cossoft

Err, what's "mikes" please?

This may be off topic, but hey, it doesn't say (The Wooden) Scroll Saw Village... Has anyone any experience with scroll sawing aluminium? I'm thinking of basic grade sheet stuff, perhaps just a few millimeters thick. This would be for things like decorative grills, gratings, silhouettes etc. A lot of for wood tungsten carbide tooling works on aluminium too. Do you use lube or protection (such as clamping between ply sheets)? I've tried it without both and it can be done, and it's typical to jig saw aluminium anyway. It gives a reasonable finish and you can then sand /file the edges. Have no idea of blade life though. If they're made of HSS then that's no different to cheap hacksaws and drills. My saw only takes those pinned blades so they might be stronger than the professional flat ended ones but isn't strength only a corollary to feed rate? Any experiences to share..?

Again posting from a position of complete ignorance, I mainly cut MDF and wondered how long a blade might last? I feel that it's best to quantify "how long" in linear meters /feet. I use fairly cheap Silverline blades, and change them approximately every 1m of cut. I don't know why. I typically don't use lubrication. How far would the experienced guys go?

Thanks guys for the replies. I was actually trying to ascertain as to why the insert doesn't fit in people's saws? It's clear that this is a common problem, which is solved by a bit of tape. I cannot get my head round why manufacturers don't address this. It can't cost much at all. Again I ask you to compare this to other commercial equipment that you have. When you bought a cell phone, was the first thing you did was add some screws to the battery? Did you have to tape the battery in on your new pickup? Did you have to re revet all the spoon handles on your new cutlery set? It just doesn't make sense. Are we all missing something deeper ? Iv'e actually totally covered the table with 6mm MDF with a 8mm hole for the blade. I don't cut anything thicker than 22mm anyway. The machine's not too bad for the price otherwise, but I'm still learning how to cut stuff. It is hardest to cut straight lines isn't it? Who would have thunk it?

Hi all. I'm new and this is almost my first post. I thought I'd ask a slightly left field question regarding my saw. I have just bought a Clarke Woodworker 16 inch. It's British. In the middle of the table is a red plastic insert about 50 mm in diameter. It's recessed 1.3 mm below the metal work top. I know what it's for. My question is why is it useless? The machine seems reasonably built for the price (£80 ish). It has parts on it that must be machined to 0.01 mm tolerance. Why has Clarke chosen to specifically supply this plastic bit? It's too low so work pieces catch on the edge. It provides no support to the work piece. What was their motivation? It saves no money in the scheme of things, and all it does is damage their reputation. A lot of users seem to just toss it and provide an alternative solution. There are very few commercial products that you buy and immediately chuck a major component away. So why do you have to with the Woodworker?

Surely you mean X3 (version 13)? Wasn't version III out in the early 90's?