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Scrollsaw




There are many different brands of scrollsaws on the market today. Notable ones include , Dremel (Bosch) , Craftsman , Ryobi and others.

There are different types of scroll saws. The most common design is the parallel arm in which a motor is attached near the back of the arms, and the two arms always remain parallel to each other. The '''C-arm''' has a solid "C" shape with the blade being mounted between the two ends of the "C". The '''parallel link''', used by Excalibur and DeWalt, has rods in the upper and lower arms that are "pushed" by the motor to move short (about 4 Inch es – 100 {Link without Title} – long) articulated arms and the end which hold the blade. The '''rigid arm''' scroll saw, which was very popular up until the 1970s, but is no longer made, has a single-piece cast iron frame. The blade is attached to a Pitman Arm on the bottom which pulls the blade down, and a Spring in the upper arm pulls the blade back up again. This resulted in a significant weakness in that tension on the blade changed with every stroke of the blade. Modern scroll saws are all "constant Tension " saws.


BLADES

Scroll saw blades come in many different types. With the exception of blades made for very light duty saws, all blades are five Inch es long. The major types are:
  • Skip tooth (or single skip tooth) which has a tooth, a gap then another tooth;

  • Double skip tooth (two teeth, a gap then two teeth);

  • Crown or two-way which has teeth facing both up and down so it cuts on both the down-stroke (as with all other blades) and on the up-stroke; and

  • Spiral blades which essentially are a regular flat blade which is twisted so that there are teeth sticking out on all sides.

  • Metal cutting blades using hardened steel;

  • Diamond blades (a wire coated with diamond bits) for cutting glass.


Blades come in many different sizes ranging from #10/0 for making jewelry (about the size of a coarse hair) to #12 which is like a small band saw blade. There is also a variation called Reverse Tooth blades. On Reverse Tooth blades, the bottom 3/4" of the teeth are reverse (point up). This helps to "clean out the sawdust and also cleans up the tear-out on the under side of the wood. Reverse tooth blades are especially useful when cutting Softwood s, and plywood such as Baltic Birch plywood.


SCROLLSAWING RESOURCES

There is a scroll saw organization called the Scrollsaw Association of the World (SAW). Scroll saw magazines include: ''Scroll Saw Workshop'' and ''Creative Wood Works and Crafts''. There are also dozens of scrolling pattern books, and several companies which sell scrolling patterns. These can be located through the SAW website. There are also scrolling discussion groups on Yahoo Groups.

Paragraphs are need on:
Intarsia
Fretwork
Compound cutting
3-D cutting
Large Fretwork Clocks
Marquetry and Inlay
Antique Scroll Saws


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