rja

Ballroom dancing.

The length of time a blade remains viable is greatly dependent on the type and thickness of wood being cut. A blade cutting 3/4" thick bloodwood might last 10 minutes. The same blade cutting 3/4" thick poplar may last 1/2 hour or longer. Cutting plywood will wear out a blade faster than cutting the same thickness of solid wood because the glue is a bit abrasive. Cutting speed, or strokes per minute, of the saw also has an effect on blade life. Cutting at a high speed on thick hardwood will overheat the blade and greatly shorten its life. Experience will teach you the "sweet spot" where production and blade life are maximized. Keep practicing.

I have both a kersoene heater and a propane heater sitting on a 20 lb tank. I prefer the propane heater by a mile. There is no smell, it heats up much faster than the kerosene heater and propane is obtainable almost anywhere. Sometimes I have to hunt around for kerosene. However, when the outside temperature is 10 degrees or less, the btu output of the kerosene heater is unmatched for bringing the shop up to habitable temperatures.

On one of my box fan filters I have placed a 20" by 20" ordinary furnace filter to catch the coarse material on the inlet side. This helps to protect the motor from a lot of sawdust. On the outlet side I have placed a 20" by 20" hepa-type filter to catch the very fine dust to protect me. I f you only use one filter I suggest putting it on the inlet side to keep the motor as dust free as possible.

A through the wall exhaust system will work but will suck out any heated air in the shop and you will have to crack open a door or window for make-up air. Have you tried the furnace filter over a box fan trick? Find a 20" box fan and get a furnace filter and put one over the inlet side of the fan. Use wide blue painters' tape to tape the filter to the outside frame of the fan. This is dirt cheap and works quite well. I have two of these in my shop.

Years ago I turned a dagger handle from juniper wood. I developed a sneezing, sniffling, watery itchy-eye reaction to the dust.

Ron: I have seen pictures of your work here and elsewhere and I think it is all fabulous. Please keep posting more pictures of your work.

I seem to gravitate to cutting stand up puzzles the most. They are fun, easy, and sell well. Next I like compound cutting. Its fun cutting both sides of your object then pealing away the waste to reveal the prize inside.

Ain't it amazing when you finish cutting your 3D project, peel away the waste, and find your prize inside? Nice job on the ornaments. I started scrolling because of an arthritis of the spine diagnosis a little over a year ago after having done blacksmithing for over 30 years. I am having a blast like you appear to be doing. Keep up the good work.

If you examine the innards of the saw you will see that a zerk fitting would be inappropriate. Where would you put it that would get grease on those pivots? I agree that grease will attract gunk but the pivots are at the back of the saw and enclosed. I used spray lithium grease because grease stays put whereas oil runs off. Those pivots should be run in oilite bronze bearings or needle roller bearings, not steel on steel. They appear to be simple push pins - guaranteed to wear quickly. My plan is to maintain the saw as well as I can pending buying a better one. Unfortunately, by the time I need parts they will be unavailable and the Dremel will become a doorstop.

I have a Dremel 1830 scroll saw purchased in August, 2008. On my saw there is a link in the back of the saw that connects the upper and lower arms. The link pivots were shipped with no lubricant on them. I heard about this in January of this year and opened up the halves of my saw and squirted some spray lithium grease on the pivot points. I did this again just recently. The other problem has been the high pitched squeaking from the arm bearings on the sides of the saw. I have been using PB Blaster on these and it cures the squeaking sometimes. The third problem has been the throat plate. It is made of plastic and is recessed below the table surface. I shimmed it up with some tape but the plastic is too flexible and when I have small pieces that don't span the throat plate the pieces bounce up and down on the thin plastic no matter how hard I hold them. If it had an aluminum throat plate this would not be a problem. On your saw I suspect that due to lack of lubrication (not your fault) on those link pivots in the back of the saw, the link arm has worn out. Dremel should have built in a means to lubricate those pivots easily without taking the saw apart. If you can return the saw do so within the warranty period. Dremel generally has excellent customer service. Be advised that this saw is now out of production so get it fixed before parts are unavailable.

I don't own a 788 but I have read that dust gets into the on/off switch. Taking the switch apart and blowing it out with compressed air restores its functionality.

I have enjoyed woodworking for several decades but did relatively little of it until I retired from 30 years of blacksmithing early this year. Now I do scroll sawing and it is so enjoyable as to be habit forming. Now comes Travis and his WoodDealsOnline. This has become habit forming. An addiction within an addiction! That scroll saw has to be kept fed. I have become its slave. Please help me. Seriously, give WoodDealsOnline a try. It is a great time saver in trying to find that ideal piece of wood for the scroll saw. You know; about 1" thick or so, at least 6" wide, as long as is practicable, nice grain and color . . . just right for stand up puzzles, or baltic birch plywood, or . . .

In the latest issue of Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts is a tree puzzle. I cut this entire puzzle out of poplar with one FD polar #5 blade. It was noticeably a little harder to push at the end but the quality of cut was still there. I consider Flying Dutchman blades to be superior to any other makes I have tried.

I have a Dremel model 1830 scroll saw which is fairly new and only after a few hours of use it started a squeaking or chirping noise. I called Dremel customer support and was told that the squeaking is coming from the arm bearings. They said to turn the saw on its side and put a few drops of either 10W-30 or 10W-40 motor oil in the arm bearing openings. Let it sit for 24 hours and do the other side. Not wanting to take the saw off the stand and tie it up for 48 hours, I took some PB Blaster and sprayed it into the bearings. The next day no more squeaking. I then took some cotton and made small wads of it and pushed them into the bearing openings, saturated them with PB Blaster, put the dust caps back in, and no further squeaking.