Scroll Saw Speeds

[Rockytime]

Is it possible to have the scroll saw running so fast that the blade does not have time to discharge sawdust? I was cutting 3/4" plain old pine with a #5 Pegas blade. It seemed like the blade would stop cutting just momentarily and then start cutting again. My Hawk was running about 2/3 rds up on the pot. Don't know what that translates to but seemed pretty fast. Did not occur to me at the time to slow it down to see if it made a difference. Hope this isn't a stupid question.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

I run mine all the time around that speed. Only slow down for plastics and metals. Depends on the blade. If you are not using a skip tooth blade for 3/4 then you are using the wrong blade. 

[SCROLLSAW703]

I'm a slow to medium speed cutter, rocky, bcause I strive for perfection & looks in my projects. Depending on the project & species of wood I'm cuttin', I may run my blade speed up between 1/2 & 3/4 on the variable speed. That's plenty fast enough. I've never met a project yet that I've needed to any run of my saws at full speed on the variable speed. IMO, that's pointless, & extremely rough on the saw. 

Rocky, if you were cuttin' a 3/4" piece of pine, & all that was happenin', my first question'd be what size blade were ya usin'? I'd have to agree with MR. JT. it sounds like ya possibly, maybe, had the wrong size blade in place. I'm sure ya had it in right. Remember Rocky, the smaller the blade, the more tension, The bigger the blade, the less tension. 

And to answer the rest of your question, Sir, the faster your blade speed is, the less time the blade has to clean out the kerf & the teeth of the blade. ESPECIALLY in pine. Reason bein' is pine has a tendency to be sticky anyway, the faster it's cut with a small blade just creates a balled up sticky mess for the blade, which in turn creates heat. And heat takes the temper out of your blade, & dulls your blade faster. Always make sure you're using the correct size blade & speed to match it. You'll know when you've got it matched, Rocky.;)

[lawson56]

I run mine at full speed sometime. But I normally run it at a little past 1/2 speed

[ike]

No matter what brand blade I am useing ( I useally use Olson's) I run at #5 or #6 speeds on my Dewalt.I find that the blade last longer, cutts smoother than at high speed.

IKE

[kmmcrafts]

I don’t think what you are describing has anything to do with the speed. I think what you are experiencing is different densities of the wood. Cutting pine ( depending on the type of pine ) has quite a lot of different densities throughout the board from real soft easy cutting to very denser like real hard hardwood. Depending on how dry the wood is too. Pine has quite a lot of sticky sap and can gum up the blade if it’s still green.

The more you cut timber the more you’ll lnotice this really happens on all solid timber but many do not knotice this especially with hardwoods because there isn’t nearly as much of a density variation like you get with some of the types of pine. 

[kmmcrafts]

Forgot to mention about blade speed. I run my saws between 3/4 and 7/8 on the dial most of the time. Rarely run it any less than 3/4 of the way on the dial. 

For me... running the saw faster makes for easier blade control to stay on the lines, that’s just my style of cutting and my comfort zone. I find at the lower speeds I tend to push too hard on the feed rate and can at times flex the blade. Everyone will have different cut speeds and comfort zones. And as for the blade lasting longer at slower speed vrs faster speed. I’ve never experienced shorter blade life with blade speed too fast but have with going to slow because I’m pushing too hard on the feed and creating heat. Blades burning up because of blade speed? I don’t buy into it... it’s more about how you’re pushing feeding the lumber.

Edited May 28, 2018 by kmmcrafts

[NC Scroller]

I agree with Kevin about wood density.  If you look at the end grain of your board I bet you will see the light and dark rings are running very close to vertical.  See below example. The dark rings are harder then the light color rings so cutting slows down when you hit the dark ring and speeds up when you hit a light ring. .  This wood does not tend to warp or twist much so it is often sought after by furniture makers.  The actual name for this type of grain is "quarter sawn".  It has to do with the way the log is first cut in quarters before boards are cut from the log.  In places that sell furniture grade lumber quarter sawn wood sells for a premium as it harder to cut, requires larger diameter logs and a log yields less lumber.

 

[kmmcrafts]

Yes, the tighter ( closer together ) those rings are in the lumber.. the less chance of it cupping / warping... When and if I buy lumber.. I specifically look for tighter grain like this if it's something that the board will be hanging around the shop for a few days.. but... free lumber is free lumber too.. and I don't get too picky with free, LOL

[Rockytime]

Thank yo for all the replies and suggestions. I do like cutting at higher speeds as I allow the blade to do the cutting at it's own pace without trying to push excessively. Since most of my cutting is with pine I do like skip tooth blades. I just wanted to try the Pegas blades.

[ike]

I don't like cutting Pine for the privious posts. I use popular ist is just as cheep as pine and it cut's a lot easier. i but it at paxton lumber there is about 3 in the states and one is within 35 minutes from me and the cost is $2.20 per board foot. which is about 1/2 tge oruce at Hine depot

Ike

 

[Rockytime]

12 minutes ago, ike said:

I don't like cutting Pine for the privious posts. I use popular ist is just as cheep as pine and it cut's a lot easier. i but it at paxton lumber there is about 3 in the states and one is within 35 minutes from me and the cost is $2.20 per board foot. which is about 1/2 tge oruce at Hine depot

Ike

 

Thanks Ike. That is interesting as there is a Paxton Lumber in Denver about 20 minutes from me. I assumed they only sold to contractors. I will check them out. Thanks again.