*This is my second WEN tool and they are both great **MyBest.Tools** I needed to do some trim work around the house and needed a scroll saw for the intricate work. No complaints so far.*
I am a 62 year old wife, mother and grandmother and just taking up woodworking. Not big time but making Christmas decorations for kids to decorate and few other things. So these kinds of video's are perfect for beginners like me. So thanks and will be watching more. I just broke my first blade so this was very helpful
Great Video, I teach Scroll Saw to eighth graders and this is part of the issue they have when loading. I call it hockey sticking the blade. I stress that the blade loaded in straight will make your cutting smoother (less chatter) and also prolong your blade life. Keep up your GREAT work. Thanks again!
+Donald Gross Thanks, Don! and you are absolutely correct, a straight blade makes everything better. Thanks for sharing this awesome trade with the young guys and gals. I really hope they take a liking to working with their hands it is much more satisfying than most of them probably realize. Bob
I'm glade you made this because I just got a scroll saw and it had no instructions. I'm looking forward to trying it out and if I like ill invest a little more and get a good quality one.
Frank, Glad I could help, if you just do a Google search for your scroll saws name and model # you will be able to find a manual for your saw. Good luck and have fun...Bob
Thank you so much for this video. I recently became interested in Scroll Saw woodworking. I'm in the research phase and have looked at a ton of videos on line, purchased a scroll saw and have chosen a few patterns that I like. I know almost nothing about scroll sawing and I believe I'm ready to put the wood to the scroll saw. This very basic information is what I have been looking for. It is easy to understand for a beginner and I believe will prevent problems that may have caused me to give up my pursuit. My husband has been supportive of my new hobby and bought the saw for me. I am also looking for patterns that would appeal to women, which are hard to find. Again thank you for thinking of us beginners.
Great video..have a question about my scroll saw sku#240-2017 can I be able to modify the blade from a pin to a universal blade...any ideas let me know...I thank you for your time and wisdom...
This video was a bug help. I decided to play around with the husbands toys while he was at work, broke the blade. So i found more, but wasn't sure if there was a certain way the blade needs to be. Straight. Makes perfect sense! Lol Thanks!
+Brittany Shaw Glad I could help you in your time of need Brittany! lol Now If I was married to you and I came home and found you playing with my toys, I would be ecstatic to know you are interested in my hobby and would want to teach you everything I could. First thing I would do is show you how to install a scroll saw blade. Oh wait, I already did that!
thank you , good video . I was a beginner , I would like to try to make it but I am still confused how the working principle of this tool and how to move it ?. may I learned it from you from the beginning to the tool can be used and may I share their knowledge ? sorry if my language is no harm I can not speak English fluently
this is a old video and perhaps scroll saws have changed the way the blade is clamped. The clamps now allow the blade to pivot slightly due to the end having a movable tip.
Bob, my new (to me) Craftsman scroll saw was breaking blades big time. I thought I’d tried everything available to stop it. It alway broke just at the start of the teeth at the top. A few seconds of cutting and bam! Well your video had me disassembling the clips and then I found that the top clamp was poorly made (as is the rest of this POS), the slot doesn’t allow the blade to hang down vertically. As in your vide at 4:30. When the blade is left to hang from the top clip it points ahead of the bottom clip and when clipped in, top and bottom, the blade is curved. Explains why it breaks at the start of the thinner section. The cause is poor manufacturing, the pin that limits the movement of the top clip is too far back and you can see the mark where it’s supposed to be drilled. I pulled the pin out and no more breaking. I have about 12 nice sharp blades, all broken at the same spot. Thanks for these ideas of yours, it seems everyone tells you why a blade breaks but stop after tension, speed and workpiece pressure. One video mentioned the screws for pinless blades aren’t necessary if your blades have pins but no-one referred to alignment! Seems everyone assumes you new scroll saw has no defects, mine has had a few basic manufacturing faults so far. The motor brushes were jammed and made intermittent contact, I thought it was the speed controller. The work surface is too far forward because the pivot pins are misaligned, the clips I’ve already mentioned. The adjustable stops for the bed was jammed and badly adjusted. I still have a few smaller things to adjust like the protractor is crooked. I cut plastic and aluminum sheet with a fine toothed blade (24 tpi or more) and find it great for fine work. Only need a bit of filing after cutting. Thanks again!
The problem I have with installing my blades is that I don't know how much blade should go into the bottom holder and how much into the top holder. I know common sense says to make it equal and that is what I try to do. But I cant see very well through the tiny hole in on the table to see how much I am putting into the bottom so I wind up loosing it and re-adjusting the blade up and down until there is equal amounts in top and bottom. This is time consuming. Is there an easier way? Thanks for your great videos!
***** Most of the owners manuals that I have seen (I haven't read every manual for every saw) from scroll saw manufacturers, say to install the top of the blade about 1/8th of an inch above the top blade holders screw. Now obviously this can vary with manufacturers so if you have a manual for your saw see what it says in regards to blade installation. In my opinion it is more important to make sure that the proper amount of blade comes through the top of the table. If you install the blade too high in the top blade holder it is possible that the part of the bottom blade that does not have teeth can come up through the bottom of the table into the wood. If this happens you are much more likely to have chattering of the wood you are cutting because the blade suddenly stops cutting the wood and starts pushing it on the upstroke. After installing the blade, pull up on the blade holders till it stops to make sure that you can see teeth protruding through the top of the table, and not any of the flat part of the blade. Don't worry about it being equal, equal is not important in this situation and can at times be detrimental. So if you just put the blade about an 1/8th inch or so above the tightening screw on the top blade holder, you should be in a good area, you may need to adjust it a little bit for your saw especially if you are using reverse tooth blades. You want to make sure the blade is properly installed so that the reverse teeth at the bottom of the blade actually do make it through the top of the table or the reverse teeth will not do what they are supposed to do.
Hi , thanks for an excellent video on an important topic. I am glad i came across this because I'm having a problem with my Dewalt saw. My problem is similar to what you have shown here but on my saw the lower part of the blade is back even when upper and lower parts of the blade are against the blocks as you suggest. I know on the Excalibur this can be corrected with the motor adjustment . But I don't know how to correct the problem on the Dewalt. Do you have any suggestions?
John Conway Hi John, I'm glad you enjoyed the video and found it helpful. Here are my thoughts on your alignment issue on your Dewalt. First you need to make sure you're blade is properly installed as shown in this video, if the blade is installed at an angle it will look like the front to back alignment is bad on your saw when it is actually ok. Unless you are having actual trouble with cutting, which will be noticed by your wood jumping front to back when making sharp turns, I would not worry about a little miss alignment, a little misalignment between top and bottom blade holders is not going to have much of an effect on your cutting ability or blade wear. I know this is a popular topic on many message boards, and I'm sure if people were installing their blades properly, a lot of the discussion would go away. If you still have problems, let me know and we can take it further. Bob
ScrollSawParadise Thank you very much for the reply Bob. I have checked each blade I have used . They seem to be solid against the blocks. I thought of a fix. When I put my mini square against the blade I have about a sixteenth at the bottom (blade to the rear at the bottom) So , I'm thinking if I shave 1/16 off the table mounting studs under the cast table , since they mount toward the front on the Dewalt , it would put her where she needs to be. The reason I feel this would work is when I loosen the knob to adjust the table , she comes down slightly , and then the blade is perfect against the square. When I retighten , the gap returns . The saw is working fine , but it bugs me .
John Conway If your saw is under warranty, I would not do that, it could void the warranty. Again if your saw works fine, I wouldn't bother, you know the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" 1/16" miss alignment is no big deal.
Bob, I have a beautiful heavy-duty, vintage Rockwell Delta 40-406 scroll saw. The lower blade clamp/chuck has a plain flat jaw and one V-jaw. I can't get it to hold very fine blades because they slip through the V. Am I using blades that are too thin for this type of saw? Please PM me so we can discuss off this video comment section.
Great video. It sounds like people are have the same problem I'm having. My Excalibur 16" is less than a week old and I cannot install the blade either on top or bottom. The blade kinks on the top when I tighten it. I know, from the manual, that this is a set screw issue. I cannot see inside the slot to know if it is protruding or not. I cannot get that set screw in the right position. It takes me 10-20 minutes to attach the blade on one end only. I am so frustrated, I'm ready to return the saw. This is the only problem I have. How can I see the set screw and adjust it properly? Any help is greatly appreciated as I don't like my saw right now. Thank you. I'm a recent subscriber to your channel and I like your approach to things.
oldman719 I know who you are OM, and I thank you for subscribing! Have no fear, we can get your set screw set up properly so get those nasty thoughts about returning your saw out of your head!...lol If you have a set of feeler gauges than you need to get them out, if not go to your local Dairy Queen and borrow one of those little ice cream spoons that they give you when you get a banana split. Ok , now that we have one of those two tools, the spoon is the exact thickness of the slot where you put your blade, you may need to sand it just a touch. Make sure that the right side blade holder thumb screw is unscrewed enough to not interfere with the slot, if you take it completely out than you will have nothing to worry about. Remove the screw on the left side of the holder, if you happen to have thread sealer, then apply a drop of it to the end of the threads on the screw you just removed. Now insert the wooden spoon or the proper number of feeler gauges that will fill up the slot, insert the screw with the thread sealer on it into the hole and screw it in until it just stops, you now have it in the proper location, remove your allen wrench and leave it alone. You can now re-install the thumbscrew and install a blade, your blade should now no longer kink, repeat this procedure on the bottom blade holder to make sure it is in the proper location as well. You can do this repair without the thread sealer temporarily, but you really do need to go to Home Depot, Ace Hardware or Loew's and pick up a tube of Loctite Thread Sealer. The screw will eventually back out and you will start kinking the blades again if you do not use the thread sealer. Use the thread sealer once, and unless you remove the screw again, it will not move. I have been wanting to make a video, showing this process, I guess I will go ahead and make one now. Bob
ScrollSawParadise Boy that sounds easy. I will try it tomorrow. Thank you so much Bob. Why can't the manual say that? I've wanted an Excalibur for years and want to keep it. Thank you...
Colleen Bigler Colleen it sounds like you have had a major failure, something inside your saw broke, with such little information, it is hard to be of much help. I can assure you, changing blades had nothing to do with whatever the failure inside your machine is, all that metal is much stronger than a scroll saw blade. The thickness of wood and length of time cutting was not what causes an internal failure unless the saw has been abused for a very long period of time.
This video is about scroll saw blades, I made this animated video using Googles Sketchup drawing program.
Can you use that to make scroll scroll saw patterns
@@spider-manthehero1664 Inkscape would be a better choice for pattern making. It is also free! Inkscape.org
*This is my second WEN tool and they are both great **MyBest.Tools** I needed to do some trim work around the house and needed a scroll saw for the intricate work. No complaints so far.*
I am a 62 year old wife, mother and grandmother and just taking up woodworking. Not big time but making Christmas decorations for kids to decorate and few other things. So these kinds of video's are perfect for beginners like me. So thanks and will be watching more. I just broke my first blade so this was very helpful
Welcome to woodworking Annie, I think you will find that the scroll saw is the perfect tool for you. Good luck and have fun...Bob
thanks Bob i just got my first scroll saw and your videos for beginners have helped me alot thanks again
Just finished making adjustments and leveling the table and doing it the hard way. I will definitely keep this in mind in the future.
Great Video, I teach Scroll Saw to eighth graders and this is part of the issue they have when loading. I call it hockey sticking the blade. I stress that the blade loaded in straight will make your cutting smoother (less chatter) and also prolong your blade life. Keep up your GREAT work. Thanks again!
+Donald Gross Thanks, Don! and you are absolutely correct, a straight blade makes everything better. Thanks for sharing this awesome trade with the young guys and gals. I really hope they take a liking to working with their hands it is much more satisfying than most of them probably realize. Bob
A five minute fix as per your instructions and it worked. Thank you.
oldman719 I'm glad it worked for you and that I could be of help. Now you can start loving your new saw! Happy Scrolling
Thumbs up buddy, thank you, Sir.
I'm glade you made this because I just got a scroll saw and it had no instructions. I'm looking forward to trying it out and if I like ill invest a little more and get a good quality one.
Frank, Glad I could help, if you just do a Google search for your scroll saws name and model # you will be able to find a manual for your saw. Good luck and have fun...Bob
Thank you . Can't wait to start playing with it
Franks DIY (
Thank you so much for this video. I recently became interested in Scroll Saw woodworking. I'm in the research phase and have looked at a ton of videos on line, purchased a scroll saw and have chosen a few patterns that I like. I know almost nothing about scroll sawing and I believe I'm ready to put the wood to the scroll saw. This very basic information is what I have been looking for. It is easy to understand for a beginner and I believe will prevent problems that may have caused me to give up my pursuit. My husband has been supportive of my new hobby and bought the saw for me. I am also looking for patterns that would appeal to women, which are hard to find. Again thank you for thinking of us beginners.
Ellen Thorne Welcome to your new hobby Ellen, have fun and good luck i'm sure you will love it. Bob
Great video..have a question about my scroll saw sku#240-2017 can I be able to modify the blade from a pin to a universal blade...any ideas let me know...I thank you for your time and wisdom...
This video was a bug help. I decided to play around with the husbands toys while he was at work, broke the blade. So i found more, but wasn't sure if there was a certain way the blade needs to be. Straight. Makes perfect sense! Lol Thanks!
Big* help
+Brittany Shaw Glad I could help you in your time of need Brittany! lol Now If I was married to you and I came home and found you playing with my toys, I would be ecstatic to know you are interested in my hobby and would want to teach you everything I could. First thing I would do is show you how to install a scroll saw blade. Oh wait, I already did that!
thank you , good video . I was a beginner , I would like to try to make it but I am still confused how the working principle of this tool and how to move it ?. may I learned it from you from the beginning to the tool can be used and may I share their knowledge ? sorry if my language is no harm I can not speak English fluently
this is a old video and perhaps scroll saws have changed the way the blade is clamped. The clamps now allow the blade to pivot slightly due to the end having a movable tip.
Bob, my new (to me) Craftsman scroll saw was breaking blades big time. I thought I’d tried everything available to stop it. It alway broke just at the start of the teeth at the top. A few seconds of cutting and bam! Well your video had me disassembling the clips and then I found that the top clamp was poorly made (as is the rest of this POS), the slot doesn’t allow the blade to hang down vertically. As in your vide at 4:30. When the blade is left to hang from the top clip it points ahead of the bottom clip and when clipped in, top and bottom, the blade is curved. Explains why it breaks at the start of the thinner section. The cause is poor manufacturing, the pin that limits the movement of the top clip is too far back and you can see the mark where it’s supposed to be drilled. I pulled the pin out and no more breaking. I have about 12 nice sharp blades, all broken at the same spot. Thanks for these ideas of yours, it seems everyone tells you why a blade breaks but stop after tension, speed and workpiece pressure. One video mentioned the screws for pinless blades aren’t necessary if your blades have pins but no-one referred to alignment! Seems everyone assumes you new scroll saw has no defects, mine has had a few basic manufacturing faults so far. The motor brushes were jammed and made intermittent contact, I thought it was the speed controller. The work surface is too far forward because the pivot pins are misaligned, the clips I’ve already mentioned. The adjustable stops for the bed was jammed and badly adjusted. I still have a few smaller things to adjust like the protractor is crooked. I cut plastic and aluminum sheet with a fine toothed blade (24 tpi or more) and find it great for fine work. Only need a bit of filing after cutting. Thanks again!
I'm glad this video helped you to solve your problem...Bob
I do not know how to do this. Watching this now. I just picked up a used scrollsaw.
That was good but you should have also mentioned which way the teeth should go.
The problem I have with installing my blades is that I don't know how much blade should go into the bottom holder and how much into the top holder. I know common sense says to make it equal and that is what I try to do. But I cant see very well through the tiny hole in on the table to see
how much I am putting into the bottom so I wind up loosing it and re-adjusting the blade up and down until there is equal amounts in top and bottom. This is time consuming. Is there an easier way? Thanks for your great videos!
***** Most of the owners manuals that I have seen (I haven't read every manual for every saw) from scroll saw manufacturers, say to install the top of the blade about 1/8th of an inch above the top blade holders screw. Now obviously this can vary with manufacturers so if you have a manual for your saw see what it says in regards to blade installation.
In my opinion it is more important to make sure that the proper amount of blade comes through the top of the table. If you install the blade too high in the top blade holder it is possible that the part of the bottom blade that does not have teeth can come up through the bottom of the table into the wood. If this happens you are much more likely to have chattering of the wood you are cutting because the blade suddenly stops cutting the wood and starts pushing it on the upstroke.
After installing the blade, pull up on the blade holders till it stops to make sure that you can see teeth protruding through the top of the table, and not any of the flat part of the blade. Don't worry about it being equal, equal is not important in this situation and can at times be detrimental.
So if you just put the blade about an 1/8th inch or so above the tightening screw on the top blade holder, you should be in a good area, you may need to adjust it a little bit for your saw especially if you are using reverse tooth blades. You want to make sure the blade is properly installed so that the reverse teeth at the bottom of the blade actually do make it through the top of the table or the reverse teeth will not do what they are supposed to do.
Hi , thanks for an excellent video on an important topic. I am glad i came across this because I'm having a problem with my Dewalt saw. My problem is similar to what you have shown here but on my saw the lower part of the blade is back even when upper and lower parts of the blade are against the blocks as you suggest. I know on the Excalibur this can be corrected with the motor adjustment . But I don't know how to correct the problem on the Dewalt. Do you have any suggestions?
John Conway Hi John, I'm glad you enjoyed the video and found it helpful. Here are my thoughts on your alignment issue on your Dewalt. First you need to make sure you're blade is properly installed as shown in this video, if the blade is installed at an angle it will look like the front to back alignment is bad on your saw when it is actually ok. Unless you are having actual trouble with cutting, which will be noticed by your wood jumping front to back when making sharp turns, I would not worry about a little miss alignment, a little misalignment between top and bottom blade holders is not going to have much of an effect on your cutting ability or blade wear.
I know this is a popular topic on many message boards, and I'm sure if people were installing their blades properly, a lot of the discussion would go away. If you still have problems, let me know and we can take it further. Bob
ScrollSawParadise Thank you very much for the reply Bob. I have checked each blade I have used . They seem to be solid against the blocks. I thought of a fix. When I put my mini square against the blade I have about a sixteenth at the bottom (blade to the rear at the bottom) So , I'm thinking if I shave 1/16 off the table mounting studs under the cast table , since they mount toward the front on the Dewalt , it would put her where she needs to be. The reason I feel this would work is when I loosen the knob to adjust the table , she comes down slightly , and then the blade is perfect against the square. When I retighten , the gap returns . The saw is working fine , but it bugs me .
John Conway If your saw is under warranty, I would not do that, it could void the warranty. Again if your saw works fine, I wouldn't bother, you know the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" 1/16" miss alignment is no big deal.
ScrollSawParadise Sound wisdom. I will leave it alone. I thank you again for your great informative videos .
Bob, I have a beautiful heavy-duty, vintage Rockwell Delta 40-406 scroll saw. The lower blade clamp/chuck has a plain flat jaw and one V-jaw. I can't get it to hold very fine blades because they slip through the V. Am I using blades that are too thin for this type of saw? Please PM me so we can discuss off this video comment section.
Hey Jamshed, just send me an email to bob.scrollsawparadise.com...Bob
ScrollSawParadise
I have the same problem with my Hitachi scroll saw. Any tricks to getting the 00blade to stay in the lower clamp?
Great video. It sounds like people are have the same problem I'm having. My Excalibur 16" is less than a week old and I cannot install the blade either on top or bottom. The blade kinks on the top when I tighten it.
I know, from the manual, that this is a set screw issue. I cannot see inside the slot to know if it is protruding or not. I cannot get that set screw in the right position. It takes me 10-20 minutes to attach the blade on one end only. I am so frustrated, I'm ready to return the saw. This is the only problem I have.
How can I see the set screw and adjust it properly? Any help is greatly appreciated as I don't like my saw right now.
Thank you. I'm a recent subscriber to your channel and I like your approach to things.
oldman719 I know who you are OM, and I thank you for subscribing! Have no fear, we can get your set screw set up properly so get those nasty thoughts about returning your saw out of your head!...lol If you have a set of feeler gauges than you need to get them out, if not go to your local Dairy Queen and borrow one of those little ice cream spoons that they give you when you get a banana split.
Ok , now that we have one of those two tools, the spoon is the exact thickness of the slot where you put your blade, you may need to sand it just a touch. Make sure that the right side blade holder thumb screw is unscrewed enough to not interfere with the slot, if you take it completely out than you will have nothing to worry about. Remove the screw on the left side of the holder, if you happen to have thread sealer, then apply a drop of it to the end of the threads on the screw you just removed. Now insert the wooden spoon or the proper number of feeler gauges that will fill up the slot, insert the screw with the thread sealer on it into the hole and screw it in until it just stops, you now have it in the proper location, remove your allen wrench and leave it alone. You can now re-install the thumbscrew and install a blade, your blade should now no longer kink, repeat this procedure on the bottom blade holder to make sure it is in the proper location as well.
You can do this repair without the thread sealer temporarily, but you really do need to go to Home Depot, Ace Hardware or Loew's and pick up a tube of Loctite Thread Sealer. The screw will eventually back out and you will start kinking the blades again if you do not use the thread sealer. Use the thread sealer once, and unless you remove the screw again, it will not move.
I have been wanting to make a video, showing this process, I guess I will go ahead and make one now.
Bob
ScrollSawParadise
Boy that sounds easy. I will try it tomorrow. Thank you so much Bob. Why can't the manual say that? I've wanted an Excalibur for years and want to keep it. Thank you...
oldman719 It really is easy, good luck tomorrow, and if you have any more problems just let me know.
oldman719 Just to clarify... Do not put thread sealer on the right side thumb screw threads, only on the left side of the blade holders Allan screw.
Got it. If you ever get to Fort Collins CO, look me up, I'll buy you dinner.
First blade change,now scroll saw just turns on and no motion,,blade broke on 3/8 in walnut straight cut. 30 min into project.
Colleen Bigler Colleen it sounds like you have had a major failure, something inside your saw broke, with such little information, it is hard to be of much help. I can assure you, changing blades had nothing to do with whatever the failure inside your machine is, all that metal is much stronger than a scroll saw blade. The thickness of wood and length of time cutting was not what causes an internal failure unless the saw has been abused for a very long period of time.