Thread: Scroll saw for occasional use.

That was a good find. I trust the motor doesn't overheat running at that slower RPM?
Does your saw have one of those hold down clamps that stops the wood from rising up on the upstroke, or is it because the veneer is so thin that it just bends and nothing will hold it down?

When I was doing marquetry I glued two contrasting veneers together with a sheet of brown paper in between to make for easy separation after the pattern was cut, from memory i used a watered down pva glue once cut the light colour veneer for example was inserted into the darker piece or visa versa .Don't know if this helps you,but thought you might be able to use this somehow.Cheers Peter. PS it is a bit unusual to be breaking blades on only thin MDF something wrong there maybe the blade tension, wrong blade or the rate of feed.

Thanks Dallas and Peter. I don't think overheating will be a problem. I was assured that slowing it down would not do any damage and the fiddly little bits I'm trying to cut don't allow for any long sustained periods of cutting. Because the pieces are so small and so thin the hold-down device isn't any use. The veneer is less than 1 mil thick.

Finding a suitable substrate to permanently glue the veneer to seems to be the answer. Something about 2 mil thick would bring the veneer close to the thickness of other materials I'm using. The best result I have had so far was backing the veneer with acid-free hanging tape (a very fine linen that is used for mounting valuable originals and prints in mats for framing). It stopped the veneer from splintering and while the blade didn't break it picked up threads in the linen and lifted the veneer up.

I did try impregnating the veneer with diluted PVA adhesive which helped a bit but without some sort of backing it's very fragile. It won't stand up to peeling apart after cutting so I need to find a material that won't break down, as cardboard would, and can go into the inlay cavity and maintain its thickness. Too bad styrofoam isn't an option. It never breaks down......

Here's the perfect scrollsaw:

Cutting Technique

It has a foot similar to a sewing machine foot which holds the material down flat on the deck. Also, he's adhering the mother of pearl to 1/4" thick balsa wood with Titebond. He later separates the MoP and balsa by placing them in boiling water. That works for MoP but not for veneer. I'll see if I can find thinner balsa wood which can just stay with the veneer, unless someone has a better idea.

3 mil. slats from a venetian blind work well for adhering to the really thin veneer. That is basswood venetian blind slats, not aluminium.

Have you thought of sandwiching the veneer between 2 pieces of MDF & putting a small nail in each corner to hold it all together.You would have to put the pattern on the top piece,just a thought but may not work in your case Cheers Peter.

Thanks, Peter. I'm doing tiny delicate pieces of the size one sees on guitar necks so I think that would be a bit bulky. Gluing to the blind slats has worked the best so far. Sometimes I rough cut then file or touch them to the oscillating spindle sander or use a small round file in inside curves but I haven't done much as I've been busy on another project for some time now. Cheers, Jen

not as bulky as one would think I have cut delicate text by the sandwich between two pieces of scrap and it was not a problem and as stated above the pattern is applied to the scrap and eliminates the bugger of a job of removing patterns from original piece.

Thanks DiRob. Just re-read Peter's post and I'd misunderstood it. I've been drawing the outline on the veneer directly. Maybe it's time to try a different method. I'm not keen on the paper-thin veneer but I was given a lot of it in a fantastic variety of shades. I've had much better luck with MoP and oyster shell than the veneer. Meanwhile gluing the veneer to the basswood means it just stays together and the cavity will have to accommodate the depth, about 3 mil. So much to learn, so little time!.

I've been following this thread with interest, especially having spent several years trying to perfect cutting thin veneers with a scrollsaw. I'm talking standard 0.64mm commercial veneers here.

I think I've tried every possible combination of backing with mdf, laminating multiple veneers and cutting in an mdf sandwich, and every type of scrollsaw through to my gentle pinless beauty. All these methods can help, but not actually much.

The problem is veneers are thin and brittle and overly dry, the are not made to be cut on a scrollsaw, and scrollsaws are not made to cut veneers (I think I said that before somewhere, getting older).

I don't know exactly what shapes you are trying to cut, but my preference for cutting small shapes out of commercial veneers would be:

1. Use a scalpel. A proper surgical scalpel. If you cut certain shapes regularly then make some templates out of Perspex to run your blade along. Reinforce with veneer tape if necessary (make your own out of liquid gum and some copy paper if need be).

2. Use a guillotine. The sort with a bar which clamps down on the veneer just a slither away from where the blade is going to go. If your shapes are regular, you can again use jigs and layout lines etc to improve the result. The guillotine is for geometric stuff.

3. Make a chevalier, in modified form. This allows gentle cutting under your control, not the insensitive, ballistic movement of a scroll saw.

4. Use a combination of all three, and perhaps scissors as well. With my marquetry, I will often cut a large shape with a scrollsaw, then refine with scalpel, with lots of support from veneer tape.

Unless perhaps I had a General or an Excalibur, the last tool I would use to do fine work with commercial veneers is a scroll saw.

Cheers
Arron

Thanks a lot, again Arron. Not sure if you remember my original reason for getting the scrollsaw was because of surgery to my R Hand which seems to have done some lingering nerve damage. I couldn't operate a jeweler's saw. Fortunately it is healing.

Your suggestions are all valuable. I can now use a scalpel and scissors, both of which were out of bounds while my paw had limited function.

The speed has been beautifully-controlled with the modifications made some time ago so it's no longer an issue. See Post #46 in this thread for the recipe.

Gluing the thin veneer to the bass wood has made it the same thickness as the MoP so it's not a bad solution. It can easily be sanded thinner as necessary.

I've been working on other projects so haven't done anything with it lately but hope I can get back to it soon. Thanks all for the input. Jen