OK...Next Problem

[OzarkSawdust]

I'm trying one of the Steve Good hummingbird patterns hummer2019.pdfhummer2019.pdf

I was using a FD UR #1 and when I make a 90deg. or the small tight turns the cut looks like a semi making a right turn! It kind of bows out then returns to the line. I tried changing to a FD UR #2/0, didn't make any difference. With the mag/light I can see the blade continuing flat, then "pops" to the direction..? What's up with that ?

So how do I get a real tight curve or a 90 degree turn and stay on the line?

[Scrappile]

Remember when you turn the blade cannot turn a quickly as you can turn the board.  You have to wait a fraction of a second or maybe it is a second, for the bladed to "catch-up".  Go to the line you want to turn at, add slight back pressure so you stop cutting forward, turn the board and hesitate long enough for the blade to catch-up and then proceed forward. 

Another thing I do if I want real sharp pointed turns, and I am cutting next to a waist area, is scroll to the line to stop, back the blade up and cut around so I can cut in from the other direction, to make a very sharp point or 90°.  You can cut where ever you want in the waste area, it is not going to be part of the picture.  I do the same on outside points that I want to be real sharp, cut past the turn point loop around in the waste area and come back to the point from another direction. 

If you can, try to figure out my picture below on how I would get "sharp" corners.  #1 I would scroll to the spot where I want to make the sharp turn, back up and cut past that point to the horizontal l line and continue.  I would do that on all places that need a sharp clean point in this one cut.  After getting back to my starting point, remove the waste piece than go back and finish cutting the sharp point coming from the other direction....

On the outside cut #2 I cut past the point loop around and come back from another direction to cut the clean point. 

Hope this is some what understandable.  I am not good at explaining and graphics.  But remember, you object it to make clean sharp points and corners, you do not have to follow the line from start to finish, you can cut any direction you want in the waste area to accomplish you goal....

[OzarkSawdust]

Thanks Scrappile! That would probably be easier than trying to follow the lines!

That pattern has a few small circles...flower centers, hummingbird eye...do most people cut it as the rest or use a drill of that size?

[Bill WIlson]

If the holes are concentric, I tend to drill them.

[fredfret]

You can cut to the point , back up turn the blade in the waste area , back into the point then continue cutting the line instead of making an on-the-spot turn. Just another way to do it. Practice on scrap using the different methods until you find the one that works best for you. You will gain skill with every attempt if you take your time and think about what your doing.

[OCtoolguy]

Everybody pretty much has said the same thing but with great explanations. I was just going to add, it's not necessarily your blade choice as much as it "technique" and that is something that only comes from experience. Believe me, you are asking all the same questions that the rest of us have asked but the simple answer is "practice". And every project is practice and you are gaining experience. I just picked up a couple of pointers here too.

 

[Rockytime]

I can only add one thing. Blade tension. Without sufficient tension circles and tight corners are difficult.

[OzarkSawdust]

5 minutes ago, Rockytime said:

I can only add one thing. Blade tension. Without sufficient tension circles and tight corners are difficult.

Just how tight? I set it about E on a guitar...the smallest open string if you don't play. I've tried to learn guitar off and on for several yrs. but am really, really bad...lol

[Rockytime]

I'm deaf (practically) so I can't hear a twang so I flip the tension lever on. I press down on the upper arm firmly. If I see the slightest bow the blade is not tight enough. My blades are very tight. Perhaps that is why I break a goodly number of 2/0 blades.

[kmmcrafts]

When I was new to scroll sawing I would cut up to the sharp corner back out a small ways and then cut or like shave the waist area to make the kerf a sight bit wider so the blade can spin around a bit easier.. Hope that makes sense to somebody, LOL.. Anyway.. doing it like that somewhat still gives you practice in doing those tight curves.. eventually with more practice in cutting you'll start just cutting along without making the kerf wider.. That might be quite a long time though depending on what saw you use.. My DeWalt was quite aggressive cutting.. so i did this method probably about 6-7 years of the 10 years I owned that saw.. Going from that saw to the less aggressive saw.. doing those tight corners is sooo much easier.. LOL 

[teachnlearn]

For those hard of hearing, there are electronic tuners for pianos, guitars that have mics. They will listen and show on the display the note your tuning too. Don't need it if you can hear and compare notes, if not, this is one adaption for hard of hearing. RJF

[redwine]

I do like Les does about the tension, I use a very tight blade with the exception of #2/0 and 3/0, those I back off slightly and adjust the wood feed into the blade. When I am cutting 1/4 inch wood or ply with a #1 blade and it is a 90 degree turn I can make a quick turn and get a sharp corner. This involves coming up to the corner and apply pressure by slightly pulling the wood toward you to the back of the blade and quickly turn the wood. With practice you can make those sharp turns. If the turn is in a "v" cut up to the end of the line back out and turn the wood so the teeth of the blade will be facing the waste part and back into the "v" and cut out the new line. As I stated I use a lot of tension and it works for me. You don't want a "limp" blade, just try more tension till you find the amount you are comfortable with. 

Erv

[fredfret]

Blade should not move sideways more than 1/8 th inch.  I set mine for about 1/16 th inch. I like very tight blades 

 

[OCtoolguy]

4 hours ago, OzarkSawdust said:

Just how tight? I set it about E on a guitar...the smallest open string if you don't play. I've tried to learn guitar off and on for several yrs. but am really, really bad...lol

That brings me to a story. When I was 8 years old, my parents asked me if I would like to learn a musical instrument. I said yes, I wanted to learn the guitar. So, they bought me an accordian. After I got old enough to quit, I did. And I never picked it up again. They both loved the German music and polka dancing. I hated every minute of it. I am now 76 and I still want to learn the guitar. True story.

 

[teachnlearn]

3 hours ago, octoolguy said:

That brings me to a story. When I was 8 years old, my parents asked me if I would like to learn a musical instrument. I said yes, I wanted to learn the guitar. So, they bought me an accordian. After I got old enough to quit, I did. And I never picked it up again. They both loved the German music and polka dancing. I hated every minute of it. I am now 76 and I still want to learn the guitar. True story.

 

Pickup the accordion again and mount a hose. You can play it and use it as a musical blower. RJF

[Harry Barton]

7 hours ago, octoolguy said:

That brings me to a story. When I was 8 years old, my parents asked me if I would like to learn a musical instrument. I said yes, I wanted to learn the guitar. So, they bought me an accordian. After I got old enough to quit, I did. And I never picked it up again. They both loved the German music and polka dancing. I hated every minute of it. I am now 76 and I still want to learn the guitar. True story.

 

Very much off topic, but I'll add my experience and may even get back onto the topic: as a boy I played piano by ear, then asked for lessons, which I hated.  That put me off playing (my mum said I didn't touch the instrument for eighteen months), but I did then get into playing guitar, again, by ear.  I still don't read music but as we had an electric piano in the house and I could bash out some tunes, I took lessons a couple of years ago, and found that playing from the sheet music was like playing a completely different instrument, and I didn't really get into it.  Back to guitars: I do have a couple of clip-on tuners, so I'll see what pitch my scroll saw blades produce, and how well they cut at those tensions, to see if it's possible to set an optimum tension by this method.  Regarding tight angles: if there's waste material (i.e. not cutting a single thin line), then I'll often back up into the waste and not attempt a turn, but come back into the corner from the other line.  If the waste is outside the angle, then I'll loop around.

[ScollSaw Slasher]

Tension, tension, tension. I can't conceive where I want a bending blade. In fact you'll break more blades with looser tension because stress points develop in the bending blade. To me, feed rate and blade speed are more important, especially for sharp angles. As to the E. I've played the guitar for 63 years (even perform once in awhile), and still have the ability to hum a perfect E for tuning purposes. Of course the hearing is slowly going (darn rock and roll) as well as the dexterity, but it is still a great passion in my life. And Ray, it's never too late. Even if it's only to play Mary Had A Little Lamb!

[OzarkSawdust]

15 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

When I was new to scroll sawing I would cut up to the sharp corner back out a small ways and then cut or like shave the waist area to make the kerf a sight bit wider so the blade can spin around a bit easier.. Hope that makes sense to somebody, LOL.. Anyway.. doing it like that somewhat still gives you practice in doing those tight curves.. eventually with more practice in cutting you'll start just cutting along without making the kerf wider.. That might be quite a long time though depending on what saw you use.. My DeWalt was quite aggressive cutting.. so i did this method probably about 6-7 years of the 10 years I owned that saw.. Going from that saw to the less aggressive saw.. doing those tight corners is sooo much easier.. LOL 

I've been trying just what you said. It does help! Last night I started cutting across the scrap to the next line...then coming back from another direction to clean up the corner. Scrappile brought that up to me. That works much better also. I don't know why I had it in my head to always follow the lines and take the scrap out in one piece...???

It's starting to take shape now...lots of work left.

I was scrolling along...doing better...when the line I was cutting looked like it was moving! After a few seconds I thought "man...I've got to take a break, have a beer, relax, and try it later!! Then I leaned back away from the magnifier light...and noticed it was a tiny bug on the underneath side of the glass! He just happened to be following the same path as the line I was cutting!!!   Contrary to what some people think...I'm not really losing my mind! 

[OCtoolguy]

12 hours ago, teachnlearn said:

Pickup the accordion again and mount a hose. You can play it and use it as a musical blower. RJF

What a wonderful idea. If only I could retrieve it from the landfill.

 

[OCtoolguy]

3 hours ago, OzarkSawdust said:

I've been trying just what you said. It does help! Last night I started cutting across the scrap to the next line...then coming back from another direction to clean up the corner. Scrappile brought that up to me. That works much better also. I don't know why I had it in my head to always follow the lines and take the scrap out in one piece...???

It's starting to take shape now...lots of work left.

I was scrolling along...doing better...when the line I was cutting looked like it was moving! After a few seconds I thought "man...I've got to take a break, have a beer, relax, and try it later!! Then I leaned back away from the magnifier light...and noticed it was a tiny bug on the underneath side of the glass! He just happened to be following the same path as the line I was cutting!!!   Contrary to what some people think...I'm not really losing my mind! 

It looks like you're getting the hang of it.

 

[Scrappile]

Yep, that is looking good.  Try out all the suggestions mentioned and find which one works best for you in which situation.   I switch around all the time.  The urge to follow the line and get the scrap out in one piece is something I always use to struggle with, but I got over it in time. 

[teachnlearn]

4 hours ago, OzarkSawdust said:

I've been trying just what you said. It does help! Last night I started cutting across the scrap to the next line...then coming back from another direction to clean up the corner. Scrappile brought that up to me. That works much better also. I don't know why I had it in my head to always follow the lines and take the scrap out in one piece...???

It's starting to take shape now...lots of work left.

I was scrolling along...doing better...when the line I was cutting looked like it was moving! After a few seconds I thought "man...I've got to take a break, have a beer, relax, and try it later!! Then I leaned back away from the magnifier light...and noticed it was a tiny bug on the underneath side of the glass! He just happened to be following the same path as the line I was cutting!!!   Contrary to what some people think...I'm not really losing my mind! 

Bugs have learned over 100s of years if they follow lines it will get to food. Follow a cafeteria line, food at the end, go to a fair and stand in line, food, follow a highway line, eventually fast food. I could go on, but I think I'm milking the joke. RJF

[tomsteve]

ya know the phrase "turn on a dime?" welp, in scrolling to make a 90 we have to turn on a pin head. the blade has to be the pivot point and corner had to stay at that point on the table through the turn. whenever my cut starts going off like that its either because i didnt keep that pivot point or i didnt give the blade enough time to clear out material to start cutting again. 

Edited September 23, 2019 by tomsteve

[OCtoolguy]

Here's another piece of sage advice. 99.9% of your mistakes disappear with removal of the pattern. Oh, one other thing, get out of the habit of pointing out the flaws in your work. It's human nature and we all do it but we are all NUTS!

 

[crupiea]

The thickness of the wood will make a huge difference. Picture a 1/2" piece and the grain that can run through it and who knows what internal directions. 

Now picture the same piece of stock only 1/8" thick.  That same grain wont be an issue at all.

I cut all my stuff out of 1/8" bb because of this.  Just way easier to handle and you can get as tight as you like around corners with no frustration.