Choosing a scroll-saw. Why pay more? the answer is here.

[scrimper]

I often read comments from people new to scrolling or fretwork as to which saw to buy, why pay £100's of pounds when you can buy one for less than £100?

In my workshop yesterday I thought why not do a video about the subject and went ahead. I thought there may be people here who may be interested so I hope folks here won't mind me placing the links here.

The video is in two parts .

Part one is




Part two is



Hope the video's are of interest to someone.

John.

 

[Droogs]

nicely put

 

[AES]

Very good vids scrimper, thanks. Should certainly help newbies to make a decision.

 

[BigDan1190]

Suppose it depends just how cheaply you can get a cheap one... I just picked up an Aldi / Workzone / Scheppach one for £20 on Facebook marketplace! Took a while but finally got someone to agree to such a cheap price.

 

[OscarG]

I often read comments from people new to scrolling or fretwork as to which saw to buy, why pay £100's of pounds when you can buy one for less than £100?

In my workshop yesterday I thought why not do a video about the subject and went ahead. I thought there may be people here who may be interested so I hope folks here won't mind me placing the links here.

The video is in two parts .

Part one is




Part two is



Hope the video's are of interest to someone.

John.

Cheers! I'll watch that later.

Subscribed to your channel.

 

[Aquachiefofficer]

Thank you for the videos John.
Claymore (Brian) has got me interested in a scroll saw and it's good to know what to look for. Not sure I would run to hundreds on price but you never know when a bargain will come up on the internet.
Regards, Paul

 

[whatknot]

If time is not important, I would suggest hanging on for a decent used machine, rather than the largely generic sub £200 new saws

Or try a cheapie from the likes of Aldi when they come up (sometimes £50) which is basically the same saw as retailed for up to £200 (and sometimes more)

£150 to £200 should buy you a decent used machine

 

[AES]

Agree 100% with whatknot. As those videos show, the differences between a 500 quid and a sub-200 quid machine SEEM quite small to start off with, but when you've struggled a few times with blade changing, setting and maintaining blade tension, using pinless versus pinned blades, etc, etc, those differences become very important.

Sure, just about any machine will cut, and with care, a lot of time, plus practice and patience, they all can produce results just as good as the very expensive saws. But speaking personally I got more and more frustrated with the shortcomings of my cheapo saws (2 different saws!) and in the end bought an expensive saw (in my case, an Excalibur 21).

But just as whatknot saws, the Aldi machines are just as good as any of the other below 200 quid machines, so if you're in a hurry, go for one of those. There's one in my local Aldi right now (Switzerland) and they crop up in UK from time to time. The Aldi saws also have the benefit of a 3 year guarantee, whereas the Record and other such "badge-engineered) saws have shorter or even nil guarantees as well as being dearer than Aldi.

But also as he says, if you can wait a bit, just keep your eyes open for a good SH machine - there was one for sale here not so long ago.

I'd suggest the good makes to keep your eyes open for are (in no particular order): Hegner; the Axminster Hegner "clone"; Excalibur; the Axi Excalibur "clone"; and the Delta (though they tend to be rarer this side of the Atlantic).

No doubt someone else will be along soon to add a couple of other names to that list.

HTH

 

[mpcpba]

I often read comments from people new to scrolling or fretwork as to which saw to buy, why pay £100's of pounds when you can buy one for less than £100?

In my workshop yesterday I thought why not do a video about the subject and went ahead. I thought there may be people here who may be interested so I hope folks here won't mind me placing the links here.

The video is in two parts .

Part one is




Part two is



Hope the video's are of interest to someone.

John.

Very helpful video's - many thanks! A lot of things are a lot clearer already.
I've just been given an old Draper fs16a which is my very first entree into powered fretsaw work. I want to try to use this for smaller pieces to embellish / complement some of my woodturning work (which is my main focus). My band saw usually has a 1/2" or bigger blade fitted for processing logs for my woodturning and as changing band saw blades is a pig I rarely swap blades. So hope this may fill a gap in the ever growing kit.
You mentioned a pinless blade adapter. Can you get them for the Draper?

 

[Alkeen]

I bought a Record 16 inch from Amazon for £122 with a 5 year warranty. It had good reviews on You tube, It looks good has a light, dust blower, variable speed settings, extractor nozzle, clamps and set up for pin less blades, will also use pinned blades the blades can be fitted two ways also, straight with the back of the blade facing the 16 inch cut out or at 90 degrees. I may have also found a quick solution to slackening the top blade clamp bolts to remove the blade to thread into holes for internal scrolling.

 

[AES]

Welcome to the Forum Alkeen, and congratulations on your purchase. I hope you have many hours of enjoyment with it - if you turn out like most of us in this section of the Forum you'll find that scrolling becomes quite addictive!

As a tip you may want to try out the Pegas range of blades, especially their "MGT" range (Modified Geometry Teeth) - the UK dealer is Axminster Tools. There are several other good makes too, but Pegas "have a good rep" amongst many of us here.

Any questions and we're all here to help.

What are you going to make? Lets' see some pix please.

Cheers

 

[morrissey007]

Really useful, thank you. Could anyone advise which model is the " the Axminster Hegner "clone". Please?

 

[loftyhermes]

This one, now called the Trade AT460SS Scroll Saw. https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-t ... saw-501201

 

[morrissey007]

Thank you Lofty, for the very quick reply! I'm looking to buy a Scroll saw, would love a Hegner but cant justify (or afford!) the price so I'm on the lookout for a good budget saw, unfortunatly this particular Axminster is way beyond my budget of ~£150. I'm thinking of the Record Power SS16V, anyone like these?

 

[whatknot]

The previous model number was AWFS18 (which I have)

If you are not in to much of a rush, try saving searches on the various sites, they do come up from time to time, around £150 to £250

Definitely worth waiting for

The Record SS16V is no better than the Workzone (Scheppach) version for a lot less

At full price its £50 cheaper and has a three year warranty but you can pick them up fairly cheaply on Gumtree, Preloved etc, some never make it out of the box

Most saws below £200 are very similar, there are a couple that have a better blade clamp but most are the same "hanger" style like the Workzone or Record

 

[morrissey007]

Thank you whatknot. Looking at the Axminster AC456SS, I reckon I can stretch to that, not much more than the Record (and other chinese clones) but cast iron base and table, decent extraction and pin/pinless...and of course Axminster, I've had nothing but superb service from them...wish I could say the same for Record.

 

[Irish Rover]

Morrissey your profile says you are in Portsmouth?

There is a really nice condition two speed Delta on eBay, located in Gosport.

Two days to go currently one bidder £50

I wouldn't be telling you this if I lived closer to it ;-)

 

[jeremyduncombe]

Thank you whatknot. Looking at the Axminster AC456SS, I reckon I can stretch to that, not much more than the Record (and other chinese clones) but cast iron base and table, decent extraction and pin/pinless...and of course Axminster, I've had nothing but superb service from them...wish I could say the same for Record.

I have an AC 456SS and I agree with your comments about it .... but changing blades is slow and fiddly. It is much easier now I leave the side panel off, but I still find it frustrating. If possible, I suggest you try before you buy. On the other hand, it may be much the same for all cheap scrollsaws, I haven’t tried any other models to compare. If you can live with slow blade changes it is a good machine for the money, and capable of very precise work.

 

[morrissey007]

Morrissey your profile says you are in Portsmouth?

There is a really nice condition two speed Delta on eBay, located in Gosport.

Two days to go currently one bidder £50

I wouldn't be telling you this if I lived closer to it ;-)

Thank you! I searched eBay for delta but somehow missed this one. I believe this is the 40-540 which is the budget end of delta? Any idea which would be better out of this or the Axi 456? The Axi seems much better spec'd.

 

[Irish Rover]

Sorry I don't know. I have no experience of either model.
I have a single speed Delta and it is a very good machine.

Buy the cheaper one, the Delta, then start saving for a Hegner or similar?

If you look after it the Delta should hold its resale value.