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It is said that you may be in danger if you misuse the saw. Are scroll saws dangerous too? The answer is yes, but don’t worry! If you make no contact with the operating point or blades, it won’t injure your hands and fingers.
Perhaps, you also pay attention to what you can cut with a scroll saw. Surprisingly, scroll saws are not only used in intricate wood designs but also in metal artworks. To know more about their operation, please keep reading.
Table of Contents
A Step-By-Step Guide on How to use a Scroll Saw?
Laying out the Scroll Saw
Draw your idea into the wood. Utilize a pencil to draw the layout and make sure it is visible enough to see on the wood. Remember that positive space is intact wood, negative space is removed wood, and bridges are created to divide areas into positive and negative space.
Safety goggles and equipment are very important that you must wear. You also have to tie back your hair if it is long, use a dust mask, and saying “NO” to loose sleeves or long jewelry.
A scroll saw is one of the most useful tools which professional or semi-professional carpenters can use in their workshop
Check if the scroll saw is placed perfectly on your working area: Read the manufacturer’s guide of scroll saws to make sure that you know the most effective method to fasten, screw or clamp the machine onto the surface.
Utilize a #2 or #3 sharp blade for wood that is about 1⁄8 in (3.2 mm) thick. Flimsy wood requires a little sharp blade, so if you have to cut the intricate designs, use smaller blades to control more accurately.
Utilize a #5 or a #7 sharp blade for wood that is around 3⁄4 in (19 mm) thick: Contrary to the above case, we need a larger one to cut through the dense timber or several pieces of wood at the same time.
Set the tension: The larger the blade is, the higher the stress it can withstand, so we need to modify the tension as per the producer’s directions after fitting the blade correctly. Use your finger to apply a moderate measure of weight to the midpoint of the blade and ensure that it is tight enough. To test the tension, you can pluck it, if it makes a sharp ping clamor, you are right.
Boot the saw and the light switch. Plug the saw into a power outlet and turn it on. Besides, turn the machine light on to see all movements with your scroll saw. To see clearer, switch a dust blower on and it will extrude all the dust.
Removing Your Project
Check the scroll saw: Use the most similar part of scrap wood in your project and then cut slightly to make sure that you adjust the suitable blade’s size and the tension.
Adjust the scroll saw speed to suit each material of wood: If you want to cut the thin material, adjust the scroll saw to a slow speed because cutting thin pieces of wood requires high meticulousness and the slow speed allows you to control it more accurately. In contrast, you need to set a higher speed if you cut softwood such as maple.
Adjust the scroll saw speed to suit each material of wood
Place both hands on the blade to direct the design: Bring the first line of the project that is necessary to cut towards the blade, and then depress the wood into it. Remember to keep both hands on the wood at all times, whereas, always look onto your fingers and make sure they are close enough to the blade. Also, you need to keep abreast to the speed of the machine in order not to crock your design.
To turn 90°, take your project away from the blade: Draw the wood back towards you after this one achieves a defining moment of 90° or bigger, and then Turn the wood around with the goal that the blade can face the connecting line, and guide your project overcome it.
When finished, turn the scroll saw off and detach the blade: When everything is done, shutdown the scroll saw by using the power button or switch. After that, you remove blade of the saw and bring it to the storage container.
To sum up
Using a scroll saw in the right way is not easy at all. However, pay a little more attention, consult the instructions a bit and be careful, you can know how to use the saw well in a short time.