chippygeoff

Hi everyone. Just thought I would let you know. I overcame the problem with the blower on my 788 and although it works perfectly it is not a pretty sight. I went to buy some clear plastic hose with an internal bore of 10mm with the idea of putting the end in very hot water and pushing it over the air port but all I could get was fuel hose which was reinforced but it worked. For the other end I cut the hose to length and I used a 2inch brass sleeve from a pen making kit and the tapered section from the same kit where the pen tip comes out. I then got the nozzle pointing to where I wanted it and had to tape it to the hold down arm. I tried using the wire from a coat hanger but it was not strong enough. In practice it works fine but I have ordered the proper nozzle assemble from a link that Travis gave me so that should be here next week. Thanks again everyone for the useful advise. Geoff.

Many thanks Travis and John. I shall use some vinyl tubing for now but have ordered a new air nozzle from the link you gave me. Thanks again.

Hi Everyone. I got to use my DeWalt 788 today. For those of you who did not read my first post I bought the 788 for the equivalent of $100. It took a lot of hard work cleaning it etc but now it looks like new.I bought some really good top grade 9mm birch ply yesterday and printed off a couple of Steve Goods patterns. I drilled the holes for the cut outs and as ready. I started cutting and realised the air blower was not blowing the saw dust away and when I looked to the side there was no air blower, it was missing. Now I am in a spot because I am having to blow the dust away. Being in the UK I cannot get a replacement so I was wondering if you good people out there would have any ideas. I can feel the air coming out from where the blower should be. If the worst comes to the worst I suppose I could contact DeWalt and have them send me one over the pond. Thanks everyone. Geoff.

Hi Marge. I was due to get an Excalibur in a couple of weeks and I may still get it. I bought a second hand DeWalt 788 yesterday for $100 and it is like new now it has had some TLC. I have done a bit of research on the Excalibur and you should not need to protect the table at all as it has been resin coated. You may want to apply a wax though that is specially made for tables on scroll saws, band saws, saw tables etc. I find it a huge difference on my lathe bed and re-coat every few months for a really smooth operation. I would try cutting a few things first on your scroll saw and then see if you really need to apply a wax. By the way, the wax I use also prevents any moisture from getting to the table so it will be a good thing if there is any damp where you are working. Hope you enjoy your new saw and that you produce some lovely works of art. Take care and God bless. Geoff.

Hi Mick. Once again, many thanks for your help. I went to the scrollsaws site and it was a wealth of very useful information and I have added it to my favourites. I went to the DeWalt site and found a section where I could download the manual and that is what I did only to find it was all written in Spanish. I found another site and found one in English and you are right, they are sealed bearings so I don't have to touch them. The only thing I have to do is keep an eye on the motor brushes. Yes Mick, elbow grease certainly works, it was hard work but well worth it. apart from a couple of small blemishes on the table it has come up like brand new and at about $100 a real bargain. I was thinking of getting another scroll saw purely as back up as I had doubts about our electricity supply but an electrician friend told me it would be perfectly okay when i read him the ratings on the motor. I am already to go now Mick and once again, many thanks for your help. Take care and have a great day. Geoff.

Hi Mick. many thanks for the info. I rang a friend who has been sort of my mentor from when I first started, he lives the other end of the country and he advised spraying the table with WD40 and then using wet and dry with a sanding block. What I did first though was to strip the machine down as much as i could and removed the table and put that to one side. I got my vacuum cleaner going and with a stiff brush i cleaned what I could. I then got some anti-bacterial wipes i happened to have under the sink and used those. It was hard work Mick but when I had finished you would think I had just taken the saw out of the box from the supplier. I then got several newspapers on my kitchen table and got the table from the scroll saw up onto it. I sprayed it with WD40 and attacked it with a scouring pad and then cleaned it up with white spirit. I then got a small sanding black and using some wet and dry with WD40 I went to work. I suppose I spent an hour on it and kept cleaning it off with white spirit so i could see my progress. Now I feel I have got the table as good as i am going to get it, there are a few blemishes here and there but the table is as smooth as a babies bottom. I may have another go at it due course. Mick. I was wondering if you could help me further. The DeWalt 788 scroll saw is not available in the UK and I do not have a manual. I want to get the saw in tip top condition before i use it and I was wondering if I should lubricate anything on the saw. I have cleaned the blade clamps and the threads. I am not sure if I should lubricate the arms or if they are sealed units. If you could throw some light on this Mick I would be really grateful. Many thanks again. Geoff.

Hi Everyone. I rang a friend a few days ago who I knew had a DeWalt 788 and i asked him if he wanted to sell it. He rang me earlier and said he would bring it over and I gave him the equivalent of $100 for it. It has stood in his shed for nearly two years without being used, it looks a bit grubby but it is all surface dirt and with some TLC it will come up like new but I am not sure on the best way to clean up the cast iron table, there is surface rust on it and if i could restore the surface to its former glory I know the wood i use on it will slide easier, so any tips on how to restore the table would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks. Geoff.

Many thanks Xray and Mick. Since i wrote the post I have located a source for B/bb grade birch plywood in 1.5mm, 4mm and 9mm about an hours drive from home. Also a fellow wood turner said he can plane hardwoods for me on his planer/thicknesser. I have been looking at a small thicknesser for about £200 so will put that on my Christmas wish list. I really want to thank you guys for the helpful tips you have given me. I will be sure to post some pictures of my work, hopefully over the Christmas period.

Hi Everyone. I am Geoff from West Wales in the UK. This is my first post and first of all forgive me for the English spelling, which for many words is different to yours, also our terminology differs from yours in some respects, you call it lumber, we call it timber, you call it 2 x 4 we call it 4 x 2. So to make things real easy I will call it wood. Basically I am a wood turner, I started three months ago out of pure boredom. I am disabled and had so much time on my hands so I started wood turing and it is the best thing I ever did. I did it many years ago so was not new to it. I am selling the things I make to craft centres and also attending craft fairs and things could not be better. However. I felt that I needed to diversify and the obvious was to start scrolling. Due to financial reasons I have another three weeks to go before i buy my scroll saw and will get an Excalibur. As the days are going by at a fast rate my thoughts often turn to the wood I will use on the scroll saw and here where I live you cannot buy thin wood. There are probably one or two places that do specialise in supplying scroll saw users online and that is something that I will look into as I have another three weeks. The way I see it at the moment I can cut wood to various thicknesses on my bandsaw and then plane it by hand. One day I will have a thicknesser but in the mean time I will do it by hand. I can see that for general scroll saw work and intarsia I will need various hardwoods from say 1/8th to 3/8th and maybe thicker. I was walking round a hardware store today and one of the answers was staring me in the face in the form of laminate flooring, it had a wood veneer on 1/4inch MDF board and i thought this would be ideal for many applications as it wont crack or shrink and would remain very stable but do any of you people use this. I was wondering if the sides of a cut out piece would contrast with the veneer or if it would be best to stain the sides the same as the front. In the same store I saw ply wood of 1/8th and 1/4inch thickness and I know a lot of scroll saw people use this but it looked so uninteresting. How do you finish ply wood, do you stain it, paint it, is it any good for intarsia. I have been trying to think of other things I would need for scroll saw work and was wondering if a combined belt and disc sander would be a good addition or maybe the drum type sanders that would fit in my pillar drill. It seems that many operations in scroll saw work involve hours of hand sanding, which for many can be tedious. Maybe reverse blades would help. I thought I would order some blades today from Mikes workshop but when i looked at his site I was amazed at the many types of blades available and got completely lost so I ordered the assortment pack and will try each blade and order in bulk accordingly next time. Thanks to everyone for any advice I get. Much appreciated. Geoff

Hi everyone. My name is Geoff and I live in West Wales in the UK. I'm not actually scrolling yet. I have to wait another month when I get a payout from a pension fund. It's strange how this all started. I am disabled and I got bored with so much time on my hands that i decided to rekindle an old love of wood turning, more to pass the time than anything else. I went and bought a lathe and all the equipment that goes with it and within ten minutes it was no longer a hobby but a small business and now three months later I am supplying craft centres with the things I make and selling at craft fairs and it is all going well. I now realise I need to go in a different direction and make more items for the craft fairs and this is where the scroll saw comes in. I have spent days on various scrolling sites and watched everything on you tube and I am firmly hooked. I have spent ages looking at Steve Goods site and all the wonderful things he makes. I shall be ordering flying Dutchmen bladed from Mike's workshop as I am told they are the best. It has been a major problem deciding on what scroll saw to buy, there are so many here in the UK that originate from the far east, we call them Chiwanese, the biggest problem is blade changing as most of the blade clamps need an allen key and this is a tedious job, also most of them vibrate terribly. We have one make of scroll saw here in the Uk that is considered one of the best and that is Hegner but they are so expensive and in my opinion vastly overpriced. We cannot get the DeWalt 788 here but we can get the Excalibur and that is what I am going for. I understand there have been a few problems, one with the wiring and one with the blower and yet another with the arm hitting a bolt when it is raised to change a blade but I am sure these problems will be addressed. At the moment I am trying to build up a file of patterns of things to make but feel I have now seen everything that is free so any patterns I need I will have to pay for them. I shall be making children's name signs to begin with and maybe some house names, things that will go well at craft fairs. Anyway. It's really nice to be on the site and in the forum and i shall look forward to reading all the topics.