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Cutting issues


artmill

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Hi All, I am new to scrolling and not sure if I am doing this wrong or what. The problem that I am having is controlling the cut. I am finding that when I am cutting a single piece of 1/4" BB it is difficult to control small kerf cuts, I tried to slow the cutting speed on my dewalt but still same problem. I am using Fd sr5 blade and cutting a clock pattern from Scroller LTD (if that helps). Is it just me?

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I'm not sure what BB is but it appears you are using too big of a blade for 1/4" material.. Try using a 3 or even a 1 reverse tooth and slow down your feed rate.

 

Feed rate is just as important as scroll saw speed. Try slowing down your feed rate. I have found over the years that slowing down the feed rated and using a slower speed on my saw makes for a nice clean cut. But hey, that's just me. Just keep at it, you'll figure what works for you. You may end up with a few pieces of scrap but that's all part of learning. We all did it.

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I find the smaller the blade, the more it has a tendency to wander and harder to control. But, with a bigger blade, it is harder to make tighter turns. You can try a #5 and see if that helps. I personally like a #3 for 1/4 Baltic Birch. Works well for me.

 

One thing to watch is if you're putting too much pressure on the side of the blade. Try this exercise next time you're cutting. Every once in awhile, loosen up on your workpiece and see if it bounces back a little. If so, you're putting sideways pressure on the blade. I do this exercise quite often when I'm cutting and usually surprised that I'm putting pressure on the side of the blade.

 

One thing many new scrollers worry about is trying to stay perfectly on the line. That comes with experience, sure. But it's not normally a big deal if you wander off the line a bit. A mistake that new scrollers will do is over correct. This will create wavy and irregular lines. Instead, gradually adjust so you eventually come back to the line. The gradual correction will make it less obvious. And remember, when you pull off the pattern, nobody will know if you stayed on the lines or not. ;)

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I cut a lot of things in stacks, in fact almost everything is stacked to around 3/4" or more. I am usually cutting as many as 5 or 6 copies of the same thing. I have found that cutting 1/8" and 1/4" decreases my control because there is not enough resistance and the blade can go flying off if I make the least little adjustment improperly. So I use stacks as a defensive measure. Try taping up two and three layers of 1/4" into a 1/2" stack and a 3/4" stack and cut a pattern on each. Just wrap a stack in painters tape and glue the pattern on top. You may find one or the other easier to cut.

Terry

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  • 4 weeks later...

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