have fixed blade clamps? which may have been added later by someone

I have basically one of the same saws but Scheppach badged, they retail from about £70 up to £200 for more or less the same saw

Easy to use for pinned blades, a bit of a pain for pinless , other than that they do a job of work for not a lot, I paid £20 for mine

 

[scrimper]

Fair play for posting up responses. According to the side of the machine it mad arou 2001. Does that change your view on it's quality. I reckon it'll get me through the basics and then I'll get a Hegner if I find limitations. I did watch the video by Scrimper, very good actually

Afraid it does not change my view on the quality of your saw. When Record first offered a scroll saw they were made by RBI, their machine was named as a Hawk and was very good quality, the Record version was green rather than red but as you can see from the image below it has no resemblance to the Chinese made saws that Record offered later. Sorry to be negative however if you got the saw cheap it's worth having.

 

[Baldwyn]

I would say it was negative. It sounded like an honest appraisal. I couldn't ask for more than that... So thank you

 

[Baldwyn]

I can't see from your photo but these usually come with two "hanger type" blade clamps for pinless blades, which assemble off the saw, there are guide recesses usually on the top arm to get the length right

Or does yours have fixed blade clamps? which may have been added later by someone

I have basically one of the same saws but Scheppach badged, they retail from about £70 up to £200 for more or less the same saw

Easy to use for pinned blades, a bit of a pain for pinless , other than that they do a job of work for not a lot, I paid £20 for mine

Yeah, it's currently got a painless blade and tbh, I think I will try pinned. I'm not doing anything that needs the sophistication of a high end saw. Hopefully this will be adequate. Probably pay for itself pretty quick

 

[whatknot]

Pinned blades are fine for a lot of jobs, its when you get to finer work that pinless come into their own as you cannot easily get a pinned blade through the hole drilled for all inside cuts

One thing to bear in mind though, pinned blades are roughly twice the price of pinless, if you are using a large number it can add up

You can get aftermarket conversion kits for pinless blades (Olson for example) but don't think much of them personally, I would rather use the cash to put towards a better saw

Or you can make a couple if you have the kit to do so

Axminster sell clamps that will fit yours for about ten quid but there are mixed reviews on them (although I suspect most problems are user made)

If you decide you want to do more intricate projects, really the only satisfactory answer is to upgrade to a better saw

PS there are pinned blades and then there are pinned blades, the DIY store type are rather agricultural, Pegas do much finer pinned blades as well as pinless, they are a massive improvement on the generic type pinned blades

Yeah, it's currently got a painless blade and tbh, I think I will try pinned. I'm not doing anything that needs the sophistication of a high end saw. Hopefully this will be adequate. Probably pay for itself pretty quick

 

[Baldwyn]

Pinned blades are fine for a lot of jobs, its when you get to finer work that pinless come into their own as you cannot easily get a pinned blade through the hole drilled for all inside cuts

One thing to bear in mind though, pinned blades are roughly twice the price of pinless, if you are using a large number it can add up

You can get aftermarket conversion kits for pinless blades (Olson for example) but don't think much of them personally, I would rather use the cash to put towards a better saw

Or you can make a couple if you have the kit to do so

Axminster sell clamps that will fit yours for about ten quid but there are mixed reviews on them (although I suspect most problems are user made)

If you decide you want to do more intricate projects, really the only satisfactory answer is to upgrade to a better saw

PS there are pinned blades and then there are pinned blades, the DIY store type are rather agricultural, Pegas do much finer pinned blades as well as pinless, they are a massive improvement on the generic type pinned blades

I've got a feeling (I haven't checked...) That it'll take both. I'm in agreement with most of the thread, thanks for the tip on blade quality

 

[whatknot]

It will certainly take both types of blades, pinned are very easy to change

I've got a feeling (I haven't checked...) That it'll take both. I'm in agreement with most of the thread, thanks for the tip on blade quality

 

[Baldwyn]

.

 

[Baldwyn]

I'm still unsure about blade sizes. Some general purpose blades for cutting shapes into hardwood 9-18mm would be what number blade and tpi please.

If anyone could help me with this it will help me stop throwing good money after bad

I was thinking something like these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pegas-90...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

 

[AES]

Link coming up - got to find it as it seems you haven't. Wait a mo. I don't know how to refer to another thread while holding this one open, sorry.

Edit for P.S. Here -

View attachment No_Fail_Blade_Chart_206122387.pdf

As said before, it's one of several downloadable info charts detailing who makes what sorts of blades and some places to buy them. But the one linked above is a general guide as to what size of blade to use with what types and sizes of wood and does not deal with specific makes of blade - just sizes/types. It comes from a sticky at the 2nd or 3rd thread down at the top of THIS (Scrolling and Scroll Saw) section, as I said before.

Note that it's a "general guide" - IMO no one can tell you exactly what size/type of blade to use for what job - it turns out to be a matter of personal preference/comfort - IMO anyway. But that table should at least get you into the right ball park as far as not getting something far too fine (or too coarse) for whatever work it is you want to do.

Do I assume correctly that despite my earlier suggestion that you look at that sticky that in fact you didn't bother to look - or am I being unfair?

 

[Baldwyn]

Link coming up - got to find it as it seems you haven't. Wait a mo.

I've got the one with the pdf but it talks about numbers not tpi. I have looked, honestly.