Blade holding advice

[DogBoy]

Hi all, I have followed your excellent forum for a while but now need to plunge in!
I have recently entered the world of scrollsaws with a SIP saw and flying dutchman blades. My problem is holding the blades in the machine. I need to tighten the screw in the holder that pinches the blade so much that the washers have splayed out and the allen head is worn so that I have had to replace them. If the screws are not this tight the blade is not held. Is this normal?

 

[Gill]

Hi DB - welcome out of the shadows .

I'm sure a SIP owner will be along shortly to comment, but it strikes me that your experiences are far from normal. Your saw should be able to hold the blade securely in its clamps without you having to exert so much pressure that you damage the mechanism. It could be that the surface of the clamp has an oily surface which is making it difficult to get a secure grip. Try wiping it with an alcohol-based solution to dissolve any residual oils. After doing that, I would lightly rub the clamps with a fine abrasive in case the surface is too smooth to grip the blade tightly.

Gill

 

[zeb]

yep it is normal i have found a way around i bourght a couple more spring washers and put 3 on at the same time between normal washers and that did the trick

 

[JAYJAY]

hi,
haven't got a SIP i have a proxon dsh/e but when i started (which is pretty recently) i had exactly the same prob i couldn't get the blade to hold in the bottom i'd rounded the cap headed bolt and even the allen key which the machine came with in no time at all, it made it sooooo frustrating and annoying as the worse it got ......the harder it became to to get a decent bit of pressure on it
i eventually got round to replacing it and went to a local bolt company and got a cap head of a higher grade material (off the shelf) and bought a better quality of allen key to remove this from the problem as well (i thought the one the saw came with was of a poor quality and didn't help things), glad to say had no probs since and the because i only wanted two cap heads (got a spare just in case) the company couldn't be pineappled to invoice me as it wasn't worth the paperwork

 

[DogBoy]

Thanks for the advice guys. Got some better quality screws and everything fine for an hour and half until the thread in the clamp stripped.
The clamp gap seems to be too wide for FD blades so I am trying to squeeze the gap down but have no confidence that it will work. Are there any better clamps out there that will fit the SIP or any ideas please!

 

[hawkinob]

Don't know the SIP machine. Can you post a picture or sketch of the clamp? I tried the web but no close-up of the clamo.
Bob H.