Blade Holder - practical, not posh

[JanetsBears]

After a couple of months of owning my new scroll saw, the pile of used blades sat at the side of it was growing. I've tried a number of different blades while trying to learn how to use my new saw. I'm now starting to realise that I can't remember which blade is which, especially if I've slept since last time I used the saw, so thought it was about time I made some means of storing blades that I'd used. The result is this:

The intention is that I use it purely for storage of used blades, dropping a label in each tube as I add blades, so that when I need a Pegas Number 5 Reverse Skip I can re-use one I've previously got out of the pack of new ones. I may or may not make another to hold just new blades, but that can wait. This one is made from 4mm ply and the pattern for it fitted on a single A4 sheet of paper. It took just over an hour to cut out and it's had no sanding before or after being glued - there's more to life than sanding projects that aren't ever going to leave the side of the scroll saw

It's being able to quickly knock up little things like this that now makes me realise that I should have had a scroll saw years ago, but what other useful/practical stuff have you made with your scroll saw?

Chris

 

[Claymore]

Very nice Chris BUT did you know you already had a rack for your test tubes? along both sides of your scrollsaw is some slots in the casing........those are for slotting your test tubes into

Scroll saws are very useful bits of kit and always something new to experiment with them, i recently tried cutting thin alloy sheet that i glued to so bendy mdf, the idea was to cut it flat and then bend the mdf to a shape and it worked ok but i couldn't think what to do with it lol looked pretty cool though and even tried flattening the alloy from a coke can (sugar free of course) and stuck it to some plywood with double sided tape and that worked well, maybe someone can come up with a use for this type of material?
glad your having fun anyway
Cheers
Brian

 

[JanetsBears]

Ah, well, if I'd bought the next size up then it would have the test tube slots, but I have plain blanking plates on mine. I have considered replacing the plates but I'm not a fan of working with thickish metal, especially when I can play with the scroll saw instead

Chris

 

[Claymore]

Ah, well, if I'd bought the next size up then it would have the test tube slots, but I have plain blanking plates on mine. I have considered replacing the plates but I'm not a fan of working with thickish metal, especially when I can play with the scroll saw instead

Chris

Oh bugger! I thought all the Excalibur/Axminster saws had the slots my apologies :roll:
I agree with ya regarding cutting the thick metal plates apart from being tough I wouldn't want to cut a brand new saw up either.
Have fun
Brian
ps have you got any projects lined up for the new saw?

 

[JanetsBears]

...I agree with ya regarding cutting the thick metal plates apart from being tough I wouldn't want to cut a brand new saw up either.
Have fun
Brian
ps have you got any projects lined up for the new saw?

The side plates are simply fastened on with a bolt in each corner, so at some point I may just make a replacement (or buy one from Axminster) and modify it, keeping the original in case I ever sell it.

Projects lined up include loads more word art type stuff that various family members are demanding, but I'm constantly looking for new things to try. Made a shoe rack for my wife - was eying up one online that was going to cost about £160 but now she has a made to measure one that she's finishing at the moment and total cost was only about £30 for the wood. Only a tiny part of the job needed the scroll saw (would have been quicker with the bandsaw but it was cold in my workshop!) and the rest needed my table saw. I want to try some intarsia but I'm waiting for slightly warmer weather so I can do my sanding outside of the house. Happy to take ideas for other projects I might make to give me new things to try.

Chris

PS Wife just sent a picture, she's just got the first top coat done, I see it needs a little bit more sanding in some areas. It's going in that gap between the chair and the umbrella stand...