Counterbalance for long pieces

[Wichman]

One issue I have with the longer "name with a rose" is cutting the very end of the piece. The table is rather small and the end being cut wants to raise off the table; so I am trying to create a counterbalance. First attempt is a extra small spring clamp and a small magnet. So far so good and the clamp fits under the Quick clamp knob.

Have any of you had these issues, how did you compensate? When I mount the scroll saw to the miter saw stand I'm going to make an auxiliary table to fix this. 

 

[kmmcrafts]

This here is why I'll always have a Hawk 26" saw in my shop.. The saw table is the largest of any of the saws I have.. the worst table is on the Hegner and second worst is the Excalibur. The EX has a decent sized table however the distance from the front of the tabel to the blade is not very much.. like 4" or less.. I think the Hawk had around 7" from blade to front of table so there is pretty good support. I have a few good selling pieces I make that are about 20" long by nearly 10 wide.. and I usually stack cut them 1/4" at 3 pieces so 3/4" stacks.. I don't have any issues with holding down the wood really.. but these pieces are always the easiest to cut ( for me ) on my Hawk.. and cannot be done on the Hegner with a straight blade anyway since it only has a 18" throat. 

One of those projects where you have to stand to the side and sometimes have to move myself to the other side of the project to do a cut, LOL

[CharleyL]

For your problem, I frequently leave the outside edge square, until the last. but I have also hot glued extension strips to the flat top and/or bottom long enough to support the work on the saw table while I cut near the ends of it. Then I can cut the outside edge or the strips free as the last steps.

Charley

 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

To combat that problem real easily is to make a subtop. Use a piece of 1/4" baltic birch plywood and make it any size you want. Drill a hole for your blade and then use doublesided tape to hold the top in place. You could put a finish on it if you want more free spinning. but I found BB is smooth enough to give you that just righ amount of resistance when spinning. Works well. I had to do that with my Hegner right away because as Kevin said that table top is just not large enough. I aslo do it when using the RBI's and I am making the large mirrors. Because spinning that much 3/4" oak is not easy to control. One less thing to concentrate on if the top is flat and wide.

[Wichman]

On 9/3/2023 at 9:34 PM, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

To combat that problem real easily is to make a subtop. Use a piece of 1/4" baltic birch plywood and make it any size you want. Drill a hole for your blade and then use doublesided tape to hold the top in place. You could put a finish on it if you want more free spinning. but I found BB is smooth enough to give you that just righ amount of resistance when spinning. Works well. I had to do that with my Hegner right away because as Kevin said that table top is just not large enough. I aslo do it when using the RBI's and I am making the large mirrors. Because spinning that much 3/4" oak is not easy to control. One less thing to concentrate on if the top is flat and wide.

I know you haven't been around so you probably haven't seen my posts on how I'm setting up my shop.

I'm basing all my smaller tools on a miter saw stand. So far I've mounted; delta SS, miter saw, lunch box planer, bench top band saw, router, 4 x 36 belt sander, 14" metal cutting saw.   Still to be mounted: Hegner SS, 1 x 30 belt sander, surface conditioning tool, mounted upside down w/foot switch, auxiliary tables for the Hegner.   

I want to be able to scroll very large panels ( 20" x 8' ) I have 13  1/2" thick panels to play with. I've got everything I need, just need to put it all together.  The miter saw stand allows me to plane 8' boards with no snipe so it should work with supporting the scroll work, I'll be using spiral blades.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

1 hour ago, Wichman said:

I know you haven't been around so you probably haven't seen my posts on how I'm setting up my shop.

I'm basing all my smaller tools on a miter saw stand. So far I've mounted; delta SS, miter saw, lunch box planer, bench top band saw, router, 4 x 36 belt sander, 14" metal cutting saw.   Still to be mounted: Hegner SS, 1 x 30 belt sander, surface conditioning tool, mounted upside down w/foot switch, auxiliary tables for the Hegner.   

I want to be able to scroll very large panels ( 20" x 8' ) I have 13  1/2" thick panels to play with. I've got everything I need, just need to put it all together.  The miter saw stand allows me to plane 8' boards with no snipe so it should work with supporting the scroll work, I'll be using spiral blades.

Wow. To scroll 8 foot boards is a challenge and you have to use spirial blades for sure. Yes make a table to support thos boards is what you need to do. Good luck. Ever think of using a jigsaw? Not knowing how intricate the designs are. I looked at the photo in the first post and thought that is what you wanted to do because I have never seen anyone ever use a counterbalnce on a project before. 

Edited September 5, 2023 by JTTHECLOCKMAN

[Wichman]

JT 

Here is a picture of the large panel. This is not mine, it's where I got the Idea.  Didn't think I'd ever be able to do one ( cost of the wood ) but I took down a large Elm tree and had it slabbed up. I now have 13 boards to play with.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

5 hours ago, Wichman said:

JT 

Here is a picture of the large panel. This is not mine, it's where I got the Idea.  Didn't think I'd ever be able to do one ( cost of the wood ) but I took down a large Elm tree and had it slabbed up. I now have 13 boards to play with.

Have seen this type thing done with a hand fret saw. I use to go to alot of woodworking shows in my area and many have moved on but there was a scrolling club that had a booth and there was a person doing this with a hand saw. What got my attention was how quick he was with making a cut and moving the blade to next hole. Darn impressive. I looked at the pattern he was cutting and I noticed there was very little inside cuts. Alot could get cut with one blade change. If I remember correctly he too was using spiral blades. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by JTTHECLOCKMAN