Fresh in from London

[chrispuzzle]

Hi all

My name is Chris and I am completely new to scrollsaw - I'm a Brit, living in London, approaching the big 50, and looking for a new hobby - in particular, hoping to get into puzzle cutting.

What saw do I own? Well, I asked around for advice and most of the advice amounted to "spend a lot more than you planned and buy something good" so I'm holding fire until closer to Christmas when hopefully one or two clients might have paid their bills with old-fashioned folding money.

In the meantime, I decided to build one. Just to play with. Just to feed the need. Out of Meccano (the UK version of Erector) which is another of my hobbies, and the first pass was up and running and cutting at a Meccano club meeting yesterday. Assuming I can work the attachments thingy, here it is.

[Gill]

Oh boy... wait till Carl sees that!



Welcome to the forum, Chris. You're going to fit in well .

Gill

[PuzzledMoose]

Welcome to the forum, Chris. Nice to see another Brit on here.

That is an amazing Meccano creation you have there but does it cut anything?

Ian

[chrispuzzle]

Hi Gill - Nice to hear from you again! As you might have noticed if you were watching, one reason for building the Meccano Scroll Mk 1 is that I missed out on the eBay Diamond...

Ian - Well. Does it cut anything? Sure it does. It cuts thin plastic and wood - very slowly, but it does cut it. It cuts balsa and foam core board with ease. I think baltic birch ply or MDF would be a strain. It has a parallel action and a blade tensioner at the back so you can adjust for different needs. I attach my very first puzzle which is cut from a sheet of origami paper attached to 5mm foam core with spray mount.

The motor is only putting out around 20w and the speed of the blade is about 220 strokes per minute. I think there's room for improvement there...

Chris

[CanadianScroller]

Welcome

Hi Chris, I think your saw is amazing!
I can see some ways to make it a little better but that is a different story.
Yes Gill, my mind is roaring about 100 miles an hour right now.
I used to love Meccano, unfortunately most of the stuff over here is plastic.

I know you will fit in well here. I hope you do get the saw you want next time on Ebay.
I have been drooling over the Diamond Fretsaw for years but it is just not in my budget at this time. I do like that Meccano one though Keep up the great work.

PS can you post a pic of the blade clamp mechanism.

[chrispuzzle]

Hello Carl - Thank you!

I would love to hear suggestions for improvement. I think it needs better bearings on the parallel arm - I might even try pinpoint bearings - and a flywheel on the crank shaft (next to the blue pulley). Also a wing-nut arrangment on the blade clamps would make changing blades easier.

Here is the blade clamp, which is very simple - two short girders clamp the blade, and are then bolted to the arm, same below. You can either have a supply of blades ready clamped, or you can loosen the clamps on the arm and thread a blade through. The other picture shows the turnbuckle to tension the blades.

[PeteB]

Hi, Chris--

That certainly is an amazing saw, worthy of being in the International Scroll Saw Technology Fair, if there were such a thing.

I see scroll saws going very inexpensively at house sales, might be worth a shot if your clients don't cough up soon. Otherwise, I agree with going with the very best you can get.

Your puzzle is quite good for a first effort, so keep at it! I'd like to commend you also on your photography.

Pete

[CanadianScroller]

Attempt at saw suggestions

I messed around a little this morning. I hope you don't mind.

The second turnbuckle on the top could even be a simple bolt and wingnut arrangement.
If you look at Rick H webpage you will see all sorts of cam levers for blade tension.

I think the whole Meccano saw is extremely ingenious. I can kick myself for not thinking of it.

Awesome job Chris.!!!!

[Neal Moore]

Great Work!!

Welcome to the forum Chris!!! Nice piece of engineering on your saw. Between you and Carl there could be a new model on the market in the near future!!! You are probably the only member here who cuts patterns of his own design with a saw of his own design...really unique!!!!

[gordon]

Hi Chris. another Brit here. well done wi5th the Meccano. You have had goos advice get the best machine that you can. I had a Diamond saw anearly version but now use a Hegner with variable speed and dust extraction. I find the latter very helpful if I am using it for any length of time. I have made many puzzles for toddlers and a few more complex ones. Generally I make anything that will sell for Charity otherwise you soon can't move for things that you have made! In 2004 I made approx 850 bookmarks in 1/32 and 1/64 ply. Made a lot of sawdust at the same time.
All the best with your scrollsawing. Gordon

Hi all

My name is Chris and I am completely new to scrollsaw - I'm a Brit, living in London, approaching the big 50, and looking for a new hobby - in particular, hoping to get into puzzle cutting.

What saw do I own? Well, I asked around for advice and most of the advice amounted to "spend a lot more than you planned and buy something good" so I'm holding fire until closer to Christmas when hopefully one or two clients might have paid their bills with old-fashioned folding money.

In the meantime, I decided to build one. Just to play with. Just to feed the need. Out of Meccano (the UK version of Erector) which is another of my hobbies, and the first pass was up and running and cutting at a Meccano club meeting yesterday. Assuming I can work the attachments thingy, here it is.

[earlinjax]

I like your saw. My first construction set was a Meccano. I graduated to an Erector set later on. I keep hoping that one of my grandsons would be nterested so I could play with it again. So far not much luck. I have one coming up that loves to build so am hoping in another year I can get it out.

EarlinJax

[chrispuzzle]

Many thanks for all your good wishes! This is certainly a friendly forum, I'm going to enjoy hanging out here.

Carl's suggestions for improving the saw are great, thank you Carl. I will try those and see what happens. I can already see the arm will need a rebuild to accommodate the new pivoting blade clamp. The vernier gauge will have to come out of its box too...Meccano has a lot of slop in the system (a virtue, when designing new models, you can defy Pythagoras and still get your right angle) but it is a challenge to take the slop out when you want precise bearings.

A question for moderators - where should I post continuing updates on the development of the Meccano scrollsaw?

Chris

[CanadianScroller]

Mecaano Saw

Chris I think the development of the saw could be put under the Tools and Blades section.

I don't know how much work you would like to put into the Mecanno saw but I think you could make the arm assembly and motor pivot, like the new Excalibur EX21.

You can also find tons of ideas through the various online patent search sites.
There are some really unique clamping sistems out there.

This is a great project . I would love to see the magazine do an article on it.

[chrispuzzle]

Hi Carl

I've spent the morning fiddling with clamps and pivots, obviously there is no point having pivots that allow too much lateral movement. That's a problem when clamping more or less in line with the pivot - clamping to one side of a bolt hole splays the plates on that side, causing problems at the pivot hole, while clamping directly below the bolt hole means the blade is not securely held as the splaying effect is along the length of the blade and the grip is lessened. So now I am looking at ways of clamping the blade into a socket, which might have the added advantage of acting like a jig to ensure the blade is always the same length give or take a few adjustable thou. It might also make it easier to micro-adjust tension directly in line with the blade.

As for rotating the whole of the arm, that isn't too difficult, although calibrating it so you could do precise angles over and over again would be more challenging. I think the first priority is getting effective clamps and tensioning. Also I am using a more aggressive motor, which means rebuilding the crank area to prevent "drumming" and the shedding of nuts and bolts as it vibrates itself to pieces...when I have done enough to post pictures I will stick them on the Tools and Blades thread.

You certainly learn a lot in a hurry about how a saw works this way!

[Rolf]

Chris,

Your saw is very impressive, I also grew up with an erector set (German Version) my dad was a tool maker. You are having entirely too much fun with this project