FDPiper Posted January 17, 2020 Report Share Posted January 17, 2020 Hi, my name is Walt. I do very basic stuff, mostly cutouts for the kids or as part of another project I am working on and need to make a few cuts. I have an older pre-WWII Delta 40-440 rigid arm machine. The machine was my wife’s uncle’s father’s machine. He died in 1964 and the machine sat unused in the basement until I bought it almost 40 years later when our Uncle cleaned out his mother’s house. I restored the machine with advise from a Delta employee who knew them well and it is working really well. I need to better get the hang of scrolling. Looking forward to learning a lot from all you experts! Open to any tips and tricks on using this old machine. Now that I am retired, I have been doing a lot to renovate our house and get it back in shape and am running out of rooms to gut and redo. Beginning to tackle the last big job now and once that is done, I am looking for more fun things to do in the shop! Despite having a shop full of power tools, I have been restoring old hand planes, chisels, hand saws and other tools and getting back into hand joinery. I will be building a wood fret bow saw to try my hand at some hand scrolling, too. A photo of some cutouts I made for some young friends to decorate for Halloween, and their wonderful job completing them. plus my little scroll saw shop buddy. Thanks. munzieb, Phantom Scroller, Harry Barton and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryEA Posted January 18, 2020 Report Share Posted January 18, 2020 Welcome to you Walt and to your shop buddy. I want to say, anyone who can contact a Delta employee and get them to help is amazing. What part of Pa.? FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatie Posted January 18, 2020 Report Share Posted January 18, 2020 Welcome to the Village Walt. Looks as if you and your little friends are having s ball. It's good to restore old work tools the younger generation want battery operated everything. Marg FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meflick Posted January 18, 2020 Report Share Posted January 18, 2020 Welcome to the village from East Tennessee Walt. Glad you joined us. Look forward to your participation. FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denny Knappen Posted January 18, 2020 Report Share Posted January 18, 2020 Another welcome to the Village forum from TN. FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappile Posted January 18, 2020 Report Share Posted January 18, 2020 Welcome to the Village. FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxfold Posted January 18, 2020 Report Share Posted January 18, 2020 Quote Welcome to the Village from our side of the globe too. Enjoy, it's a great place to be. FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirithorse Posted January 18, 2020 Report Share Posted January 18, 2020 Hi, Walt, welcome to the forum and thanks for the nice intro. We enjoy seeing pictures and your first projects are cool! Thanks for sharing and God Bless! Spirithorse FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockytime Posted January 19, 2020 Report Share Posted January 19, 2020 Welcome to the Village! Your little puppet looks really interesting! FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Johnson Posted January 19, 2020 Report Share Posted January 19, 2020 Welcome Walt. Your old scroll saw has and more than likely will continue to outlast any of the new ones today. I to love the old tools and have also refurbished a lot of the old hand planes and chisels. FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puzzleguy Posted January 20, 2020 Report Share Posted January 20, 2020 FDPiper , i have that very same saw - it sits in a sacred place in my shop ( -its in a corner with a sheet on it ) A school i worked for in the late 80's was giving it the toss , and i saved it from the scrap bin - It was my first decent saw. It really cuts great - not fast , but with it's practically perfect up and down action - its a keeper - except for the fact it uses 6 inch blades - IMO its one of the truly great saws ( simalar to the Powermatic model ) is yours a variable speed or the belt model ? My only suggestion is to use non detergent oil in it - 30W - i have blades if you ever need a pack - very old delta blades in the paper packages- FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Scroller Posted January 20, 2020 Report Share Posted January 20, 2020 A big WELCOME from me. Roly FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrolling Steve Posted January 24, 2020 Report Share Posted January 24, 2020 Welcome to the family, Walt, glad to have you aboard ! FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heppnerguy Posted January 28, 2020 Report Share Posted January 28, 2020 Glad you found us and decided to pick us as your scrolling site. Lots of friendly people that you will soon learn to like and enjoy. Everyone here shares information when asked and is as helpful as can be. Welcome to our family Dick heppnerguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amazingkevin Posted January 28, 2020 Report Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) had 2 of these and 2 c-arm.Welcome friend ,good saw very tight too!!! Your scrolling at it's best!!!! we'll be looking forward to seeing what attracts your attention this time ,We love pictures .Welcome again and hope you become a regular too Edited January 28, 2020 by amazingkevin add picture FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FDPiper Posted February 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2020 On 1/17/2020 at 11:18 PM, LarryEA said: Welcome to you Walt and to your shop buddy. I want to say, anyone who can contact a Delta employee and get them to help is amazing. What part of Pa.? Thanks LarryEA. I live in the southeast not far from Philadelphia. I got the machine over 20 years ago and began to take it apart to restore/refurbish it. What I found was that I mainly cleaned it up, changed the oil in the reservoir, changed the main gasket, set it back up. During this process, I had questions so I called Delta and was transferred to a fellow in the parts department. When I explained the machine and what I was doing, he said I called just in time. One of his coworkers was retiring "next week" after over 40 years of service and knew those machines inside out. He was right! This fellow started asking about the machine starting with newer components and working back through the years. He started with was the light shade plastic or metal, was the compressor plastic or metal, and worked his way into the machine asking if the fiber reciprocator was round or square. Then if it had a belt guard, etc. He explained the machine was from pre-WWII design based on what it had. He explained that when we went to war, civil production ceased and war production began. During WWII the machine was not built. When the war was over, the old plans were pulled out of the drawer and production restarted. Then, modifications were made to update the machine beginning in about 1947 era. Also, based on my Uncle being over 80 now, and he remembers the machine in his father's basement shop as a very young child, the saw was probably there during the war. There was no television when my Uncle grew up, so every evening they went down into the shop to make projects and build wooden models. So, after that long story, I want to say there was at least one very helpful employee at Delta. I appreciated the time he spent with me and the oral history of the machine that he gave me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FDPiper Posted February 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2020 On 1/18/2020 at 10:36 AM, Foxfold said: Welcome to the Village from our side of the globe too. Enjoy, it's a great place to be. Thank you Foxfold from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, UK . I have almost been in your home town. When working I had the opportunity to do work in the UK. two of the towns I visited were Hull and Leeds. It appears that you are not too far from those cities. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FDPiper Posted February 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2020 On 1/20/2020 at 10:55 AM, Puzzleguy said: FDPiper , i have that very same saw - it sits in a sacred place in my shop ( -its in a corner with a sheet on it ) A school i worked for in the late 80's was giving it the toss , and i saved it from the scrap bin - It was my first decent saw. It really cuts great - not fast , but with it's practically perfect up and down action - its a keeper - except for the fact it uses 6 inch blades - IMO its one of the truly great saws ( simalar to the Powermatic model ) is yours a variable speed or the belt model ? My only suggestion is to use non detergent oil in it - 30W - i have blades if you ever need a pack - very old delta blades in the paper packages- Thank you Puzzleguy! Take off the sheet and use that guy. Mine is an early model believed to be pre-WWII. belt drive, no guards, just an open belt. The motor is dated 1935 or 1937. I took them to a motor shop, they were put under load, and passed. The motor guy told me those old motors will last longer than if I replaced them today with new ones. I have some old scroll saw blades, and yes, they are longer than what I find in stores. Thank you for telling me about the blade length. I also saw that I could cut band saw blades and grind off the set teeth at both ends to make my own blades. I have not tried that yet, but may. The instruction manual I found specified "light winter-grade automobile oil or Finol to within 1/8 inch of the lower end of the oil cup SP-2476." The crankcase capacity is 1-1/4 pints. based on that, I used non-detergent 10W oil. It seems to be running okay. While I did not measure when I filled the crankcase, it did take a lot of oil, almost a quart as I recall. Thanks, and I am looking forward to being part of the group. Puzzleguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puzzleguy Posted February 6, 2020 Report Share Posted February 6, 2020 (edited) Thanks FD -it is a great saw by any means - I own saws that cut faster and can cut more intricate - ( with less force and less shaking ) so they tend to get more use -when you feed yourself with your saw you tend to find a saw that can complete the tasks you give it in a more timely manner . Some of the more modern saws are better suited for my needs ! But that in no way changes my love for that saw . (Just to add - basically the oil used is a 30 straight weight oil -non detergent ) Not sure about the 10w non detergent your using - maybe mine is a little different because its from the 1960's - I have never seen a problem with this weight , Edited February 6, 2020 by Puzzleguy FDPiper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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