Issue with UR 5

[Newsawontheblock]

Anybody else having issues with UR 5 blades? They’re generally one of my go to blades, but today I tried a few and couldn’t get a straight cut at all! Switched to a UR 7 to finish my project, UR 7 worked great! Possibly a bad batch of blades?

[Hawk]

What brand?

 

[kmmcrafts]

The Ultra Reverse ( UR ) blades used to be my go to blade.. after trying Pegas I kinda slowed up on the use of them.. Have several gross and do use them still but I haven't ordered any new blades since early fall last year.. Starting to get a little low on them and have contemplated just fully switching to the Pegas.. 

In the past I've gotten some bad batches.. both in FD and Pegas so it's just the luck of the draw sometimes.. but most times they are happy to replace if there is a issue.. You might contact your supplier and ask about it.. maybe a known problem.. and they maybe replacing them for those that call and complain etc.. as it does happen from time to time with all the suppliers.. If there is a known issue.. please report back to inform others.. These companies and distributors do not go calling all their customers etc or it doesn't made the news like with a car recall or food recalls etc.. so it's up to us to spread the word around to the scroll saw clubs groups etc so we all know to be on the lookout of bad blades..

[dgman]

UR indicates Ultra Reverse. These are Flying Dutchman or Niqua blades. I use these blades everyday and have not had a problem. Any chance you had the blade upside down? My blades are several months old. How old are yours? I should be getting a supply tomorrow. I’ll check them out and see how they work when they arrive.

[Newsawontheblock]

40 minutes ago, Hawk said:

What brand?

 

Flying Dutchman

[Newsawontheblock]

1 minute ago, dgman said:

UR indicates Ultra Reverse. These are Flying Dutchman or Niqua blades. I use these blades everyday and have not had a problem. Any chance you had the blade upside down? My blades are several months old. How old are yours? I should be getting a supply tomorrow. I’ll check them out and see how they work when they arrive.

They are Flying Dutchman I’ve had  for a few months. Something that surprised me when I put the blade into the machine, was that there was no crimp on the top. So I lined it up by the teeth... Two down, one up.

[dgman]

If it has no crimp, it must be defective. Try turning the blade around and see what happens.

[OCtoolguy]

Would the type/thickness of wood make a difference? Or the project itself? 

[tomsteve]

ive had blades of different FD #s act weird on me from time to time. dont think ive had a full dozen do it,though

[kmmcrafts]

I don't trust a company that isn't consistent.. They need to be either consistently bad or consistently good.. Example if I grab a pack of Vermont blades.. I know when I made that purchase that they're going to be bad blades,  FD blades have been sort of hit and miss the last few years that I was using them.. Pegas is always either good or bad.. Most times they're good.. but they did have a bad run of blades a year or so ago.. but the whole package(s) (Gross) was bad.. not just one here or there they were bad everywhere ( Dr Who?   ) and they replaced any blades that was bad.. 

I worked in a factory long enough to see many times.. they'll need numbers on paper of a run and they'll mix in bad parts in order to fill a order or to get those numbers that the big boss wants.. I've often wondered about this with the FD blades.. maybe just me with the last few gross I purchased. but it seemed like I had 1-2 bad blades in every dozen.. Made me sorta think they was purposely mixing in to get their numbers..

Every MFG will probably have a bad run now and then.. but that run should be consistently bad.. Good reason to switch to Pegas.. 

Look at that sales pitch.. I should become a Pegas distributor or get some sort of discount on their products,  

[NC Scroller]

11 hours ago, Newsawontheblock said:

They are Flying Dutchman I’ve had  for a few months. Something that surprised me when I put the blade into the machine, was that there was no crimp on the top. So I lined it up by the teeth... Two down, one up.

I would contact the seller and ask for a replacement.  If the seller is worth their salt they should replace them no questions asked.  If not, find a new seller to do business with.

[scrollingforsanity]

About three years I had two gross FD #1 silver reverse that were bad. would not cut anything. I had them for a while but still contacted the seller. They replaced them immediately and told me to keep the bad ones. The new blades were fine. I still have most of them due to switching primarily to Pegas blades. I would definitely call the seller and see what they will do. Most times they would rather replace them than lose a customer.  Good luck.

[ike]

I have a problemtelling which is up or down an any blade , to me it's just guess work I take a piece of 1/4 ply and draw lines  on it and try the blade , If the blade cuts to the right it'w upside down to the left it's in right.

IKE

[redwine]

I have run into that problem with the UR #5 and for what ever reason that blade has always been that  way when ever I have ordered them in that it will not track straight where as all of the rest of the UR's ,for me anyways, will track straighter than the regular reverse blades. I very seldom have need for that size as I normally use #1's and 3's. Any thick woods, 3/4 inch or thicker, I go to #7 or to the Pegas  MG blade.

Erv

[scrollingforsanity]

This may not be the way to do it but I lightly run my thumb up the blade before I put it in. If it is in the right position you will feel your thumb catch on the teeth. If it is upside down your thumb will just slide up with no resistance. It may not work for you but it works great for me. I check every blade. If it is upside down it will not track and cut straight.

[kmmcrafts]

3 minutes ago, scrollingforsanity said:

This may not be the way to do it but I lightly run my thumb up the blade before I put it in. If it is in the right position you will feel your thumb catch on the teeth. If it is upside down your thumb will just slide up with no resistance. It may not work for you but it works great for me. I check every blade. If it is upside down it will not track and cut straight.

Don't think that will work with the Ultra Reverse tooth blades as they have a reverse tooth all the way to the top of the blade.. I think it's two cutting teeth then one reverse then two more cutters and one reverse.. it's this way through the whole blade.. I do as you say though on other blades.. especially spirals..  

[dgman]

5 minutes ago, scrollingforsanity said:

This may not be the way to do it but I lightly run my thumb up the blade before I put it in. If it is in the right position you will feel your thumb catch on the teeth. If it is upside down your thumb will just slide up with no resistance. It may not work for you but it works great for me. I check every blade. If it is upside down it will not track and cut straight.

This can not be done with the FD Ultra Reverse blades because of the teeth configuration, hence the reason for the crimp to identify the top of the blade.

[dgman]

I received my shipment of FD blades today. The first thing I noticed is on the #5, the crimp is not visible, however I could feel the crimp. I installed the #5 in my saw and tensioned it up. I took a scrap piece of 3/4” Mahogany and drew a 1 1/2” circle. A circle is the hardest thing for me to cut accurately. The blade cut exactly as I expected it too. It tracked perfectly. No problems whatsoever !

[scrollingforsanity]

You might be right on that one Kevin.  It does work on the pegas though. Lol

[Denny Knappen]

I used FD UR blades.  In fact, I am using UR#1 on a project.  I like the UR because of the crimp.  As a Pegas dealer, I use MGT blades with the demo Pegas Scroll saw.  In the Bragging Section, I posted two trivets.  These were cut using Pegas MGT #3 blades.  The blades cut true.

[OCtoolguy]

22 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

Don't think that will work with the Ultra Reverse tooth blades as they have a reverse tooth all the way to the top of the blade.. I think it's two cutting teeth then one reverse then two more cutters and one reverse.. it's this way through the whole blade.. I do as you say though on other blades.. especially spirals..  

It seems to me that these blades could be used in either direction if the teeth go both ways. Maybe not quite as well but it should work. Maybe that's the OP's problem. He might have been using them in the wrong direction. They would cut but try to go astray. Maybe???

 

[kmmcrafts]

16 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

It seems to me that these blades could be used in either direction if the teeth go both ways. Maybe not quite as well but it should work. Maybe that's the OP's problem. He might have been using them in the wrong direction. They would cut but try to go astray. Maybe???

 

Back when I first started scrolling I used to flip them to get longer blade life.. They do cut a few degrees off.. they aren't like the Pegas MG blades.. and flipping them gives you the degrees off on the opposite side.. I cut that way with them for a few years.. This was back before they put the indent on the top end.. Maybe that's why I am quite versatile on blades.. I don't pay a lot of attention to the degrees off when i switch out from one type of blade to the next like a lot of folks do. I just watch the line and steer the wood.. They do cut a little slower upside down.. but going from a dull blade to flipping the other end it seemed sharp again, LOL

[BadBob]

I cut an entire project once with the blade in upside down. The saw sounded different but other than that I didn't notice anything different.