Thread: Adapting a cheapie scrollsaw

Impressive work about the only thing it doesn't do is make coffee!

...workin' on it LOL

Regards, Doc ;-)

Had a ball looking through your site.... love the toys....
I like all the oldies..... ( toys!!!!!!) hard to find patterns for it, but I always said our grandpas didn't have patterns they did exactly what you did... just looked at what they had at hand and used their imagination.

By the way... on the crock... how'd you keep the connecting dowels from falling out? Thought of glue... but wouldn't that interfere with the movement?

Juvy

Hi Juvy

Sorry, not sure what you mean about the connecting dowels falling out. Care to expand?

Regards, Doc

tried to make a drawing.... either then trying to explain
Juvy

Prior to assembly a small bit of adhesive is placed in the bottom hole and the top of the dowel.

Hope this helps

Regards, Doc

Great stuff Doc!!

Thanks Doc, but... yep there's a but... lol
if the dowel is tight enough I can see a dab of glue work fine, but then it won't be easy enough to move... so do you somehow drill the hole in the middle piece bigger or maybe sand the dowel thinner in the middle?

Juvy

Nifty blog, Doc. Your auxiliary table brings to mind a cheap trick I've resorted to when I've let my blade supply go dry, and the stores are closed. Much of the blade above the table is still fresh (below too, but not usable). Add (a) slab(s) of plywood or such, with thickness approximately equal to the saw stroke plus the workpiece thickness; voila! New teeth to continue the work. Can't go higher than the upper arm's bottom excursion, of course.

The tennis-ball huffenpuffer is great. You can stiffen the tubing for adjustment by wrapping it with several coils of copper electrical wire. Works the same as a gooseneck then.

Regarding the dowel pins: I recently made some contraptions using dowels for precision alignment; half-dowel surfaces provide exact positioning. To preserve separation while gluing, I coated the mating surfaces with petroleum jelly (store-brand clone of Vaseline) - similar to "parting compound" used in match-casting.

Joe

Hey Juvy

Just re-read your reply

so do you somehow drill the hole in the middle piece bigger or maybe sand the dowel thinner in the middle?

and I think I missed a part out in my blog on the toy concerned.

Yes the middle piece is redrilled to be 1 or 2mm larger to allow for movement but there is no reason that the dowel could not be sanded

Artme

Thanks for taking time to look around

Hi Joe

I think it is great that as a side effect of making the table, we actually end up getting more life out of our blades

We scrollers are such a frugal breed

BTW, have also used the jelly technique but now tend to use a silicone spray for they same effect.

Still doesn't stop me getting glue everywhere, though

Regards, Doc

silicion spray.......... are we talking good old WD40????

Juvy

Hi Juvy

NO NO

The silicon spray is in cans that say Silicon Spray

The WD40 does not contain silicone and is a more 'oily' fluid.

When you spray the silicone spray onto, for example, toy axles (tape the areas where the wheels are going to be glued on) it forms a film on the dowel. WD40 would be absorbed into the wood, including the area that you want to glue.

It seems to me that silicone spray is strictly a surface spray rather than a penetrating spray.

Regards, Doc

The Doctor of Scrollsawing? Well done Doc, I've got you saved in my favourites list.

OOps... thanks Doc..... would have made a mistake had I tried WD40 ....
Usually works for just about everything

The added table is something I've heard about before and got to try out recently, works well for the blades, but does make it harder to thread the blade through the holes as it give even less clearance.

Guess that's where the Exalibur with it's raised arm feature would come in again!

Juvy