Newbie Question

[kenney84]

Hello all. I finally got my first scrollsaw today. I bought it used off of ebay. I brought it home and i plugged it in to make sure everything worked right. for some reason the blades keep jumping out of the bottom holder. I tried messing with the tensioner and still the same thing. Only time it doesnt come out is if the speed is on low. Am i just not tensioning it right or is there something wrong with it? Much thanks. Kenney

[Marshall]

Kenney it can be so many different things , you can try cleaning the jaws up with a small file . Check the groves to see if they need to be gently filed to correct the groved places , and also try not to force your material when sawing . The blade needs to do the cutting , also some oil may have been put on the blade holder , over all good cleaning for the jaws . And if its not square to the table it could be causeing some problem too , to much tension can also cause you some problems too .I wore the jaws out on a Craftman scroll-saw and replaced it with a Dewalt 788 several years ago > more of a production saw . And I'm sure their are some other great mines on here to maybe be of some help too .....P.S. hopefully your jaws are not bad . ............Marshall

[kenney84]

I looked down onto the arm and i dont know if it is me but it does look a bit off. The blades seem to be very close to the table. What do i clean the holders with?

[amazingkevin]

not enough tension,to much tension on the blade holders.Pushing to fast while cutting.Wrong blades for the type of wood being cut.Blades not completely in the holder or not enough of the blade in the holder which is one of the problems i have with the dremil 1830 as you can not see whats going on when you try to change blades on the bottom.I have to feel my way around blindly.Wore out blade holder .Lubricant on blade holder.Stripped screw on blade holder.What make and model scroll saw did you get? Good question and thats probably the first problem beginner scrollers are bound to run into.Keep them coming we'll get you through them all!We've been there done that and are very willing to share our knowledge with you.hang in there,more help is coming as soon as some other scroller reads your post. WELCOME!to ssv

[kenney84]

I havent even cut anything on it yet. The saw already had a blade in it when i got it and when i plugged it in and turned it on and the blade bent and flew out of the holder. I put a second blade in turned the speed down and gradually sped it up while messing with the tensioner, with the same results. I got a Ryobi SC163VS.

[amazingkevin]

Have your tension set before turning on the machine,other wise the slack in the blade tension will hammar it loose.www.scrollsawworkshop has a video on correct blade tension plus lot's of other very valueable info.My blades when plucked sound much like the skinny g-b-e- guitar strings or gentle bending of the blade sideways should flex no more than a 1/8 inch i heard.I'll look at your schematic next chance i get on line at scroll saw part .comHope this helps a little more from my experience.

[amazingkevin]

Kenney84 From what i can see on the picture is your saw takes pined end blades.Most scrollers that do fret work use plain end blades.Reason being is we do allot of inside cuts and need very small drill holes for the small blades we use.Maybe there's a problem ,only speculating ,with the holders themselves,hence wore out .I my self would look for a saw that takes plain blades.Most saws take both but from what i see yours does not.

[kenney84]

Thank you kevin. I think that may have done the trick. Tomorrow i will try it out.

[kenney84]

Hey kevin, According to the users manual, it takes both pin ends and plain straight blades. I think you may have figured it out for me last night. I dont think i had the blade tensioned enough. That program you told me about helped out greatly. Thank you