Thread: Which scrollsaw suits plastics?

Carquip, welcome aboard ! :0

Re the saw, will depend on your budget pretty much, any of the saws available will cut the work you want easily, the only issue will be the throat depth, ie. the distance from the back of the blade to the rear part of the frame. About the only scrollsaws around that would handle swinging 750mm right around may be the Excalibur I think, a North American made saw that is very expensive.

Entry level in standard saws with around 450mm throat probably starts with a chinese saw like a GMC, Ryobi or similar, then Delta single speed, Delta var. speed, then up to the higher range Deltas, Hegner, De Walt, etc.

Note that you can often tackle cutting a workpiece from different directions as a workaround for insufficient throat depth.

A variable speed saw would be nice but not essential, it would allow you to slow the saw right down so you are cutting slowly with extra control.

Reading back through the scrollsaw archives will teach you a lot about these versatile machines.


Cheers..................Sean

Thanks mate for the reply.
I`ve ordered a "GMC" lsscr at $199, just to try things. See how it goes.
It has a variable speed, (400s/m to 1500s/m). Seems ok, BUT?.
Try it & winge later I suppose.
All the best machines I have seen on the net can`t do much better than this El-Cheapo.

Carquip you can look at getting spiral cutting blades so you don't have to count on the throat depth if it is an issue.

Just make sure your machine is secured well so it doesn't vibrate too much.

I have used my dewalt on plastic and it works fine - it is an amazing feature for fixing things about the house made from plastic that break.

I have replaced broken things on the car by cutting up a plastic cutting board - fantastic solution to some things.

The only thing I have found with plastic is it tries to fuse back together immediately after it is cut - little bit of force overcomes that and just tidy things up with sandpaper afterwards.

Please post some pics of your work - be interesting.

Thanks for the reply ppl.

How do I post images Teejay?, or anybody.
This forum is slightly different to some that I`me used to.

Love to show U.

Since you already have the saw... most important thing are the blades.
Make sure you get some designed for your purpose.
The wrong ones can be very frustrating.
Harris Traders carry a huge range and I'm sure they'd be able to advise you too.
[email protected]

not affiliated with them, but find them to be the best folks to do business with, very honest and helpful too.

Juvy

Originally Posted by Carquip

Thanks for the reply ppl.

How do I post images Teejay?, or anybody.
This forum is slightly different to some that I`me used to.

Love to show U.

When you post new mail you will see in additional option below "manage attachements" use this then search for the images in your computer and upload them - they have to be less than 100kb and in format defined

Thanks teejay. I`ll try this if it fits.

Thanks Juvy. Don`t have the saw yet. Another two or three weeks, as they are out of stock. Shame , Harris don`t have a website though. Would make life a little easier for us ppl. Hope it`s in the making.

Oh .. hope it the lack of a web site won't stop you.... they are really good at answering e-mail and quick to deliver...
I ordered blades Monday and received them today...

Juvy

Quite an impressive ship there carquip

Thanks mate. Not a good photo though. Been busy with the buisso.
Finally got the scrollsaw today. Dragged it out of the box & set it up on the bench. Turned it on for a while to see what it was like & then it had a mind of it`s own. Started at full rev`s & then stopped. This happened every time.
So much for Cheapo`s. Bunnings are going to replace it with a "Ryobi". Hope it`s worth the effort.
Two months wait & still no joy. Just a bit peaved off.
Cheers mate & all.