large fret work

[Runa]

Hello All,

Sincwe I am some what limited in the saw blade sizer with my dremel motosaw, i decided to do some fretwork. I cut out panels separately and put them together. But I wonder how mos people would work on a large panel. Are you limited by size depending on the saw clearance? Please help me understand.

 

Thanks In Advance.

[Lucky2]

Hello Runa, welcome to the Village. For this issue most people use spiral blades, they cut in all directions so you can cut larger items. Granted, if you saw is just to small for what you're trying to do, then there is no blade that can help you. What size is your saw capable of cutting, and what is the size of your project? 

Len

[WayneMahler]

Hi Runa

Welcome to the village. Lucky brought up a good question for you. How big is your saw? Using spiral blades helps eliminate some of the restraints of size.  They do cut in all directions and take a little practice to get used too. Just remember to keep it slow and comfortable and enjoy the experience

[jbrowning]

It looks like Runa is using the Dremel Moto-saw MS20-01.

[SCROLLSAW703]

welcome to the village, runa. As already mentioned, the size of your saw has a lot of bearing on the size of the project you take on. Personally, for fretwork, I wouldn't use spiral because they leave rough edges, tear out, can be difficult to guide, & can destroy a project in a matter of seconds.

There is a learning curve with spiral blades. Some use nothing but. In my experience, they have their place, & work excellent for certain projects. 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

As mentioned the size of the saw does play a role in how large you can comfortably cut. The use of spiral blades is another trick that can help. I also found other little tricks that have helped me. Many time we get into a pattern of the way we normally cut, right to left or left to right. If you can learn both ways it will help doing larger patterns because you can have the piece hit the back of the saw from one angle but just cut the opposite way will cut the other half. Then there is the trick of twisting the blade 90 degrees so that the cutting teeth are facing a side of the saw and you be surprised how much you can cut doing this also. I run into this many time when I make my larger mirrors. Even though I have a RBI26" it still has some limits when I make these. One or the other tips I mentioned get me out of it. I do not and never will use spiral blades. I could never get the hang of them. That is just me though so hope some of this helps. Good luck. 

[Runa]

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate responses. Dremel Motosaw is fairly limited so I am going to buy a used Ryobi 163VS. I am hoping to learn more of intricate stuff but also do some big panels. I will try the spiral blade to see if that works for me, if the Ryobi 163vs takes it.

 

I am buying it because its the only one available used.

Edited October 6, 2017 by Runa

[crupiea]

For me I notice the larger the piece gets, the heavier it will be.  With that extra weight I sort of lose the feel for the wood and its starts to get sloppy.  If I did the same piece smaller I would have no issues.  

Also with big pieces you have to be farther from the front of the saw so again, i lose the feel for it and its starts to get sloppy.   Many like spiral blades but then again, i think they can get sloppy and wash out some of the detail but thats just me, result will vary with them.

I consider the larger pieces a challenge t figure out how I can make them in smaller pieces and then assemble them into larger finished items. 

 

[amazingkevin]

22 hours ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

As mentioned the size of the saw does play a role in how large you can comfortably cut. The use of spiral blades is another trick that can help. I also found other little tricks that have helped me. Many time we get into a pattern of the way we normally cut, right to left or left to right. If you can learn both ways it will help doing larger patterns because you can have the piece hit the back of the saw from one angle but just cut the opposite way will cut the other half. Then there is the trick of twisting the blade 90 degrees so that the cutting teeth are facing a side of the saw and you be surprised how much you can cut doing this also. I run into this many time when I make my larger mirrors. Even though I have a RBI26" it still has some limits when I make these. One or the other tips I mentioned get me out of it. I do not and never will use spiral blades. I could never get the hang of them. That is just me though so hope some of this helps. Good luck. 

Your really testing your skills fabulously accurately well.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Thanks. I started my scrolling career with the likes of Rick and Karen from the Berry Basket days. Did sooooooo many of their patterns and expanded on them as well as this happens to be one. Made many different mirrors over the years. The heart mirror was huge seller. 

[heppnerguy]

sometimes instead of turning the piece to finish a cut only find that the wood will not make the turn do to saw size limitations, you just have to make part of the cut going from one side of the cut and then finishing the cut re-starting from the opposite direction and completing the same cut.  Not sure you understand this explanation or not but when first started scrolling  I cut a peacock that was about 24 inches long and that was the only way I could get it done without a spiral blade

Dick

heppnerguy