Xray

For quite a while now, I have been having an annoying problem thats getting worse. Material cuts fine pushing up on it, or to the left. Try to go the other way with the material, down or to the right, and the blade barely cuts, the machine starts vibrating, and is generally under more stress. Checked around for anything bent or lose, its nothing obvious, so I have been just working within these limitations [i mostly use spiral blades, and I have to turn the wood, since it only cuts in 2 directions vs the 4 its supposed to]. Anyhow now its gotten worse, and it barely wants to cut in any direction. I think I found the problem, the blade is square with the table left and right of the blade ,, Or lets say, east and west. North and south, there is about an 1/8 inch gap from the top of the blade to the bottom, so something is obviously amiss. My garage is freezing cold, I do have a propane heater that can keep the immediate area tolerable, but I don't have hours to diagnose this thing. Anyone know what could cause the arms, and or, blade holders, to go out of alignment with eachother like that ?

Good move, a man simply cannot have enough tools. Watch the internal dust buildup on this, I periodically take mine outside and blow its innards out, lest the accumulation fouls the motor.

Nope no stain, that would be the wrong move for wood such at this. But a clearcoat I am going to try. BTW, I am very satisfied with this seller, but if anyone knows any comparable/cheaper sources, please share. I already know I want to stock up on some more of this.

Got these 10 or so strips of exotic wood a few weeks back, finally had a chance to do something with them. Been working 12-16 hr shifts 7 days a week for almost 2 months, so haven't seen much of my scroll saw lately. Got these off ebay, I thought they were a bargain. 12 inches long x 4 inches and from 1/4 to 3/8, they are perfect for some of the small objects I like to make, such as this arrowhead/wolf design. Came out pretty nice, I stack cut 3, and they were rough on blades, I must have went through 6 or 7 spirals to complete. Don't think I'll stain these, grain looks so nice I think just a clear coat will do. Wood is Morado, Yellowheart & Paduak - Think I'll try some of that Zebrawood for my next project. These strips range from $2 to $5 or so, and the seller will ship you 10 or so for $10 flat rate Priority, not bad, heres the link if anyones interested. http://shop.ebay.com/sago901/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Very nice. The arrow I think could use to be a bit thicker, and since the mule with rider is well supported at the feet, no need to attach the head and rear, or either really. True, even if they were cut away from the arrow they would be very close, but profile subjects like that tend to look better the less joined they are. I do similar works like these

Could you enlighten someone who has not been around here long what "the wiki" was/is ?

I'm not much of a pattern maker, I can make simple alterations to existing works to make the scrollable, thats about it. The avatar is as found on the net.

Well, we all have to work within limits. I like these fairly small, and just have to accept that fine details like fangs are not very feasible. I can, and have, made them larger ,, But that starts getting away from what I really want to do, and that is a bit pointless. Like the wolf head in my avatar ... I'd love to scroll something like that, but it would be insane to even try it.

Tiger head feather, another stack of 4, fairly intricate. I wanted to do a snarling tiger, but the teeth added a level of complexity & detail that I thought was unwise to try on something so small. Not thats it tiny ,,, But I'm pretty sure I would have botched the teeth.

A little update. I think something is wrong with my saw. Standard spirals are doing the same thing now ,,, Not nearly as bad as it was with the reverse, but they are showing the same negative symptoms. They only want to cut up and left, they bog out going down or right. I could live with just bogging down, but they also start to cut a channel twice as large as it should be, that I can't live with. I tried tightening screws and oiling things up, didn't help, not sure what else I can do. This is destroying my accuracy, and greatly inhibiting my ability to do intricate cuts, so I either gotta find out what the problem is, or get a new saw.

The Portercable is a re branded Hitachi CW40, which is what I use. So if you search around for info on this, you might have better luck searching the Hitachi, exact same saw. Offhand, I wouldn't think there should be any side movement at all. Unless you are making cutouts of Swiss cheese, such movement would destroy accuracy, and also blades. Are you capable of making fine cuts with it ? Perhaps you could beam a strobe light on it, you should be able to verify the movement, or lack thereof, with that.

The openings look good filled, and not. I was going to try one with red velvet, but it looked kinda out of place as a background for Jesus, so I think I'll stick with black ,, Or maybe get some gold.

Lowes Portercable is a rebranded hitachi cw40, which they used to sell. It is the saw I use, and I am very content with it ,,, So if you search for info, you might try the hitachi cw40, as this one was sold for years, is the same saw, and theres more info about it. Not sure about your question, offhand I wouldn't think there should be any side to side action, which would tend to ruin the accuracy of cuts.

Did a stack of 4 out in my ice bound garage this evening, pretty happy with them. I backed one with black velvet, looks nice, but I think I should have left the open parts of the feather above and below Jesus open ,,, Will try that with the next one. Both the feather and Jesus are separate Steve Good works, all I did was combine them, if anyone wants the pattern let me know, or dl them from Steve's site and combine them yourself.

Nice work, I also use Steves simple feather design for various things. So far I have an eagle, wolf, spider, horse, griffin, dragon, 2 babe shapes, and this wolf cutout I just did tonight, 4 stacked. Good feather, the wolf design I found on a tribal tattoo internet search, I modified it a bit to make is scrollable. Pretty intricate detail, I had problems with the small eye area, as I thought I would, but it still came out Ok. What kind of blade you use for these ? Zebra wood looks nice.

Mike, I did in fact order some blades from you this week, so I'm all set for now. I do have a question about the order, I'll send that to you via email. I don't know what to make of this, if others don't complain, it must just be me and/or my machine. I'd have to advise people not to take my rant too seriously, and try for themselves.

Mike, didn't get them from you, and I'm not casting stones at any sellers. Then again, I'm slamming a product you sell and I can see how that may concern you. The only thing I can think of is maybe my machine is out of whack, doesn't seem out of square. All I can say is I have used standard spirals with no problems, reverse were a nightmare. I use the same method a kev finding blade direction. If no one else is complaining though, it must just be me or my machine. Never squared it since I have had it, I'll have to look into that. It is square with a credit card, and a notch I cut will go through the back ,,, Not sure what else to try. kev, am a bit late on sending these due to forum being down, I'll try to get them out to you ASAP.

Well, if you like non functional tools to hamper your productivity & accuracy, these are just what the doctor ordered. Maybe scrolling has become to routine, tedious and predictable ,,, What could be better than to have a go at it with a defective blade ?? Now thats a challenge, by cracky - Real men don't need spiral blades that actually cut ! Got these off ebay ,,, Can't blame the seller, but I think I'll send a note asking if he has actually ever used them.

I'm curious also for other observations, surely I cannot be the only one. Then again, they are not widely available and haven't been on the market very long. I was very disgusted when I posted yesterday, I guess it showed. I really can't think of anything in my technique or experience level that can be causing these problems. I have happily used standard spirals, they have their limits like anything else, but their ability to cut in any direction allows you to do things that simply would not be possible with a standard blade ... So, I was very much looking forward to cutting in any direction, minus the back tearout which spirals are known to cause. I tried 3 different sizes of reverse, 2 different kinds of wood with varying thickness, from 1/4 to 1', and they handled just the same. Would only cut in 1 direction, and they were anything but precise. I had to constantly stop to turn the piece around. When turning a corner or a V I would just, with much effort, cut a little notch in the new direction, stop the machine, turn the material around, then start again, all so I could go in the direction it would cut. All of this left nasty start/stop marks all over the place. I could quite literally feel and hear the machine itself work harder when I went in any direction but away from me, the pitch would change and the vibration would increase ,,, And I snapped a few blades before I was finally convinced that the design of these things are simply flawed. I would like to be proven wrong, and told what to do to get these things to perform as advertised ,,, Or find out that I just have a factory reject batch. I don't see that in the cards, I have been a union carpenter for over 10 years, and I know a defective tool when I use one. Kevin should be able to confirm or deny my allegations within a week or so.

Please understand, this is not a slam against "spiral blades". I use them, and love them, and have made what I consider to be some outstanding projects with them. Below is my 1st spiral project, it was a joy to do. Painstaking detail, I consider it a success and worth the effort. Any mistake or shortcomings were mine, and not the tools ,,, So I do have a bit of experience with spirals. This is specifically against "reverse spiral blades", as per the title of this thread. I have tried them on a variety of wood, a variety of thickness, with the same terrible results. There are 2 possibilities here: * I received a flawed batch with a manufacturing defect * Reverse spirals are, for whatever reason, a flawed concept, and should not be sold Since I got 4 dozen, I'm leaning towards the 2nd. Its not a matter of "practice with them more, you'll love them once you master them!". They will only effectively cut in 1 direction, and thats pushing the material away from you. Any other direction and they bog right down to a near stop, at that point you have to stop and turn the wood so that you can be going in the direction they like. So you might as well have not even used a spiral in the first place if you have to turn the wood to use them. Kevin, I'll dig them out of the trash and send them along, be advised - This is not a favor. This is against my better judgment to do ,, If I had a hammer with a head ready to fly off, or a ratchet wrench with stripped gears, the last thing I'd do is give the problem to someone else. A flawed tool should be fixed, or taken permanently out of circulation. But owing to your touching PM, I'll send them on 1 condition - You promise not to to curse me in open forum after you use them.

What junk, I am appalled that anyone would market such non functional crap. Got a load of FD reverse spiral blades in the other day, and was eagerly anticipating working wonders with them. These are heavily flawed, I would not recommend them to my worse enemy. Here is what is wrong with them: * They take a much bigger bite, making them useless for any amount of detail. Projects that I easily completed with standard #1 spiral blades, out of the question for reverse #1 spiral blades. No detail at all. I could easily stay within a thin project line with standard blades, not so with reverse, looked like a dang trench they were carving. The only blade I found usable for detail where the ,, What are they called, 2.0's or something like that ? They are smaller than 1's, but junk as well, read on. * They only want to cut when you are pushing material away from you. Come towards you, go left or right, and they bog right down. They start cutting a larger line, you can actually hear the machine work harder, you have to push harder to get the material to even move ,,, And the end result is wasted time, terrible loss of accuracy, broken blades and frustration. This ludicrous flaw, of course, spoils the whole concept of a spiral blade, which are supposed to be happy cutting in any direction. Standard spirals, that it true, not reverse. Their design only wants to cut 1 way, so you are reduced to either slowing down your work and taking the loss of accuracy, or turning the material around as you would with a standard blade. What a joke, thats not all. * Its very difficult to get a bite with them. When turning a corner, the blade flops around and skips, forcing you to back up a bit and try to create a new channel for them. [Yes, the blade was properly tensioned]. End result of all that is nasty looking stop/start marks all over the place, which have to be sanded out. Complete junk folks, whoever is marketing these things ought to be slapped. The worse part is, if a complete noob starts out with these things, hearing how great they are supposed to be, they are going to think that scrolling is nothing but endless frustration & wased time, and put their machine on craiglist after 2 weeks. The single + I can say about them is yes, they do greatly reduce back tearout - I'll take those fuzzies any day over these defective tools. I got 4 dozen of them, they are going straight into the garbage. Sorry for the rant, I was getting madder & madder at these things by the minute, and a 20 minute project to over an hour. Here is what I made with a reverse spiral, first and only project with them. I stack cut 4, and I have done dozens of this same type of design with various subjects in the feather. Eagle, a wolf, now a babe. You might say it looks Ok, but you have no idea the nightmare this simple little project was because of the reverse tooth spiral. I found out rather quick how crappy they are, and the only reason why I had to continue to use it was because of the fine detail of the hair, shoes and feather tips, they were the only blades I had small enough to do the job. Took me half an hour + to cut, twice as long as a standard blade. I had to keep stopping to turn it around ,,, And spent another 15 minutes sanding out the stop marks on just one of them, to say nothing of the other 3, which I might as well just toss in my firewood bucket. Needless to say, I have ordered some standard spirals, and they can't get here soon enough.