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Testing the new saw


RabidAlien

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Saw did pretty well....ran into an issue today, just before I got to the finish, where it was losing blade tension whenever I tried to cut.  Disassembled and reassembled the saw, and whatever the issue was cleared up.  Still have no idea what was wrong.  But it finished the cut, so I'm happy.

 

 

20190314_215052.jpg

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12 hours ago, Rolf said:

Does the Wen take pinless blades?

Yep, takes both.  The arm is slotted for pinned blades, and has two adapters you can clamp on the end, then hook over the arms.  There's an Allen wrench you use to loosen/tighten the adapters (I cannibalized a fridge magnet for the magnet itself, and use that to help keep track of the wrench).

 

One little quirk, the tensioning issue returned today, cutting into 1/2" whiteboard from Lowes, probably only a step-n-a-half above cutting into balsa wood.  So I knew it wasn't that the board I was using previously was too thick.  I did a lot of Googling, found nothing (Wen's site is horrible....you can find all sorts of "hey, our products rock!  Here's a rah-rah page we wrote about it!", but NO Support links or FAQ's or forums.  Their 800 number is Mon-Fri 8-5 only, which sucks cuz I have a full-time job that DOESN"T involve a scroll saw or any other Wen products.  I did a bit more tinkering, and discovered that the post the locking lever sits on....appears to be threaded somewhere in the bowels of the saw.  Some quick righty-tighty-lefty-loosey, a bit of fine-tuning to keep from popping the blades off from over-tension, and I'm back to cutting again.

 

Its not a bad saw, it has a lot of nice features that my old Dremel didn't have (like....everything), it cuts well....just keep an eye on that post.

 

Here's the stained/varnished product:

 

 

20190316_211212.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

You cut like you own that saw, lol. Great work you did here!!!.Just a heads up on your Wen. The connecting link in the back of the saw is what wears out first on the saw with blade adjustments in the back. I've ruined many a Chinese and other scroll saw like yours. I finally drilled a hole big enough so I could see the bushings on the top and lower arms so I could lube them. And then I got a Dewalt, And never went back!!!

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5 hours ago, amazingkevin said:

You cut like you own that saw, lol. Great work you did here!!!.Just a heads up on your Wen. The connecting link in the back of the saw is what wears out first on the saw with blade adjustments in the back. I've ruined many a Chinese and other scroll saw like yours. I finally drilled a hole big enough so I could see the bushings on the top and lower arms so I could lube them. And then I got a Dewalt, And never went back!!!

Thanks for the tip, I'll take a look at it.  I just put some file-folder material underneath the little pop-out blade guard/guide (terminology?) to raise it up level with the table.  I've also noticed the saw, while quiet, has an annoying habit of vibrating screws loose in spite of the lock-washers.  This is definitely an interim saw, but I'm already hooked on the vastly wider variety of blades available to me.

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