Porter Cable

[NJ Phil]

I'm new to scrolling. I recently purchased a Porter Cable scrollsaw (my first) at Loews.

I believe it is made specifically for Loews.

Does anyone have any experience with this saw?

I have made about two dozen pieces on it an it seems the lower

end of the blade vibrates side to side about a sixteenth of an inch

while running. Is this normal? The upper end is steady but the lower

becomes a blur when there is no pressure on it.

HELP !!

Thanks,

Phil

[Xray]

Lowes Portercable is a rebranded hitachi cw40, which they used to sell.

It is the saw I use, and I am very content with it ,,, So if you search for info, you might try the hitachi cw40, as this one was sold for years, is the same saw, and theres more info about it.

Not sure about your question, offhand I wouldn't think there should be any side to side action, which would tend to ruin the accuracy of cuts.

[Dan]

Hey Phil, welcome aboard. I know nothing about Porter Cable saws but there should be no side-to-side movement of the blade when running. There's usually some way to make minor adjustments in the lower blade clamp. I guess if the tension is too loose, you could get some sideways movement, also. Wish I could offer more advice.

 

Dan

[amazingkevin]

Our member art just had the hitachi and was happy with it .He now has the dw788 and is more happy. I'm sure he'll see this post as he knows all about the portor cable hitachi.ui'll even send him a pm to speed things up for you.welcome to ssv Were all about helping each other as much as we can to make scrolling a pleasure for you.!

[Xray]

The Portercable is a re branded Hitachi CW40, which is what I use.

So if you search around for info on this, you might have better luck searching the Hitachi, exact same saw.

Offhand, I wouldn't think there should be any side movement at all.

Unless you are making cutouts of Swiss cheese, such movement would destroy accuracy, and also blades.

Are you capable of making fine cuts with it ?

 

Perhaps you could beam a strobe light on it, you should be able to verify the movement, or lack thereof, with that.

[Vector01]

I had the CW40 (same thing). Mine did have a slight blade wobble until it contacted the work piece. Check your tension as mentioned. This is a two step process. First setup your blade. Make sure the lock down lever on the tensioning mechanism is up/released. Turn the tensioning knob clockwise until the blade is taught. The final tensioning is done by pressing down on the locking lever. You should be able to set the lock down lever using slight pressure. If the lever won't lock down, release it, back off on the tensioning knob and try again. This is a trial and error process. Once you get it set all you have to do is release the lock down and reset when doing fretwork/inside cuts.

 

The blade holders pivot on a roll pin which makes it easier for the blade to center between the upper and lower blade holders (which also causes some play). The blade holders attach to the upper and lower arms via a small extension with a threaded screw and nut. There is some adjustment that can be done. Check to see if the lower blade holder assembly is aligned with the arm. If not you can loosen the assembly and move it either left or right to align.

 

The screw(allen) and nuts are metric. I don't remember the sizes off hand. Make sure you remove the nut first. Both the arm extension and the arm itself are threaded. This is a pain when trying to loosen the allen screw. Lossen the screw enough so that you can make any adjustment then re-tighten. You don't have to replace the nut until you are done with the adjustment. Try the saw and see if this helps.

If this doesn't help you might have a bad lower blade holder assembly or bent lower arm. You can either return the saw (bent lower arm) or call Hitachi and ask them to send you a new lower blade assembly. I would opt for returning the saw for a new one since you just purchased it..