a little Christmas try...

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
Well I tried...
IMG_7067.JPG


But need more practice for a steadier hand
IMG_7068.JPG


But, these two will work...
IMG_7070.JPG
 

ScottM

Scott
Staff member
Corporate Member
Compound cutting does take practice. I have cut hundreds of compound projects and still on occasion have some oops. What wood is that? What blade and size are you using? Are you using a compound cutting jig?
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
Compound cutting does take practice. I have cut hundreds of compound projects and still on occasion have some oops. What wood is that? What blade and size are you using? Are you using a compound cutting jig?
wood: see above
I used a Pegas #5 Super skip
No I did not use a compound cutting jig, I forgot about that until I was cutting out the legs of the deer, and didn't have one with me anyway...

Oh, well next time...
 

ScottM

Scott
Staff member
Corporate Member
The reason that blew out was your blade and wood were not at 90 degrees. This can be caused but the table being out of square. A hairline defect in the wood can cause fails. It can also be caused by pushing your work which will cause the blade to flex. If I had to guess your problem was the latter reason. That was probably the last section of your cut. By then your blade was getting slightly dull and you applied too much pressure causing the flex. I have done it more times than I will admit.
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
The reason that blew out was your blade and wood were not at 90 degrees. This can be caused but the table being out of square. A hairline defect in the wood can cause fails. It can also be caused by pushing your work which will cause the blade to flex. If I had to guess your problem was the latter reason. That was probably the last section of your cut. By then your blade was getting slightly dull and you applied too much pressure causing the flex. I have done it more times than I will admit.
Thanks,
I wouldn't think that blade would go dull while cutting on 4" long ornament, but maybe you are correct???

I am going to try to take a video of the blade, it seems to have a LOT of forward and backward movement to me...
This is a DeWalt Type 1, but I think there may be a problem with it...
 

sawman101

Bruce Swanson
Corporate Member
FLATLANDERS! They think everything should be flat! Anyhow, it does look quite nice. I had backward and forward movement with my old Type 1 also; it makes cutting a little more aggressive with less lifting of the wood piece. Just go with it and allow enough time for the blade to catch up when cutting sharper curves.
 

Charles Lent

Charley
Corporate Member
If you have a DeWalt saw, and I think I remember that you do, this will help you. For others, this may have to be adapted for your saw. The intent is to achieve a blade movement that is perfectly square with the table, both side to side as well as front to back. This isn't very necessary for most flat work, but can be the difference between success and failure when doing stacked and 3D work.

A smaller blade eliminates the need for sanding, except for a swipe here and there to remove the fuzzies at the corners. For that ornament, and others of that size in Mahogany or similar wood I use a Flying Dutchman #2 R Skip tooth. It doesn't cut as fast, but the result needs no sanding of the surfaces, just the ragged edges, so it is a time and frustration saver.

To check square of your blade side to side, cut into the edge of a small block of pine board with known to be square sides and bottom. Cut in a short distance and back out, leaving a clear cut. Now, rotate this block of wood to the back side of the blade and see if the back of the blade fits in the cut. When it doesn't, move the table angle 1/2 of the mismatch. Repeat with a new known square block of wood until you get it perfect. Be sure to also check the set screw half of the blade clamps. You can move the blade side to side slightly by loosening the wing bold and then turning the set screw in the opposite side to move that end of the blade slightly left and right, but you need to install and tension the blade each time before testing again. Both of the blade grips should be holding the blade very close to center in the blade grip, but using the block of wood to check the blade angle will help get it right side to side.

Now check the blade front to back squareness. Manually move the blade to about it's center up and down position, and then place a known to be square small piece of wood up against the rear of the blade and on the table. If the blade doesn't touch for the full length of the block of wood, you will need to make a modification. On a DeWalt saw, you can remove the blade up or down short arm assemblies where the silver colored piece is screwed into the yellow blade arms. You will need to then file the bolt holes in the yellow arms to elongate them. !/16" elongation in the correct direction should be more than enough to let you replace the short blade arm assembly forward or back to resolve the blade front/back angle problem. You may need to repeat this in the opposite direction on the other arm mechanism if you need to go more than 1/16" with the filed screw slots.

Once the blade is perfectly vertical / perpendicular with the table at the saw stroke center position, you should find it much easier to cut 3D pieces like that ornament.

I also learned that using two gooseneck LED lights, one on each side of the blade and slightly forward of the blade, but tilted back toward the blade hole in the table, almost eliminates any blade shadows and light flickering to let you really see where the blade is cutting. For pieces this small, (and my ear ring sized 3/4" high 3D reindeer), I cut with the blade adjacent to and on the waste side of the pattern lines. I also learned years ago not to feed the work piece with my elbow muscles. Rest the palms of your hands on the front of the saw table and feed and steer your work piece with your fingers, moving your palms only when necessary to change positions and directions after your fingers don't reach far enough.

For 3D cutting, it's essential that the already cut pieces remain throughout the cutting process. I use two 6-8" length pieces of cabinet birch or Baltic Birch plywood about 3/4" square. I clamp or hot glue the two pieces side by side with the edge of the laminations pointing up. I drill a loose fit hole for #8-32" threaded rods 4-6" long in each end of these pieces of wood, about centered and 3/8" from the ends. Using a drill press to make the holes perfectly straight through both boards. Once drilled, the pieces can be separated. I then use two lengths of 8-32" stainless all thread through these holes with 8-32" nuts and washers on both sides of the first piece of wood, then wing nuts and washers on the outside of the second piece of wood. You will then have a clamp suitable for cutting precision 3D projects of the size of that ornament.

When placing your work piece in this clamp it should be roughly centered with the first pattern to be cut facing up. With the blade clamped in the saw and running through the space between the work piece and one of the threaded rods, tighten the wing nuts about as tight as you can using your fingers without creating pain. As you do this, you want both the work piece and the back side of this clamp both lying flat on your saw table.

Now begin the cut, but remember that each time you cut fully end to end you are removing the thickness of the blade from the wood, so you will need to tighten the clamp wing nuts again. When the first side of the work is cut, loosen the clamp and turn the work, but be sure to keep all of the cut pieces in their proper positions as you tighten the clamp. Sometimes, it helps to add small pieces of blue tape to help keep the pieces positioned correctly during the second cut. Only experience determines where it is needed and will be different for each project.

When the second side has been completely cut, it's time to remove the clamp and tape to find the ornament or reindeer hidden in the middle. For removing some of the interior pieces, I found that an 1/8" dowel rod about 6" long and sharpened with a pencil sharpener, makes a good push stick to help push out some of these more difficult to remove pieces.

You will make some firewood while learning this, and your speed will be terrible at first, but you will get faster and more accurate with experience. My 3/4" tall reindeer take me about 15 minutes to make now. The larger cut faster, because they don't require the same accuracy. For the 4" tall reindeer, I try to find 3/4" pine that is almost absent of growth rings. If the growth rings are very visible, the reindeer will look more like a Zebra when finished. I use Hard Maple for the 3/4" tall reindeer, because they are extremely delicate and usually don't survive cutting in pine or even poplar. Their legs are just too tiny to survive.

Charley
 
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Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
This should be a tutorial resource.
Agreed - this needs to be an article - Thank you @Charles Lent

(BTW Charles is the reason I got the scroll bug) I saw @Berta scrolling at one of the first Klingspor Extravaganzas I attended and thought, I DO NOT have enough patience to do that! The I saw @ScottM and @sawman101 and knew this is some kind of magic or sorcery!

Then KWS opened their store in Asheville and a group of us demonstrated and @Charles Lent was there with his scroll saw and said I should try to cut a reindeer... I think I said no three or maybe four times before I tried it and WOW wat a satisfying feeling when you pull away all the cut-offs and have this cute little scrolled animal!
 

sawman101

Bruce Swanson
Corporate Member
It's been awhile since there were events that brought people together to look at woodworking stuff to buy and to dream about, but those events were so much fun to do compound cutting to the amazement of some of the gentler, younger folks in attendance. It was so much fun to to tell a youngster that Santa had lost a reindeer, then show them a piece of wood and suggest the reindeer may be hiding in that piece of wood, then begin cutting with no patterns or lines, followed by peeling away the outer pieces and a reindeer magically appears; the surprised look on the childs face was priceless beyond words and the pride of receiving it as a gift was the most satisfying feeling. I hope the various shows and formats return while Charley Lent and I can still remember how we do it!
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
Does anyone have a "nice" picture or good drawing of a 3-D holder?
 

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