zimmerstutzen Posted May 30, 2016 Report Share Posted May 30, 2016 (edited) Saw a very old industrial scroll saw for sale. The owner said it takes 8 inch blades, and he has been making them from band saw blades since he can't find them for sale. I did some checking and can't find any. I tried to see if the machine could be converted some how to five inch blades and it may be possible, but before taking on such a project, I figured I would check for ready made blades., Edited May 30, 2016 by zimmerstutzen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsN Posted May 31, 2016 Report Share Posted May 31, 2016 How big are coping saw blades? If you get a chance can you take a picture of the saw or tell us the name? I have a couple of old scroll saws at school. They are pretty much worthless for any actual scrolling. They require a thick blade, and are really tricky to get tensioned correctly. Jim Finn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimmerstutzen Posted May 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2016 It was a Boice-crane, probably made in the 1950's or 1960's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amazingkevin Posted May 31, 2016 Report Share Posted May 31, 2016 Saw a very old industrial scroll saw for sale. The owner said it takes 8 inch blades, and he has been making them from band saw blades since he can't find them for sale. I did some checking and can't find any. I tried to see if the machine could be converted some how to five inch blades and it may be possible, but before taking on such a project, I figured I would check for ready made blades., here's a picture of one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharleyL Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 If you have used a more modern scroll saw that pulls the blade both up as well as down like a DeWalt 788 or EX, you will consider any scroll saw that uses a spring to pull the blade up as scrap metal. It doesn't matter what length blade it requires. There's no comparison to the new style scroll saws that mechanically pull the blade both down and up. You can even set blade tension on the newer saws. Those old saws were tensioned by changing the spring on top or the length of the blade. You can cut curved designs in cedar wood shingles with them, but what we call scroll saw art today is impossible to do in one of those old scroll saws. You will also break a lot of blades with them. Bind the blade in the saw kerf and you will buckle the blade when the lower blade clamp rises and the top spring fails to pull the top end of the blade up. I hate to be so down on anything, but I fought with one of these old saws for many years before discovering the new scroll saw designs. Pin less blade technology and mechanically driven upper as well as lower arms in the newer saws have made these old scroll saws totally obsolete. Mine was converted to a reciprocal filing machine for a while and then it went to the metal salvage yard because it didn't even file well. Don't waste your money on one of these old design scroll saws. Charley SCROLLSAW703 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWSUDEKUM Posted June 4, 2016 Report Share Posted June 4, 2016 Charley most of the saws of the type you are describing and yes I have one are actually a Jig Saw not a scroll saw. While the blade goes up and down in a totally vertical manner it is incapable of using the smaller and thinner blades because of the style of the blade they have to use. The most common design is the parallel arm, in which a motor is attached near the back of the arms and the two arms always remain parallel to each other. The C-arm variant uses a solid "C" shaped arm, with the blade being mounted between the two ends of the "C". The parallel link type, used by Hawk, Excalibur, and DeWalt, has rods in the upper and lower arms that are "pushed" by the motor to move short (about 4 inches – 100 millimetres– long) articulated arms which hold the blade. These are the most common and most of the time use only pinless blades although some do allow for the use of pinned blades as well. Most modern saws now a days are very similar but vary widely in the amount of vibration that the saw produces in use. Generally the more the saw costs the less vibration it produces at all speeds. A good test is the old nickle test. In this test you balance a nickle on its edge on the saws table and then turn on the saw and then speed up the saw if the nickle falls over or is vibrated off the table you will have a good indication of what it would be like when using it. DW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharleyL Posted June 6, 2016 Report Share Posted June 6, 2016 DW, I agree with you. However many people are confusing the old "jig saws" with the present "scroll saws" and think they can buy a jig saw and use it to scroll saw. Many sellers are pushing jig saws by calling them scroll saws, which they are not. I agree with you, but many who are new to this craft are wasting their money thinking that these old saws are what they need to get started doing what we do. My post was intended to keep these people from making this mistake. I avoided the name "jig saw" for that reason, rather describing their mechanical function instead. Charley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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