JTTHECLOCKMAN

I have hot melt glued some scrap blocks to pieces if I need to spin a round piece alot. Just another little tip.

Hard to hold the piece on the saw. I would use a sabre saw (jig saw) with a fine blade. Clamp the piece to the workbench and have at it. Alot easier than trying to twist a long piece of molding on a short table.

You really do not want to see my lumber racks Exotics can be some of natures best. They usually are heavy and oily and a challenge to cut but I like to use them for accent pieces or bottoms for my clocks. Put a finish on that piece and it will jump out even more so.

As mentioned the size of the saw does play a role in how large you can comfortably cut. The use of spiral blades is another trick that can help. I also found other little tricks that have helped me. Many time we get into a pattern of the way we normally cut, right to left or left to right. If you can learn both ways it will help doing larger patterns because you can have the piece hit the back of the saw from one angle but just cut the opposite way will cut the other half. Then there is the trick of twisting the blade 90 degrees so that the cutting teeth are facing a side of the saw and you be surprised how much you can cut doing this also. I run into this many time when I make my larger mirrors. Even though I have a RBI26" it still has some limits when I make these. One or the other tips I mentioned get me out of it. I do not and never will use spiral blades. I could never get the hang of them. That is just me though so hope some of this helps. Good luck.

If anyone is interested Grizzly is having a one week sale on the Dewalt 788 saw. $400 for saw with stand and light. That is a pretty good deal.

Make sure the blade is seating against the stops in the clamps before testing and make sure the blade is straight before installing.

This is the photo of my fix. I raised the table in the rear. Had to enlarge the bolt holes but that was easy to do.

As mention plywood is not the best material because of the different layers and grain direction keeps varying plus the glue which dulls the blade. A larger blade such as a #7 maybe of help if not too intricate of a pattern. Solid woods will cut faster unless they are exotics that are hard and dense and then they will burn. Maybe let your dog try and you collect social security. Speed of the saw is not the answer. Blade and material are. There are precision blades out there that are super sharp and will cut faster.

I guess that method will work as well. Someone must have discovered that after the method I mentioned because it was Rick and others that did the table tilt when the Dewalt first came out. It basically is the same thing. I see my photo is gone because of PhotoBucket I do have to get my photos transfered to another source. You will always have the rocking motion because of the action of the arms.

Not sure if this photo will stay or not but the fix as I said was to put a spacer in back of the table to raise it. Some did it in the front. Take a 90 degree straight edge and put behind the blade and by hand raise and lower the arm with a blade set the way you always do. You will see where the greatest gap is when you do this if it is at the top then the back needs raising and if at the bottom then the front needs raising. This problem is as old as those saws are. The greater the gap the more aggressive the cutting is. www.scrollsaws.com/SawReviews/DewltTuneUp.htm

I remember answering this question not that long ago but do not remember the forum or the topic of discussion. With the type #1 there was a table problem front to back and a shim was needed to lift the back of the table to take out the travel. Getting old and the memory is not what it use to be. I had shown a photo of my fix also. If I have time I will have another look but it is an easy fix.

No problem. The world lost a great talent in 2011 when Ray passed away. His son still keeps the dream alive about getting scrolling into the hands of the young and keeping the fine art of crafting going. Their work over the years is special and I had the chance to meet them several times over the years at scrolling events and some of the nicest people you want to meet. I have many of their patterns including that one but have as of yet gotten to it. Good luck with the project and do post photos.

That is a Dan and Ray Wilckens pattern from many years back. There is alot of pages that go with that pattern. www.wilckenswoodworking.net/miscPatterns.html

I use to get all my hinged box lids from them. It is ashame to learn they do not carry them any more. You will probably have a hard time finding again but if you do please post where. Thanks.

What is happening is the grain is lifting because woods such as oak has wide grain patterns. Woods like mahagony and maples do not. There is little support in thin pieces when cuts are so close together. The blade catches the grain on a turn and can rip into it. I do not slow the saw down I instead speed it up and go slower but also use a reverse tooth blade. The best method to avoid this is either switch to a tighter grained wood or use a backer board with a zero clearance blade hole and a reverse tooth blade. My opinion.

There should be 2 allen screws on the side of that top block. The bottom one is the blade holder and that one gets set to hold the blade with the thumb screw. The one on top is the one where the top of the blade hits the bottom of that screw. You can not put any more blade in if you hit that screw. That is why you set that back lever so that the blade sits in the same distance every time. If you have more blade showing than that you need to adjust that back lever. I ignore all those clock numbers and just tighten enough to have that bottom of that top screw even with the top of my blade when that arm is pushed down. If you put the blade in the bottom holder with it bottoming out this setup should be the same every time. To me this blade holding system is the easiest to use of all scrollsaws.

Never found a need for them. When scrolling if using the right blade your cuts should be smoothe

Kevin it is hard to explain in words sometimes but I will try. That nut on the bottom of that rod that sits under the bottom arm should not move or never move. It is a nylon insert in the nut to keep it from spinning off. The rod stays the same length. The adjustment is in the tension lever that controls that wedge shape device. You turn that to match the size of the blade. The top arm should be at a distance from the table so that when lowered the blade just gets pushed into the blade holder. The blade should just touch the top of the blade holder block and the back of the blade is against the pin. This should be automatic when set up right. Now the tension is set when the lever of the front tensioner is pushed. This now takes out the slack of the rod in the back. I basically always use #5 blades so I do not fuss with that back tension lever. If I happen to use a larger blade I will cut the tip of the blade so that it fits in the setup for the #5 blade and saw away. Now as I mentioned on that noise thread, sometimes that back lever works its way against the top arm and scrapes as it goes up and down and make a rattling noise. I just center the lever and keep an eye for it. I can tell that noise right away. I have also put a piece of rubber under that lever because some times it may slam against the arm as it comes down and that usually happens when I use larger blades because I did not reset that lever. If you set up the arm as I said you will not break blades because of too much tension. May break them for poor sawing techniques. Not sure if this makes sense or helps. Good luck. I love my 220 and 226

There is a labor of love. That looks great. All aspects came out really nice. Job well done and I am sure you are happy with that master piece. Thanks for showing.

If you do not know where the noise is coming from then it is impossible to help you. Will tell you this that sometimes the dust blower tube gets moved when changing blades and it will hit the clamp. Then at times the tension lever in the back will sometimes slide against the arm in the back and it will make a clunking noise when the saw goes up and down. Other than that I have had mine for 15 years+ and no noises that can not be fixed and they were what I explained. Love my RBI and would buy another. In my opinion best saw on the market.

I did and still do on the projects that are abit from norm. Maybe angles of cuts or size enlarged or reduced. Blades and things like that. I never did get into the photo of every project. Look back on it now I wish I had. Have made over 800 different projects in time. Kept a list because i number each project because I was selling in so many different stores and needed good account work for tax purposes. If you are making and giving away good for you but you are not a business and it means nothing to you. If you have some sort of business then some sort of records are needed.

I too started with white bed sheets but have gone to a light green. It brings out the wood better to me anyway. When doing shows the tables are not standard size or at least not at the ones I go to.

oak Love walking by a freshly cut down oak tree.

Did you ever consider spectraply blanks. I use the bottlestopper blanks. You could call the company and ask specifics. They are pricy but any colors are available. www.cwp-usa.com/collections/spectrabox/products/spectrabox-1?variant=40471025228