Wood rattling (violently!)

[sbarron01]

1st time scroller, Dewalt 788, wood rattles quite violently when cutting. Helps somewhat with the hold-down but can't move wood easily. Without it, I have to hold down the wood really hard and then can't turn the piece or, if I don't hold with all my might, the wood literally jumps up/down and slams against the table. Tried a snowman w/no interior cuts on 1" pine last nite and everything great (but slow). As soon as I go to 1/4" or 1/8" piece of pine, same violent rattling. Have saw set to medium speed. Using #5 blade. Help??

[Wood Dog]

Check your blade to see if the teeth are pointing down, sounds like you have the blade in upside down to me.

[oily]

Ditto........... Chuck the hold down foot. .......... Totally useless.

[handibunny]

That makes 3 of us. Are you using a reverse tooth blade? Sometimes those are easy to put in the wrong way.

[wood-n-things]

Yep, blade is up side down.... of course we have all just read about this malady, we have never experienced an upside down blade in person....LOL

[Forester21]

Check the tension of your blade. And you may want to speed up the saw. An upside down blade will put excess sawdust on the top of your project but won't necessarily cause the rattling. When I cut a single layer of thin wood it does tend to jump around more than say a 3/4" will.
T

[3_M]

I am with Theresa,
Not enough speed and pushing too hard into the blade. Let the blade do the cutting. A scroll saw is not a band saw, you have to go slow.
I would say that 99.9% are removing the hold down. OSHA made them put it on.
FD Mike

[ubgoofy2003]

Actually there are several things that could cause your problem & we don't know enough of your situation to correct it. Just suggest different things, like, you should use quality blades, the blade should be in correctly, with the teeth down, tension set well, don't move your wood too fast & square it with the table. I would say, if it isn't your blade being upside down, then the blade is of poor quality. I bought some at Lowes when I started scrolling & they caused the wood to jump so bad I had to quit cutting. I never went back. I have used nothing but, quality since. Have only used Mike's Flying Dutchman blades. Let us know what you discover for a resolve. Hope you can get the problem taken care of. Good Luck.

[Forester21]

Another thought I had -is your saw bolted down?
T

[hotshot]

If it isn't a blade issue . . .

A skill that is hard to learn is to always push the wood directly into the blade. It is temping to try to push the blade sideways to stay on a line. Corners are a problem because it is so easy to apply side pressure. If you are pushing sideways, you will be able to see the blade flex to the side.

Another quick test of your technique, cut an inside circle with the table set at exactly 90 degrees. The piece you cut out should slide though the hole both ways.

------Randy

[sbarron01]

Thanks for all the tips! Held back til after dinner to go to the saw and then: checked blade (in correctly as when I reversed it, omg the wood nearly exploded), increased speed a bit, fed wood in s-l-o-w-l-y, didn't push on blade to keep it straight, removed hold-down piece, when turning a sharp corner I pulled the wood against the back of the blade to stop the cutting and then pivoted it and finally started the forward sawing again. well, well...what a difference. Cut out 4 Halloween ornaments including interior cuts. When you watch Youtube scroll saw videos, it all looks so easy when they zip, zip thru a project.

[journeyman]

Glad to see you're getting the hang of it. It will soon become second nature and then the fun really begins. They will have to drag you away from your saw - Lol
Mick

[tdub4ever]

Shoot, I still use my hold-down foot! Doesn't matter what stock I use, what blade, or the tension the stock bounces around on my table. It's probably something I'm doing wrong, but I'm comfortable with it still. Don

[Danny]

Another cause I have found is when your wood is "warped" or "cupped" will cause this chattering also.

[Hawaiilad]

Sometimes the jumping of the wood is because it is not super flat...and remember, you do need to hold onto the wood....this is true with what ever tool you are using to cut it. When you are holding onto the wood to turn a corner, you should be careful, because in some hard woods you will make the saw blade burn the wood, and it's a pain to sand out (of course I have never done this )