Wrong blade, wrong saw or wrong technique?

twodoctors · 22 Mar 2017

Hi all.

Still very new to scrolling but getting the hang of it (I think).

I'm cutting some puzzle from a pattern of found on the net. Doing it with 20mm pine using a Clarke basic model (same as Ax Hobby) and pegas #5 reverse skip tooth blade. I'm finding myself pushing to wood quite hard to get things moving. Still moving it very slowly but I think (reads know) I'm bending the blade a fair bit. Some of the cuts ended up not perpendicular.

The blade is new... Used it to cut some ply and pine, and briefly oak and Beech. Machine is not a Henger. I think the tension is high enough... I'm fairly new to this but am quite gentle with the machine. Should I be using a bigger blade or different blade? It doesn't cut unless I out the wood onto the blade.

Tips welcomed.

Adrian

novocaine · 22 Mar 2017

change the blade and try again.

also, 3-5 teeth in the work piece, number 5 might be a bit fine.

linkshouse · 22 Mar 2017

As per Novocaine's suggestion, the starting point would be to try a new blade.

I wouldn't have expected you to have any problems with a No5 skip tooth. No5 Pegas Modified Geometry blades are my blade of choice for the Intarsia work that I do and most of that is 25mm Oak, Mahogany, Sycamore etc. so Pine should cut fairly easily, except....

I always find pine to be a bit of a pig. The variation between "soft" and "hard" bit can be quite dramatic.

Regards

Phill

AES · 22 Mar 2017

Yeah, I 2nd that. The pine bits & pieces I've cut so far seem to differ wildly within the same piece - almost as soft as balsa in one place, then you come to a knot and it's like cutting ironwood (almost)!

I too use No. 5 Pegas MTG blades a lot, but if a new one still feels that you're having to push hard, then (if the thickness of the stock allows), try a No. 7.

AES

martinka · 22 Mar 2017

If you are unsure about blade tension, Steve Good has a rather non-scientific way to get you near. He has a little Windows program that plays notes, so you can check by sound for correct(ish) tension. If you don't use Windows, you're out of luck.

http://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.co.uk/ Scroll down a bit and it's on the left side. In fact, here's a direct link. http://www.stevedgood.com/blade.zip

twodoctors · 23 Mar 2017

Thanks all.

Had a play last night. Cutting some thin (6mm) meranti and it was smooth, so the blade is probably not blunt. Probably got the wrong type of blade.

Tried the Steve Good blade tension programme. I find that at the pitch he propose, the blade is too flexible on my machine. Mine needs another note or two higher to achieve the "correct" tension (ie not flexing backwards as much).

I bought #3 and #5 rev skip too blades and spiral from Ax. I think I'll return the #3 and spiral and get the "pack" they sell for a £10 instead. The pack includes the Modified Geometry blades of various size as well.

This is what I'm scrolling at the moment...