Light and Quiet

[MrDantastic]

Hello Everyone,

I have been interested in getting a scroll saw, but I am having a few problems picking one out. I live in an apartment, with three other roommates, so that sort of changes the criteria for "the perfect saw." I am looking for something quiet, so I do not disturb my neighbors or my roommates. It would also be nice if it was relatively lightweight. The leasing office would not like the idea of me having a scroll saw, so I would be moving it from my closet to the outside balcony when using it. I figure I could set up a stand, and then throw a few sandbags on the bottom of it to hopefully reduce the vibrations.

I have heard a lot about the Delta ss350ls, and it seems nicely priced for the stand and saw. Can anyone tell me if this saw is loud?

I would also appreciate any other opinions or recommendations for any other saws as well.

Thanks,
Dan

[Magpie]

I have a Dewalt 788 and it is not even as loud as my sewing machine. The only noisy part is when the wood catches and flaps up and down on the table. I scroll in the room right next to my son's bedroom and, while I can't play the stereo or TV while he's asleep, he doesn't notice the saw at all! I think in general scroll saws are pretty quiet. I did put a towel under mine to help dampen the noise. Hope that helps

[MrDantastic]

Thanks for the reply Magpie.

I have also heard many great things about the 788. Although its a little more expensive than the delta 350, I might be able to catch a deal on a used one on ebay.

That's incredible how quiet it is. The only scroll saw I have used to compare noise to is my father's which is extremely loud, but then again, it is probably older than I am.

Thanks.

-Dan

[Magpie]

I've never tried the Delta or, actually, any other scroll saw Maybe your local tool place would let you try some of them out?

[299t]

I have two saws, a Delta 88 and a Dewalt 788.The Delta was my first saw and I had it resting atop a very large and very heavy cabinet, which sat on a concrete floor.I had to bolt the Delta to the cabinet top and then put carpet scraps under the edges of the cabinet because it wanted to crawl.I think what may have helped contibute to this is the unparallel movement of the upper and lower arm on the saw, which sets up a rocking motion.You can tell if the saw blade moves parallel from top to bottom when you get to edge of the wood.Just before the blade exists the wood, you'll notice the top and bottom of the blade are not in line with each other.Usually you will have to slow down and let the bottom of the blade "catch-up".
My Dewalt is mounted on the Dewalt stand, and also sits on the same concrete floor just a couple of feet from my Delta.The stand isn't bolted to floor,nor does it have any "shock absorbing" material such as carpet scraps, under the legs.It doesn't move-AT ALL,even at max speed.
I hope this helps.

[ozarkhillbilly]

Dan I had a Dremel 1680 I started out on and it was quiet and not to heavy. Dremel has a new saw out the 1800 that even has a handle incorporated into the top of it. You might want to check on them also. They aren't very high priced. http://www.dremel.com/en-us/tools/to...y.htm?H=188277

[lucky788scroller]

I have seen and even messed a little bit with that 1800 dremel saw, and I think it is a pretty nice saw for the price. the sanding station is an added bonus.

[MrDantastic]

The dremel 1800 does look nice. I already have the dremel xpr with the flexshaft attachment, and that would be very nice to be able to use all at once, well, one at a time, but in the same place.

[bronco]

Hey Dan,
I owned a delta ss 250 before I got my current saw, the 250 was very quiet and the 350 is a step up and it usually comes with a stand. The saw has great features such as tooless blade clamps, a dust port, low vibration, var. speed control. I think you would be happy with this saw and the price is reasonable. Delta also is a pleasure to deal with on warranty, I needed a part and they shipped it with no questions asked and they paid for the shipping costs.
Good luck,
Bill

[Rick-H]

299T Post

I just have to ask some questions on this one. Many people have told this type of thing happening before. You say the saw was mounted to a heavy cabinet. The new Dewalt was on a stand. It has been proven tha the the 3 legged stands are solid and pretty much eliminate the vibration. Just about everyone I have had tell me the saws on their homemade stands and cabinets that have a vibration problem, I have told them to set the saw on a concrete floor and run it. They can't believe how smooth the saw runs. It seems no mattern how solid we think the cabinet is it still help increase vibration. When I had my first saw on a set of 15 foot cabinets firmly attached to the shop walls, stuff on the wall vibrated when I ran the saw. My point is that a saw not on a solid 3 legged stand, compared to a saw on a 3 legged stand is not a fair comparison and makes the Delta or any other saws being compared as inferior.

A friend was just here over the holiday and she had been telling me how bad her high priced saw vibrated and preformed. She brought her saw in and set it up and just about fell over when she found how smooth it ran. Turns out here was on a concret floor, at home it was in the house on a wood floor. Just what the saw is sitting on can make a difference. Same saw, just different base to sit it on.

I have found on any saw when I get to the end of a cut if I stop pushing the wood the blade still keeps coming forward. That is because I am feeding the wood faster than the blade is cutting, the blade is bowed back into an arc, so the top of the blade is ahead of the bottom, but when I stop and the blade catches up it is cutting straigh up and down.

I don't mind seeing comparisons on things but I do feel the comparison need to have all the same starting place. The other thing that we forget to mention is that I had a low priced saw and then bought a saw that cost more and it works better. Yes it should this is why is costs more. For the price most saws are fairly even in features and smoothness. It stays close to you get what you pay for. The low priced saws can do just about anything the big ones can, just not as smooth and easy most of time.

Dan you might look at getting one of the cement mats that is used under a woodburner fireplace. They are about 4 foot square and 1/2" thick. This would make a more solid base to set the saw on in an apartment and I think would help dampen the noise, because the saw is now spread out over a larger area on the probably wood floor of the apartment. I would still use some sandbags on the saw too.

[Rolf]

Dan,
I have the Delta SS350 it would work fine for you. It has a bit of vibration in one speed range so I just increase or decrease to make it go away.
I agree with Rick about the floor. Our Scrolling Club meets in an old barn with a wooden floor and even the Hegners make the floor dance. The saw itself is quite. If you do end up with a problem the idea of using a piece of cement board under the saw might work I would even put a piece of high density carpet padding under the cement board.

[MrDantastic]

I really did it this time...

I really did it...

After taking everything into consideration, I decided the next step would be to go to home depot, and see if they have the dremel 1800 there. I was kind of partial to this saw after reading about it. For an apartment dweller with limited space, it really seemed to be an "all-in-one" scrolling station. I went to home depot, and they had it on sale for $239.00, I said to myself "not too bad, same price as amazon." Then it was either god speaking to me from the heavens, or a lady on the intercom, claiming if I signed up for a home depot credit card I would receive 30 dollars off my first purchase, and no interest no payments for 6 months! At that point, the excitement got to me and I couldn't help myself.

I set the saw up this morning, it took about an hour and a half. The directions weren't very helpful. They had a couple nice pictures, but no written steps.

And so I powered it on, and it was good.

I cut a few small chunks of a 1/4" board to make sure it worked. Seems to be running well.

Thanks everyone!
-Dan

[bronco]

Dan,
Congradulations on your new scrollsaw,sounds like a great deal. Looking foreward to seeing your work.
Bill

[Marcel in Longueuil]

Congrats

Good for you Dan,

You now have purchased an addiction

Two words to the wise:

• Keep you first project, no matter what you think of it, for future refence to see your progress.
• Buy some good blades such as Pegas, Flying Dutchmen or Olson. You will not believe the difference with the OEM blades that came with the saw.

And don't forget to posts pictures of your work to share with us, we enjoy that.

Regards,
Marcel