Thread: GMC Scroll Saw

Re GMC

Somebody gave me one of their belt sanders and I used it for a bit and it seemed OK. Then the belt started to get a bit loose and difficult to adjust. Then it began to get very hot, until finally the belts wouldnt turn at all.

Naturally, I was a bit miffed at this so I took it to pieces to find out what the problem was. The problem was .. that wherever it was possible to use something cheap and nasty, they had done so.
It didn't have any roller bearings, it had a couple of very small bushes that had worn away to just about nothing and the drive belt had almost completely stripped itself.
I decided to try to replace the bushes with roller bearing but was unable to find anything that was even remotely close to the required size and even to put the bushes back in was next to impossible unless I paid somebody to turn them out of bronze for me. I still have it but doubt that it will evet run again.

I didnt know they had gotten that low.

I have the 16" model at home and still use it, its single speed and used pinned blades and assume the $49 one is the same. Its not a bad saw for the price and really depends how much you want to use it.

I converted mine to pinless blades to allow finer inside cuts and have gotten used to the speed the saw runs at. If you can afford to pay extra I would look into the Delta range of saws, they are around $300 for a variable pinless blade saw and are a nice saw to cut on.

Hi Derek,

Have one off them myself, except paid $69.00

It is a basic unit but seems to work alright.
My kids use it to make shapes out of MDF
There aged 7 9 11.
I dont do a lot of scrollsawing so for the price it is great.

For $49.00 I would go and get it, plus if you dont like it you get GMC's 30 day money back

Hope this helps

Guy

Thanks alot Derek .......

I was planning to stop off at Bunnies on the way home to pick up some small bits and peices and now it looks like another $50.00 will be spent on more machinery. I have a job on at the moment that this saw would be perfect for and will pay for itself by just completing what I need to. Down the track if it gets plenty of use then I will splash out on the $300 Delta. I just hope that my Bunnies have them.

The boss isn't going to be happy when I bring another saw into the lounge room to sit next to the new sliding compound mitre saw from Tuesday .... but that was really a bargin

Stinky.

maybe you should bypass the lounge room and go straight to the shed

This "stopping off at Bunnies" thing is a dead-set trap!

I went into Bunnies yesterday intent on buying an 1800 mm length of jarrah scotia to fit under a window sill. Seven or eight bucks, tops - right?

Wrong. Came out with the scotia - only six bucks. Plus a new GMC 18 volt cordless drill - $78!

Mind you, it's a ripper. Two batteries, 16 torque settings, removable extra handle, dinky little toolbag . . .

Brrrm, brrrm!

Col

Stinky
What sort of scms did you end up buying?
Where?
How much?
Was it cheap enough for me to get away with it too?
Should I just buy some roses now?
cheers
Jim

I've done quite a bit of cutting with the scroll saw (GMC $49)- following a paper pattern- thicknesses up to 30mm thick in jarrah.

Course it is definitely not designed to do this job- a bandsaw would be the correct tool, if I had one.

It was hard work, but the scroll saw didn't complain once.

I got one of these for $49 the other day & it seemed to work quite well indeed for what it costs. only problem is now I think I need to buy another.

The wife liked it so much she has confiscated it for her own personal use. Was no vibration & also is dead quiet.

Cheers

Woodchuck

Originally posted by hovo
Stinky
What sort of scms did you end up buying?
Where?
How much?
Was it cheap enough for me to get away with it too?
Should I just buy some roses now?
cheers
Jim

Jim,

I have been trying to hold back on my excitement. I was fortunate enough to win the first prize in the "Australian Wood Review" subscriber competition for the previous edition. The saw is the Metabo KGS1880 plus. 1800W, 250mm blade, cuts 85mm high and 285mm wide. I plan to take it out to the shed in the next few days and the boss has given me a free weekend so I will do some trial cuts and possibly a review.

As for the GMC scroll saw I tried 2 Bunnies and a M10 last night. No luck. I must say however that the price that M10 had on their products was shocking, they were trying to flog off the old model small GMC scroll saw for the same price as the 16” new model. The strange thing is they are about 300m away from each other.

Stinky.

I bought one of the GMC single speed scrollsaws a couple of months back and it's paid for itself in no time. It's no thing of engineering beauty, but it does the job. Make sure you buy blades suitable for your work.... the thin blades kinda wander a bit on thick material! The staff at Bunnings told me there was only one size of blade available, but when I pulled the stock off the hooks I found a mixed pack, a finer pack, and a heavier pack.

I'm using mine to cut bodies and necks for electric mandolins and guitars and it's doing ok. It's slow going through 45mm timber, but then again I should be using a larger bandsaw for the bodies. Still, it gets there fairly quickly across the grain but it labours for ripping.

If GMC made a 5" disc x 1" belt sander I'd buy it in a flash!