Blade Holder Conversion Kit

[greasemonkeyredneck]

I have several scroll saws. My Delta gets more of a workout than the others. My second favorite though is my old Craftsman direct drive. My only complaint with it is that is doesn't accept anything but pinned blades. I've always wated to be able to use what I call regular blades on it. So, I seen this Conversion Kit on ebay and decided to give it a try. I thought other may be interested in it. I've seen it sold in various places. This one was pretty cheap though with free shipping.

 

It installed easily. Took all of five minutes to install it. Just testing it out went fine. I had some Olsen thick wood blades that I chucked into it first. It holds pretty good. I guess if I had to come up with a complaint about it, it'd be the bottom clamp. You attach the bottom clamp to the blade. Then you chuck the top of the blades. After that you hook the bottom clamp you installed before over the metal hook that's attached to your bottom arm. Also, it comes with an installation block to allign your blade in the bottom clamp. This didn't bother me too much. I understand that when you are changing the purpose of a saw, you have to make compromises.

 

Oops. I stripped out the threads on the top clamp already. No worries, I've had this problem before. I have no feeling in my right hand. Because of this, I have a habit of overtightening things with it. After doing this, I drilled out the hole a tad larger and installed a machine screw and nut. I've found in the past that this setup usually lasts longer than the factory threads in small parts.

 

All in all, I think this is a good kit for saws that only take pinned blades. After installing it, you can then use pinned or regular blades. It will make my saw a little more versatile. Actually, I'll probably seldom use pinned blades now that I can use regular blades on this saw. I'll still keep some around though. Everyone knows I like big projects. This is the saw that had the sideways slot for turning the blades sideways. That's a huge help when you have large pieces. I saved the original parts in a convenient place just for this purpose.

[qlty]

I also have a craftsman fixed speed that only takes pinned blades,I bought the kit from sears but one of the adapter pieces went flying off when I tried it so I returned it deeming it unsafe to use.I hope you have better luck with yours.John

[greasemonkeyredneck]

Several days in and so far so good. I'm currenty building another one of my trains. All my cutting is done one it and I only used two blades in three quarter cottonwood. I have found a little problem with it though. The bottom blade holder has to be set just so. It has to ride evenly in the bottom bracket. If it isn't set right then it will cock either fowards or backwards and the blade will last all of thirty seconds from the for or aft stress on it. It' going to take some practice getting it just right.

Also, when the blade does break, the bottom clamp just falls to the floor. It's a good thing that where this saw is placed in my shop, it shouldn't get lost under nothing. I'd better start looking for a replacement though. It's only a matter of time before I lose it. I think this is probably the flying piece that qlty referred to.

[greasemonkeyredneck]

I also have a craftsman fixed speed that only takes pinned blades,I bought the kit from sears but one of the adapter pieces went flying off when I tried it so I returned it deeming it unsafe to use.I hope you have better luck with yours.John

 

You are so right.

 

 

That adapter went flying. I spent forty minutes finding it. Also, if you aren't absolutely positively certain that adapter is PERFECTLY straight on the blades, which is hard to do on any blade larger than about a #5, the blade will break fairly quickly from the back and forth stress on it while running the saw. Also there is the task of threading the blade from the bottom because of the adapter that gets to be a real pain in the butt.

 

I thought this was going to be a good thing. The reason I wanted to use flat blades is that I have gone almost exclusively to Flying Dutchman blades from Mike's Workshop. On his site, there is no offering for pinned blades. I don't know if Flying Dutchman even makes them. I wanted to be able to use FDs on the Craftsman saw.

 

Anyway, this morning, I finally gave in and installed the original equipment back on the saw. I'm tired of messing with the conversion kit. I'll just have to deal wih buying Olsen pinned blades for that saw. I'd rather have the saw running dependably than to keep dealing with this conversion kit. True,it allows me to use flat blades, but it has turned into more trouble than its worth.

[Marshall]

Hey guys I have a craftsman 16 inch variable speed saw that I retired because the jaws were shot and fiqured that the jaws would be more then it was worth because of all the hours that was on it . I never checked to see what the price of new jaws would be , so I brought a new big yellow 788 machine . I use the old craftsman for a detail sander now , guess I should check out the new jaw prices . ..........Marshall

[greasemonkeyredneck]

Hey guys I have a craftsman 16 inch variable speed saw that I retired because the jaws were shot and fiqured that the jaws would be more then it was worth because of all the hours that was on it . I never checked to see what the price of new jaws would be , so I brought a new big yellow 788 machine . I use the old craftsman for a detail sander now , guess I should check out the new jaw prices . ..........Marshall

 

I'd definately check to see what it might cost to fix it. A lot of times, with relatively cheap and easy repairs, those old saws will outlast the new ones for years and years.