Proxxon DS 115/E

Still on pursuit of that portable scrollsaw, this is the 9th scrollsaw I've taken home since starting this hobby,and this is the worse piece of Junk imaginable. Proxxon, you should be ashamed to ship products outside your country and tarnish the reputation of great German engineers. I was warned by a friend that these were bad, and I read the bad reviews and thought, "The saw can't possibly be that terrible." I was curious, and got it cheap on ebay. I needed a portable saw, and it is definitely portable.

 

Summary: The design of this saw is beyond poor. This saw makes the latest Ryobi look awesome, and that is saying something. You can trust me and just take may word for it or your can read the following write-up of the suckiness.

 

 

1. Plastic Case.  This really makes the saw feel cheap, but admittedly, the saw arms were more rigid than I expected.

2. Looks like motor came from a childs toy and feels weak like a toy.  Didn't take much to bog it down.

3. Bottom blade holder is beyond reach of your hands, You have to remove the side panel, guide the blade down through the hole in the table, and into the hole in the shaft/clamp, while using a tool with long shaft to tighten the screw in te barell style blade clamp. Since there is a wide variance to where the blade can be clamped in, finding the center of the clamp will rely on your visibility through the side panel, which is tricky. In order to see the bottom clamp clearly, I had to turn the saw on its' side to look through the "cave like" access panel that is in the side of the saw. (Yes, really)

4. The second worse thing about this saw is the tensioning mechanism. It was crazy trying to get blades in this saw in a way that I could get enough tension. I kept having to adjust where the blades were in the clamps, then depress the clamp into the hole while trying to use their feeble tool to tighten the screw. What a mess.

5. If your doing small hobby parts or christmas ornaments, the size might be ok. I'm a coin cutter, so it was definitely big enough for that, but for most mainstream projects, the table will be way to small

6. The worst thing is that once the blade is loaded and tensioned, It cuts like crap. Seriously. There is a roller built it for stabilization, if you can believe that. If you use this saw, you will need that to make it "more" usable.

 

Though I'm highly critical of this saw, there were a few positives.

 

1. The vibrations are within reason, especially at lower speeds which is surprising for a saw this light.  I must mention that was without even being fastened down.  Add a little mass, and magic will ensue.

2. The saw is so small, and weight was so light so you could take it anywhere.  You can carry it with one finger.

3. The noise was minimal.

4. If you were using a spiral, you could use the miter gauge or other guides to make "perfect" cuts.  Some folks see that as silly, I kind of like that.

5. Can cut thin Balsa with ease, and other materials with some patience (a little sarcasm)

5. If you are really looking to dissuade someone from this hobby, give them this saw as it will perform that task flawlessly. (just a bit more sarcasm)

 

To be absolutely fair, if someone was using bigger blades on very soft wood where changing blades/tensioning task was much less frequent, this might get the job done for someone doing piddly stuff.

 

Changed Manual(s) to http://www.scrollsawvillage.com/uploads/monthly_2018_07/167148139_Proxxon_DS115E_Man_pdf.e5594f9bbef68fdfbd780c9e8b58fedb