Scroll Saw Advice

[Aberdeen Gray]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this site and am reaching out to you all with experience. Which brand of scroll saw to purchase? Any advice for me?  I will be using it almost solely for wooden jigsaw puzzle cutting, under ½ inch thick. I want quality but can’t be too out of budget. A machine I can learn on but wont grow out of in a year. I’ve read complaints from others on the internet about random things like: table sturdiness, tilt ability, lights that don’t stay put from vibration, air blowers that hardly blow, speed, noise, blade change features etc. You name it. I just want to know what you all think; especially you puzzle makers out there! Cheers!

 

[Rockytime]

Hi Aberdeen. First of all welcome to the Village. Lots of friendly folks to give you advice. I'd give you some myself but what the heck do I know. Oh well, I'll give it a try. Please do not limit yourself to puzzles. After a few puzzles you may find you want to try something else. Any scroll saw can cut puzzles, even the most basic saws. A good saw will open a huge horizon of possibilities for your enjoyment. You should get lots of opinions here.

[Terry Jay]

My favorites are the DeWalt and the  EX 21 sold by Seyco some years back.  The DeWalt has excellent blade tension, critical for puzzles.  A tight blade and a credit card can be used to square the blade to the table.  The EX 21 has a tilt head and good tension on the blade, and is slightly more adjustable for cut aggression.  Both these saws would be in the Used market.  Both can be repaired or rebuilt as required, and both are sturdy enough to hold up for many years.

There are others in the new market, and some better liked then the older saws.  Have fum.

 

[OCtoolguy]

It might help to know your budget. Oh, and welcome to the Village.

[preprius]

Some of the elders of this village told me to watch craigs lists for a good used one.  I was watching for the 3 top brands, Hegner, RBI Hawk, Seyco.  This was just 3 or 4 months ago.  I ended up getting a RBI hawk for 400.00.   This was to replace the entry level scroll saw i bought from lowes. I was getting frustrated with cheap saw that could not hold blades. 

It was good advice to get wait for a good brand. I won't grow out of.   In the 4 months, maybe 5 months I purposely tried several projects... Intarsia (butterfly and humming birds, flower),  bowls, and I did a couple of handles for can lid openers.   I am working on a bowl type project right now.  Bowls are fun. 

 

 

[dgman]

Hi Aberdeen, welcome to the Village! This is one of those questions that always gets a lot of answers. Since your interest is in puzzles, just about any scroll saw will get the job done. However, if you are looking for a quality saw that gives you a quality cut and is durable, there are a lot of choices. I would stay away from the 16” saws that can use pinned and pin-less blades as they require adapters to mount pin-less blades, which is what you will want to use. Also, the quality and durability of these saws are not the best. 
On the high end, there is Hegner and Buston Hawk. Both of theses brands will last you a life time and provide a pleasant scrolling experience, but are not economic.

In the middle, there are many saws that will serve you well. The Delta and DeWALT saws are very good saws. Both are user friendly and will serve you well. Unfortunately, both saws use inferior berings that need to be replaced after an extended period of use. If this is just a hobby, they will last many years without service. If you are looking to cut full time, I would consider the next class of saws. These include the Excalibur type of saws commonly referred to as EX type. These include Excalibur EX1, King, Pegas and Seyco. All these saws are made in the same factory in Taiwan except for the Excalibur EX1 which is made in China. I would stay away from this one as it dose not meet the Same quality standards as the Taiwan made saws.

All the above saws except for the 16” saws have segmented air hoses which stay in place when cutting and usually provide enough air to blow the dust off of the cutting line. As far as lights staying  in place, none of the recommended saws come with a light as lighting is always up to the user. 
Changing blades is always one of the most important features of a saw. As I said earlier, the 16” saws use adapters to use pin- end blades. In order to cut puzzles, you need to use a very small numbered blade. Pinned blade are very large. For puzzles you want to use a 2/0 or 3/0 blade. Pinned end blades don’t come in this small of a blade. 
All of the middle and above saws come with durable tables. 
now, what do I recommend? Remember, you are going to get a lot of recommendations. I used DeWALT saws for over twenty years. I went through three of them. If they were a more durable saw, I would stick with it as that’s what I have been used too. 
I purchased a Pegas saw at the beginning of the year, and I love it. As with all the EX type saws, the arm tilts rather than the table tilting. Comes with The Pegas blade clamps which are far superior than any of the other EX saws. While this is a relatively newer saw, the durability hasn’t been tested yet, but appears to be a very durable saw.

[kmmcrafts]

Welcome to the Village!!

[Dak0ta52]

Hi Aberdeen and welcome. For you first post, you've chosen a big one. There is probably as many reasons to chose a particular saw as there are members on this forum. Each member has his own reasons for the saw they like.

I've only been scrolling for a couple months. I started with an entry level WEN 3922. I wanted to find out if this would enjoy the hobby. This saw only has a 16 inch throat and the upper arm is stationary. (Just a note, this is a pin or pinless saw)  If I would have waited a few months the WEN LL2156 scroll saw hit the market and I would have purchased it. This saw has a 21 inch throat, the upper arm lifts and the table is much larger. My little WEN is very stable since I've made and mounted it on a solid stand. I can't say anything about the Delta, DeWalt, King, Excalibur or any other saws but again, many members here have their reason for liking them, or disliking them.

I have been looking to upgrade and I've narrowed it down to three saws. The Seyco, the Pegas and the Jet. The Seyco has a nice large table with an optional protective cover and the stand is an integrated part of the saw. The Pegas is well know for its superior blade clamps but the stand is an option. The table on the Pegas is smaller than the Seyco but they do have a larger table that is optional. The Jet has a unique blade clamp that clamps and tensions the blade in the same movement. The bottom clamping system on the Jet makes this pretty much a bottom feed only saw. All three of these saws are in the neighborhood of $800 to $1,000 depending on the accessories you buy.

To say saw "X" is the saw for you is impossible. You have to figure what would work best for you. With me, it was a saw where the upper arm will lift to make it easier to feed blades through the project, a deeper throat, a larger table, excellent customer service and a good warranty. The Seyco and Pegas saws have a 2 year warranty whereas the Jet has a 5 year warranty.

Hope my rant was helpful. I can only suggest is to take everyone's advice and decide what would work best for you. And as one member mentioned in his post, don't limit yourself to thinking you will only cut puzzles. The scroll saw is a pretty versatile machine and can create beautiful projects and art. Check out some of the work members have posted on this forum. I think you'll be very impressed. 

[meflick]

Welcome to the Village.  Many have given you the basics on the primary saws to consider.As Ray, Octoolguy, noted to help you zero in on the best saw for your budget, we would need to know what the budget is.  What one person can afford to spend on a saw, versus another can vary greatly. Also, as also pointed out, how frequently and how much daily you think you are going to use it can also impact recommendations.  Many of us are hobiest and don't cut everyday, or don't cut for hours and hours on end.  Others do cut everyday and for hours at a time.  The saw that works for each of those may not be the same.

Finally, since you mention you want to get one to start to cut "puzzles" there are some key things you need to learn to do to make sure you are cutting a puzzle that can be put back together.  Couple of keys is that you want to use a blade that doesn't remove too much kerf as Dan pointed out. This means the thinner and smaller the blade the better. However, you also need to make sure you are cutting square which means among other things, you are not "pushing" the wood into the blade, but letting the blade cut the wood. You will also want to make sure that you are properly tensioning the blade.  Any flex to the blade and you will not be able to cut the pieces square.  Being square is extremely important in cutting puzzles because if you are not, you will find you cannot take the puzzle apart and/or put it back together.  Pieces will not fit and slide back in forth in both directions.

The puzzles you indicated you are looking to cut, you said almost solely jigsaw puzzles under 1/2" thick - but you didn't say exactly what type of puzzles beyond that.  There are lots of different types of puzzles cut with a scroll saw.  Some are true, thin picture style puzzles that lay flat and have a few or many pieces while others are thicker "object" puzzles like animal puzzles like @Iguanadon Iggy (Scott) cuts and sells.  Knowing what type of puzzles you are wanting to cut can also help people give you the bst help and advise.

[BadBob]

Stay away from anything that uses pin end blades. Why? Because blade selection will be very limited. My first saw had pined blades, but it only took me a few weeks before I upgraded to use pinless blades.

I used this saw for years until I picked up a use RBI Hawk for $100 that needed a little TLC.

 

I make a lot of toys with this saw. Cutting fretwork was a challenge because the blade changes took so long. I think it cut as good or better than both of my current saws. With the right blade and hardwood, I could get smooth glass cuts. I only got rid of it after I picked up a used Excalibur EX21 because I stumbled across a video describing how easy it was to do interior cuts. Fast blade change was a game-changer for me. I had recently started selling some of my creations, and time is money. I gave the AMT saw to a friend, and it is still in use today. The only problem I ever had with it was the blower that came with it was junk, but an aquarium pump quickly took care of that. It is the only new saw I ever purchased.

I think a used scroll saw the way to go if they are available. Used scroll saws are rare in my area, but I keep searches running all the time on Crags List and Facebook Market Place just in case something interesting pops up nearby. I some areas, used saws are for sale all the time.

Test it as best you can before you buy, and be prepared to spend a little on the saw after you get it. An older scroll saw that has been sitting for a while might need a little TLC. I spent about $100 on upgrades and replacement parts for my RBI Hawk.

If you can't work on the, saw yourself is the only reason I can think of not buying used. Paying someone to upgrade or repair your saw would negate any savings you get from buying used.

[OCtoolguy]

I see you live in Kansas. We have a few members from Kansas but if you could connect with Scrollsaw703 (Brad) he is a master scroller specializing in Native American art. He uses a Hawk saw and is very knowledgeable. 

My sage words of advice will include to watch the Craigslist & Marketplace ads for a used saw. As for which one, the list that I would look at would include Dewalt 788, Delta (the Dewalt clone), certain Excalibur's, certain Hawks, Seyco, Jet (?), and Hegner. There are things to know about each of these saws that require you asking us about if you find one that you are interested in. In my case, I have not bought any new saws but I have 3 of the best saws ever made with a very small investment. I'm a "wheeler-dealer". I love to buy & sell. You have come to the right place for advice & information because we have members from all walks of life and from all over the world. Virtually every brand & model of saw is being used by someone on this forum so you will get your questions answered and in a timely manner. Best of luck. 

Edited August 10, 2021 by octoolguy

[Aberdeen Gray]

Thank you all for such good advice! I went with a Delta 40-694.

[OCtoolguy]

Congrats Aberdeen. Be sure to post pics of your work once you get it all tuned up.

[kmmcrafts]

Congrats, I think you'll love using the saw. Hope to see some of your projects in the future.

[Jim Blume]

Enjoy the journey regardless of what you decide to do with it.