new to scroll saw and need help

[zombie7986]

ive been wood turning for about 4 yeas now and am wanting to try my hand at a scroll saw. i still need to purchase a saw and thats what i need the help with. ive been looking at online reviews but still unsure what to get. what i want to start out with is kids puzzles. what is a good saw for im guessing 1 1/2" poplar and if i do any hard woods it will probably be 3/4". i know the $500 saws are better than the $100 saws but i dont want to over buy if i dont have to.

on a side note i just finished rebuilding a 1950 delta 14" bandsaw. it was a ton of fun and surprizing how well old tools were built.

[wood-n-things]

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[DWSudekum]

ive been wood turning for about 4 yeas now and am wanting to try my hand at a scroll saw. i still need to purchase a saw and thats what i need the help with. ive been looking at online reviews but still unsure what to get. what i want to start out with is kids puzzles. what is a good saw for im guessing 1 1/2" poplar and if i do any hard woods it will probably be 3/4". i know the $500 saws are better than the $100 saws but i dont want to over buy if i dont have to.

on a side note i just finished rebuilding a 1950 delta 14" bandsaw. it was a ton of fun and surprizing how well old tools were built.

There has been a bunch of folks that have recently had some issues with Dewalt 788 v2 saws. Not sure if the Delta is any better. Delta recently became part of the Black n Decker family. I started out with a Hitachi CW40 for under $200, Porter Cable makes a saw in the under $200 range that is simular to the CW40. I used the CW40 till I wore it out then bought a Dewalt. As for the thickness of the wood you probably will be cutting 1" or less. A lot of folks cut the stand alone puzzles using 3/4" stock and jigsaw puzzles in 1/4" stock. Just an observation. Scrolling is highly addictive I will warn you now. Looking forward to seeing what you create.

DW

[pmac53]

I actually just bought a Delta 40-690 saw yesterday. You can get them for around $450 if you go to the right place. I actually got one for $350 with tax. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to like it all that much, but so far I am pleasantly surprised. It runs very smoothly and quietly. It has been a real pleasure to this point. I have 2 RBI Hawk saws and two 14" Scrollmates, and just sold my old Excalibur 19" to a friend and neighbor, who is enjoying it. For my money, at around $400 this Delta is fine and would be easy to learn to use. Also, I believe it may just be the Dewalt 788 clone. But I am pleased with it. Paul