Need Forum "Woodworking for Dummies - Scroll Saw"

[mara]

Decided I'm old enough to have my own tools, so went & got them. One is a Craftsman 16" variable speed (ooh, ahh) scroll saw. It needs pinned-end blades (oops). Pls tell me there's an adapter out there for fitting plain-end blades.

I MacGyver'd one blade (cut the pin, drilled a hole, used a small safety pin) to fit the blade into a 3/32" hole for starting an inside cut - it works but takes way too much time to set up each cut. TIP - MacGyver the top pin if you're going to try this at all.

[handi]

Mara,

I'm here, so this already is "Woodworking for Dummies" :)

Welcome to the forum. The scrollsaw is a great place to start working in wood. It is easy and fun to use.

I believe there is an adapter out there, but I'm not sure where. You might want to peruse your local bookstore and check out some of the scrollsawing books. The magazines might have ads for adapters.

Hope this helps,

Ralph

[TDHofstetter (Guest)]

Hi, Mara.

My wife got the Sears 16" scrollsaw, while I got most of the other machines... :)

We found the pinless-blade adapter at, of all places, SEARS. Yup, they sell the beastie you're looking for. They actually sell two different ones, but the plastic one isn't worth the blisterpack it's sold in. After buying that one, we got the all-steel one, then we bought yet another one from a local woodworking tool store ... only to find that my wife just plain prefers the pinned-end blades for their convenience in quick, quick, quick, and accurate blade changes. The aftermarket clamp adapters just want too much fooling around getting them lined up the way you want them. It's one thing if the saw was built for pinless and has a quick-change chuck built right onto the upper arm, but quite another if it's built for pinned blades.

You CAN still get some pretty respectable pinned blades from some sources (you have to do a little looking around, but they're out there) if you opt to go that route. Pinless are a lot easier to find, though, especially in the better blades.

If you ever get to feeling desperate, you can break the ends off a coping saw blade or an old cheapie pin-type blade and silver-solder them onto a pinless blade - talk about MacGyver! :)

...but that won't help much if you're threading a blade through a very small hole. You've shown some great initiative so far in doing what you did with your pinned blade, and I applaud your approach.

There's a handful of thoughts, anyway. Got a couple pennies? :)

-- Tim --

[mara]

Thanks for the replies - off to Sears I go. (I'm using "reply" to post this - good/bad/better way?) Geez!