JOE_M

Mine broke the one link where it connects to the saw. I threw that link out and heated the "new" end with a heat gun (like for shrink tubing) and it snapped on easily, stayed put when it cooled.

All my current blades are flying dutchman from Mike's workshop. He lists the smallest drill size for each blade and I made a chart to keep by the saw. The #5 for most types of FD blades fits in a #60 hole. The #1 size 65-68, and the puzzle blades will fit in a #71. I'm pretty sure that the other types (Olsen, ??) also list the size of the drill bit to use. Mike's workshop also sells 6-packs of choose-your-size drill bits for $5, and I'm sure the other sellers do to. Or if you want a set of many sizes cheap, I just bought two sets of #60-80 drill bits at sciplus.com for 7.95 each and a real cheap (3.95) set of 15 metric bits 1-2mm for places where any old hole will do.

If you take the footswitch out of the equation and plug it directly into the wall does it start? If not, then as UncleApple says it could be the fuse. I blew one a couple of months ago doing something stupid. You can buy a 5-pack at most auto supply stores for very cheap.

Good clean cuts. It looked thicker in the other post before it was painted - how big is it?

Great job. Stefanie will love it.

I don't do facebook, all I see is a picture of a mermaid with a date and a link that asks me to sign up or do some security check. It doesn't matter how many or how good the other vendors are, you're only competing against the ones that sell scrollsawn dinosaur puzzles. But that page does say 20-30 degrees and rain. That might put a slight damper on things.

Only 1,106 miles according to Google maps! I'm in very southern Arizona below Tucson. There are a couple of RBI saws up in Phoenix - 3 or 4 hours depending on location. One is a 26" for $750. He never answered my email, but he keeps relisting day after day.

Not to hijack the thread, but - Is that the Excelsior XL-21 and if so is it available in the US? I'm trying to upgrade from a Dewalt that seems to be wearing out quicker than it should. The RBI is real nice but kinda expensive. The new Seyco looks like it will be a little more affordable but with no history it's a gamble. The Hegner's are so expensive the only way I'll ever get one is if someone dies and I'm the first one to the estate sale. Are there more I'm missing? I want quiet, maximum smoothness, much less agressiveness. And maybe a stand that can tilt the saw up in back just a little. That's it - no lights, magnifiers, angle gauges, or any other fancy gizmos are needed. And I want it in at least 18" so I can cut 24x36 posters into puzzles.

Great work. I don't see any starter holes. When I try to do inlay with the scrollsaw the starter holes always stand out.

$420 for a "slow" weekend of selling your work is $420 more than I've made in a lifetime of woodworking. So if you're a hack, then I guess I'm just a hack-in-training. Even if I could focus long enough to cut that much wood, I don't have the patience to deal with the selling aspect.

Thanks. Do you have a link for that pic - I can't find it on their website. Edit: Nevermind, got it. Thanks again. You were typing while I was typing, yes the post with the photos looks weird, but I can see it. I just clicked on their home page and I see the ad now. I had been using google and landing directly on the product page where it doesn't say much except available by 15 May.

It doesn't say that on their website, or I missed it. There is a button for putting it on a wishlist, I clicked that and got a page saying I need to create an account and I really didn't want to go trough all that trouble to find out that it's not included. Thanks, that's good info.

I know it's an old thread, but I'm resurrecting it because this saw should go on sale on Monday. I've watched the Steve Good video review - any other info out there? I'm really interested in seeing what the shipping cost will be. I'm saving up for the RBI Hawk and it bugs me to no end that after I scrape together the $1200 for the saw, I have to find another $150 for shipping (or drive 1000 miles to pick it up in person in KS - or are they drop shipping from overseas?) If postage isn't too bad, and there isn't a 6-month wait, I might be spending some $$$ on Monday.

Thanks. The cat and gecko just came from google image. The initial puzzle pattern came from google, got modified for different sizes by me, and now I don't use a pattern at all. I do have some of Steve Good's stuff but haven't had a chance to try and cut them yet. It sounds like you have a business opportunity. Go to Alibaba and buy a few cubic meters of good plywood for cheap, cut it down yourself and resell in-country!

Not all pictured, but after the 9x12 Detlefsens I did a series of 8 Monet's. The Monet puzzles are 8.5 square and are mostly 100 piece jigsaws (with one 99 because I lost count, and one 62 because I wanted to try a different cutting technique.) I also did 7 or 8 mini 4x6 puzzles with 20-35 pieces each. They were from a book on famous watercolor paintings and can be completed in the time it takes to boil a cup of water for tea. I think I've got the technique down now - no need for frisket paper or patterns. And I switched from contact cement to 3M Photo mount. Next up I'll be trying a bunch of 12x14 prints from old Arizona Highways calendars. I made a little cherry box for each of the larger puzzles with a photo of the puzzle glued to the top. The mini puzzles I'm still designing a multi-compartmented box for. And just for grins - I took a simple cat and gecko profile from google images and made a bunch of fridge magnets. 12 cats (3/16" thick, approx 2" high) in walnut/mahogany/maple/cherry/mesquite and 4 geckos (1/4" thick, 4" long) in walnut/satinwood/mesquite. Easy to stack cut and I drilled a hole in the back of each and glued a rare earth magnet flush with the back. Two cats will hold one piece of child's artwork to the fridge door. The magnets in the geckos are a bit bigger, one of them will hold a phone book. If you switch from the rare earth to the stick-on magnet sheets, these would make quick and easy giveaways. Also - I'm still looking for a new source for plywood. Every single sheet (bought 10) that I got had voids, some big enough to ruin the piece. I'm looking at Sloan's Workshop but if you know of anyplace else that also sells quality walnut/cherry/maple plywood please let me know. thanks for looking Joe

Does compound cutting mean 3d - like the chess set and reindeer stuff? If so I'm always open to tips on how to do that better.

Except for Charlotte it looks like they were just rolling a 26-sided die and taking whatever letters came up to name their kid. They look great - clean cut lines and the paint is sharp. I was looking at my local hobby lobby today for a small airbrush for shooting lacquer or thinned varnish for small Christmas ornaments but everything they had was just a little too small.

I don't normally vacuum the dust until it gets too thick to wade through. If it gets all over me and gets tracked into the kitchen well that's just free flavoring - no need to buy spices. Do you take your foam filter off and shake it out or wash it regularly?

I like the blue and the blue-green bases. The letters on the top part are a bit hard for me to read, but I suppose if I was actually in/on Carolina beach or Kure beach I'd recognize it faster.

Where's the wiener? Is there supposed to be a pic attached?

Sweet! What type of wood/plywood did you use?

Just a couple of quick throwaways - 1. My search for a special vintage fretwork design for a music stand took me to the internet archive. Searching there for "fretwork" brought up quite a few books on the subject, many with old patterns. I'm reading one now from 1875ish. If you're into the old stuff, even if you don't plan on buying a pedal-powered scrollsaw there is some fun stuff to read on that site. 2. Searching google images for design ideas, I clicked a bunch of "view more" links and suddenly everything said chantournage, which apparently is the french word for scrolling - lots of designs there I hadn't seen before.

That is awesome. What size blade do you use - the #5 looks like it wouldn't fit in the holes?

Thanks. I got this plywood online from Ocooch. I won't be buying any more of it (see my issues up in the original post) even though the price is good. So I'm still looking for a good online source for 1/4" 5-ply. and 1/8" cherry or walnut plywood. I also got 5 sheets of 1/4" cherry plywood from Ocooch with what looks to be an MDF core. That is some very nice looking, flat plywood and if I can learn to cut it I'll order more. They did ship very fast and packaged it well.

Thanks. I wanted them to look like regular jigsaw puzzle pieces, so I made some patterns. Tape would tear the picture so I put a piece of low-tack frisket film on it, and then glued the paper pattern to the frisket paper. When all the pieces were cut out I sat and watched tv while peeling off the frisket/pattern. I'd like to do it freehand, hopefully I'll get there someday. But I am spatially challenged. When I draw circles freehand they have corners.