Bottom feeding

[Kragax]

I have a question. With the Hawk you have to bottom feed. With multiple holders you can change blades fast, but up from beneath it is. I'm working on a large size project with many, many holes and find it really difficult to find the small hole to feed through towards the middle of the piece. I tried marking them with a red sharpie but no good. Does anyone have any tips or tricks for doing this. It is doable but , pardon my English it sucks...............Craig 

[Scrolling Steve]

Craig, i too am a bottom ...... It takes extra time but i make sure on larger projects that i make sure that each hole is clear(i use an old blade) and then mark them by placing the tip of a #2 pencil in it.......or a sharpie....I still struggle at times but after a while just feed by feel......Good luck!

[me5269]

I feed from the bottom also. On larger pieces, I'll round over the top end of the blade or file it to a point. Like Steve suggested, make sure the holes are clear.

[tomsteve]

On large projects with many cuts I'll drill only 10-20 holes at a time, cut those and drill 10-20 more. Seems to help me.

Plus I have a light at table level together light under the workpiece to help.

And then there's times where I still have to look at the hole from the top and decipher where it is on the backside.

[fredfret]

Use a mirror or cd to reflect the underside of the project while holding it up slightly.

Fredfret

Wichita, Ks

P.S. the new Hawks can be top or bottom feed.

[Scrappile]

You are correct, it "sucks" at times.

 

I have a straight pointed metal tool, I don't know what if supposed to be used for or where I got it, I just found it in my tools one day.  I can clear holes and round the edge of them over with it.  I keep it on a magnet I have attached to my scroll saw cabinet.  There are dental tools that would work good for this.  This may be a dental tool.

 

I have a small brush for sweeping the sawdust off the bottom of the picture so I can see the holes better.

 

Marking tough to find holes with a pencil or marker helps.

 

I have a light I can attach to my table top to shine light on the bottom of the picture when needed. 

 

I also start drilling holes with a 1/16" drill bit and drill all the holes I can with it.  I only use a smaller bit in the areas that a 1/16" bit is too large. 

 

II think the drilling 10 - 20 holes at a time might be a good idea, I have not tried that.

 

Standing on your head might also help at times.....

 

But even with all this I still find it easier, for me, than top feeding.

 

This is my setup.

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited January 14, 2015 by Scrappile

[jerry1939]

I also only drill a few holes at a time. The added benefit is that it forces me to get up off my lazy b___, stretch & go to the drill press often.

 

jerry

[ike]

I only drill 10 to 15 at a time and I use a dawl( sharp pointed tool ) to round out the holes and that makes it much easier.

[Kragax]

All good ideas, I thank you.

[Bendita]

I do large projects also my last one was 5000 holes I also bottom feed I drill 100-200 holes at the time and then I flip the whole thing over and chase each hole with a 3" finishing nail after that try and cut in a straight line I mean the holes. I never look underneath when I feed as I try to go from one hole to the next by rubbing the blade as it comes out of the last cut to the next hole Works for me! Good luck try it.

 

.../Hans

[Multifasited]

Hans, What material are you cutting ,the doily style art work out of that stays together so well ?

[amazingkevin]

As with aiming a pistol your finger usually point exactly where the bullet will go .on scroll sawing, i put my finger over the the hole i want and instinct tells you where your finger is to thread the blade thru the hole, works for me.Also feeling the roughness of the bottom of a project with your finger tells you where the hole is.

[heppnerguy]

I also use an awl when I run into this problem as it takes all the splinters out of the way and opens the holes to their max. I also sand all my holes each time I drill them.  I usually only cut a few holes at a time and work from the smaller and more delicate cuts to the ones that are most stable. 

 

Dick

heppnerguy

[Lucky2]

After drilling the holes, I sand the back of all of my projects smooth with a detail sander. Then I insert the tip of an awl up through the bottom as far as it will go, using the awl opens up the holes to be even a bit bigger than the hole was drilled. It also rounds over the edge that was left by drilling, so, the saw blade slides up into the hole easier.

Len

[Bendita]

Hans, What material are you cutting ,the doily style art work out of that stays together so well ?

1/4" Good on one side plywood for the last one but some of my others have been 1/8 inch I think the strength lies in the form of the pattern I've cut some that were pretty weak and it was only from having to many cuts in one direction but a good balanced pattern isn't normally weak.