FrankEV

Irreguaredless of how the speed is set, a "Push to ON and push to OFF switch" vs the more common "Push and hold to stay ON and Release to OFF switch" is something only an individual scroller could decide as to which is better. IMHO, I find it very important to be able to stop the saw instantaneously by the slight lift of my foot. I feel my foot would get severely tired holding it on/above the switch in anticipation of having to jab it to stop the saw. So, for me, the "hold to run" switch works very well.. When I first started to do some serious scrolling, the thing I hated most was having to switch the saw off with my hand, using the saw on/off switch. Once I installed the "hold to run" foot pedal it was soooooo much easier to control the work piece and there was much less tendancy to accidently damage the piece when stopping because I had to take my eyes of the work. For those long perimeter cuts, I find it easy to stop for a rest along the way at an apropriate point. On such long cuts my brain/eyes gets foggy keeping the blade track on line way before my foot needs a rest. Again, my leg/foot/ankle does not get tired when holding the pedal down because I have carefully arranged the pedal height such that I only have to use, nominally, slight toe down pressure along with the weight of my foot to hold it on. As the say, to each their own.

My table also scratched soon after starting use. The scratches have increased. However, it has not caused any problem but I do need to rewax on a regular schedule to maintain a nice slippery surface. The coating appears to be quite soft and just the roughness of the wood causes the scratches.

My Pegas sits on the Steel Pegas stand at the top of the adjusments in the back and one hole lower in the front. I sit on a stool that I had to modify the legs to get the right sitting position for me to work comfortably. When I sit on the stool my short legs do not reach the floor. So, I rest my left foot on the front horizontal cross brace of the stand. I use the HF foot switch, but needed to raise it upon some wood blocks so my right foot can reach it comfortably. The switch is mounted on a piece of 4 X4 (total 3 1/2" high) that sits on a 8" diameter disk of double thickness of 3/4" ply so the total height is 5" to the bottom of the switch. I added a piece of the rubber non-slip shelf liner on the bottom, but it is still easily moved around some such that I have to reposition it occasdionally during a cutting session. My foot does not get tired but as others mentioned, occasionally the leg/ankle will unintentioally relax, releasing the switch and the saw will stop cutting. Generally I do not need to "PUSH" down hard, I mostly just let the weight of my foot keep the pedal pressed down allowing a quick stop by just a slight lift of my foot. If a variable saw speed contol was used, the saw would have to be set at full high speed to accomodate the full range of the control. I'm affraid there would be tendancy to cut at much higher speed than is prudent. Holding a constant speed somewhere in the middle of the speed range would most likely prove difficult.

That is one of the best front door name plaques I seen. Very nice work.

That sled looks very nice. I know there are many DYI miter sled designs available. The one I referenced is basicaly designed for rabbeted frame making and only good for 45 degree corners. I like the this sled because it eliminates having to calculate the length of the frame rail. Because you set the rabbeted edge along the Square, you just use the panel dimensions + a tad (mayby a 1/16) to set the angled stop block. Works like a charm.

I thought your Frame and cutting went well together. I was in no way being critical of your work. My comments were solely about using Inkscape in liew of the string and pencil. I also noted that looking at the frame and cutting on paper before cutting would also prevent any size relationship problems that "could" occur. As far as miters, you might want to look at:

I watched the video and found it very good and well done. Great instruction on the actual making of the frame. That being said, any of of us who use inkscape can make the "layout work", a lot easier and possibly more accurate. His string and pencil method works, but it is slighly antiquated. Ovals are easy to create In Inkscape and can be produced and printed out like we do a cutting pattern, but for a frame instead. If I was going to tackle a project like this (and I will, as soon as I find the right scene), I would probably make the cutting pattern and frame pattern together to make sure the frame and cutting work together. Yours is perfect, but I could see where the scale of the cutting vs. the size of the frame could possibly be a problem. Eaiser to see the combined pattern and frame design before cutting either.

Well done...very well done. The pattern and cutting is great. And the frame is just wonderful. I've done an Octogon Frame but not an Oval yet. Will be on my to do list.

I can understand why you enjoyed cutting it. Just wonderful pattern and cutting.

Cute - Subjects, that is. Cutting, very well done with the spiral!

Love your themed projecs. The Bison on the Slab of Maple (I think) is great. However, I really love the other pieces done in the cross cut slabs. Cutting a pattern in endgrain is really difficult and you have done them extreamly well. The natural frame created by the bark of the cross cut slabs are just great.

You are correct, the spiral blade does leave a rougher vertical surface cut. This roughness can be minmized if the movement of the work is kept steady. Stoping and restarting can make the roughness signigficantly worse, although the prudent use of the blade to shave cuts can also minimise this visable roughness. Although the cut by spirals is rougher the cuts do not show start and stop, or change in direction, marks, that are often very noticible with with flat blade cuts. Panel thickness can also make the roughness more visible. In my opinion, spirals are more appropriate for thin panel fretwork although they do well cutting thicker panels if care is taken to minimize stopping and restarting. Pattern design and subject can also result in the roughness being more or less visable. The roughness is not very easily seen in subjects like feathered or furry creatures and can sometimes even enhance the cutting. Roughness or wobbles in smooth long cut line patterns will definately be more visable. For the smooth long line patterns I have found there is sometimes the need to clean up cut lines with rotary tool (Dremel) burrs to smooth out the roughness/wobbles. Now, the real question is, where are you viewing the cut roughness from. Under the mag light? An arms length away? Or from the recommended 4 or more feet away, properly backed and displayed in a appropriate maner. In my opinion, if you are observing the roughness of the cuts in any than the final viewing location, you are doing a diservice to the scroller and blaming the the blades for something that has no real negative impact on the final product.

Very Very nice. Well cut. The live edge plank makes for a great presentation of a very appropriate subject.

Have not cut it yet, but agree it is one of Steves best and a real classic that would look good standing on anyones desk or book case. Any and all choices of wood make each quite unique. Your choice of Red Oak was perfect. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

Those damn 2/0 spiral blades do such a good job once mastered. And I think you have done just that. Very well done. The frame does a great job making it a very well done finished piece. Just something to think about. I have gone to using predominately 1/8 or 5/32 thick ply for the cut panel which I mount onto a 1/4 thick backer. I find this to be visually more appealing as the viewer dose not see as much of the vertical cut surfaces. The 3/8 assembled panel is very stable and mounts nicely in a custom frame.

Wow....just wonderful. Will be greatly loved by the buyer.

There is a significan learning curve for using spiral blades. However, once "mastered" you won't go back to flat blades for most fretwork. The PP has nothing to do with my knee. Just wanted to do a quick, easy, fun cut within the short time I had left before I'm off the saw for some time after surgery.

This is another free downloadable stencil I found and converted to a scroll saw pattern having only 31 holes. The pattern was sized to fit a 9” x 17” cut panel. The cut panel is 5/32” Solid Core Birch Ply (not BB Ply), cut using Pegas #2/0 Spiral Blades. The backer is 1/4” x 11” x 19” Solid Core Mahogany. The backer is hand painted under the cut area using Acrylic Artist Paints. The cut panel also has some areas hand painted with the contrasting light Pink Acrylic Paints. The panel was protected with multiple coats of Deft Clear Gloss Spray Lacquer. The stencil was in B&W but I was able to find many similar images of the Pink Panther that showed me the colors to use in this presentation. The Frame is 1 3/4” wide Poplar that was stained with Minwax Natural stain and then coated with two coats of Minwax Clear Gloss Wipe-On Poly. Decided to leave it Natural since the grain in this piece of Poplar was very nice, without the typical dark greenish coloration often found in Poplar. Was able to get this completed in only two days before having my knee surgery tomorrow (7/29). Comment and critique is always welcome and appreciated. I'm thinking this piece will be part of a wimsicle series, along with my previous "Cockerel", if I find some more to do.

Well I guess you just need the practice of makeing new side and end walls. If the second attempt is a nice as the first, it is a beautiful piece and great cutting. Those though mortisis are clean and neat. Great work.

National - Miniature Narrow Solid Brass Hinge 3/4" L x 5/8" Open w/screws 2 Pair (woodcraft.com) Cheaper from Amazon (after shipping cost added to Woodcraft price) if you have Amazon Prime free shipping.

Applying shipping costs to your sales on Ebay is the pits. I pulled out of attemps to set up sales pages on Amazon Home Made, Ebay and Etsy. Unless you are really serious and a real business it is a lot of work and a pain to keep tabs on everything. I lost patience real quick. And, BTW, if you want to take payments using Paypal, you need to have a Business EIN Number from the IRS. If you want to shoot photos of your "stuff" that is appropriate for use in on-line sales, you might want to consider purchaing a small table top photo box that includes lights and smooth continuous backdrops in various colors, but White, Black and Dark Grey are the best to use. Images need to be crisp and bright. These Photo Boxes are available on Amazon for under a $100. The newer smart phone cameras work well but a digital camera offers better control and adjustments. Shadows are your worse enemy when taking photos of the "Stuff". A Ring Light (by Neewer or similar) can also be used to almost eliminate shadows and are designed to work with smart phones as well as digital cameras. Please don't take this as expert advice, just what I have encountered. Others may be be able to provide better information. A query in Business Side might get you more accurate information and help.

I did not reply to the original because I would have been accused of beeing too negative as I did not care for the presentation. For me, and me alone, this is what I think it should look like. Great Job by the better half to make it an outstanding piece. How are you handleing the perimeter edges. Is the MDF exposed? If it is, I hope you sealed it well. A length of 3/4" "L" moulding from Lowes or HD can be made into a simple frame that would hide the MDF edges. They also sell some iron- n banding material that can be used to hide exposed MDF edges.

This Rose pattern was quite simple to cut and fairly easy to paint. I've included the pattern below. For those who would like to try adding color to your work, this would be a good one to use. A couple of very inexpensive bottles of acrylic paint and some cheap brushes would be all needed. I would suggest along with what ever color you use, get a bottle of white to be able to mix for some lighter shades where needed. Hobbie Lobby, Michaels and even Walmart are sources for paints and brushes. I would love to throw out a challenge to any and all who migt like to experiment with color...download the pattern, cut it and then try addding the coloring. Then come back and post your work. It would be great fun to see a group of postings of the same piece to see how you all did. Roses a Bunch.pdf

OK, got things done a little quicker than expected before we leave on our trip, so I get to post this last, at least for the foreseeable future, completed piece. This was again a free stencil image I found On-line and converted to a Scroll Saw pattern. Really, not very much conversion was needed other than adjusting the size to fit a 9” x 12” cut panel. The cut panel is 5/32” Solid Core Maple Ply and the cutting was done with Pegas#2/0 spiral blades. Just about 100 holes and used only two blades. My ratio of holes to broken blades is getting better . The Backer is a ¼” x 11” x 14” BB ply that was hand painted. Of course, the 1” border was just spray painted with Krylon All-in-one paint and primer Coffee Bean. The area under the cutting was first coated with Gesso (a White Acrylic art paint primer) and then hand painted with Acrylic Artist Paints. As the pattern is relatively simple, I was able to use a couple of copies of the cutting pattern to use as general area painting stencils. Made life a little easier for this step. I also painted some additional areas on the cut panel to help enhance the image. And, once again the assembled panel was protected with multiple coats of Deft Lacquer. In my previous post “Love Stem Roses – A different Version”, Fab4 replied that the Roses should have been Yellow or white, but we all know that Love and Red Roses go together. So, since this piece has nothing to do specifically with Love, I took his suggestion and painted these Roses Yellow. The custom frame is once again made from 1¾" wide poplar, stained with Minwax Cherry and finished with two coats of Minwax Gloss Wipe-on Poly. Don’t forget, critique of my work is always welcomed and appreciated. If you haven’t already, please check out my recent post "Gonna be gone for a while." in the Coffee House Forum.

I did good using ony 15 blades for that many holes. It is the rethreading that tends to kink the small blades and then they break even if not dull yet. If I 'm real carefull and make sure I pull up on the blade each time I rethread the blade, I can get a lot more cuts done before it breaks. I have also found I don't need to tioghten the thumb screw toooo tight so the blade does not bend at the clamp. Also helps keep the blades from breaking.