vibration, how to stop it?

[DocCharles]

Hey all,
Kinda new to all this scroll saw business, but love the abilities of these saws. I bought a Porter and Cacble 16" saw and stand for a decent price and thought after reading several reviews that it would make a good beginners saw, however, once set up and going, I have a horrible time with machine vibration. I have had the most trouble when cutting 3/4 material, but the machine vibrates pretty bad all the time. I have it mounted on it's stand as described in the manual, but I cannot imagine doing anything on it that would require much finese at all. Any suggestions as to how to at least settle some of this vibration?

Thanks for any/all help

[Dragon]

Sorry that I cannot help you a lot but I would say check to make sure it is level. When you cut that size material make sure you hold on to it well.
Diane

[NC Scroller]

Doc a picture of your setup would help. All saws will vibrate some especially at faster speeds. Excessive vibration is a sign of a problem. As Diane said make sure the stand is on level floor like concrete. Is it possible to bolt the saw down temporary to see if that cure it?

[DocCharles]

Diane, Scott, thanks for the responses. Yeah, i'm in the garage an concrete, so I'm as level as the slab. I expected some vibration, but the old Dremel saw I had borrowed for a short time, clamped to an old bookcase I had sittin in the garage, gave me less vibration. I had guessed that a saw mounted on a base made for it would lessen the vibration. I have thought of adding weight to the base, or perhaps mounting a rubber pad of some sort between the saw and the stand. I will try to include a pic soon, but my setup is pretty straight forward with the saw on the included steel stand. \
Thanks again for your reply's.

[fredfret]

I added weight ( about 50 Lb.) to the stand of my old dremel that shook like an earthquake. Reduced not eliminated. Diane is correct a level floor is really a must. Scott's is also good. wELCOME to the site. Lot's of good people with many ideas and view points I learn something here about every day.
fredfret
wichita, ks

[cop1972]

Mr.Doc Charles, I am also new to scrolling and got the Porter cable at Lowes;now that I have been scrolloing for about a month,I can see that an upgrade is in the near future...the darn thing just isn't worth the money unless you just want to use it a few times a year...mine vibrates, blades pop out all the time, it was a good 90 when i got it,but now when i cut out patterns it is easy to see it is off by several degrees, the only thing that saves me is the good ol flying dutchman blades, those blades are awsome.

[Jim Finn]

Two ways to approach this problem. Bolt the saw to the stand and bolt the stand to concrete floor. OR: put four sanding sponges, or some other foam material, under the saw to absorb vibration.

[Keith Fenton]

DocCharles: Putting spongy things under it to absorb the vibration would reduce how much it shakes the rest of your shop but it could make the saw vibrate more easily. Scroll saw has many parts that vibrate up and down in order for the blade to go up and down. All you can do to reduce this (assuming there is nothing coming loose on the saw itself) it to afffix more solid mass to it. I'm not sure how good the stand is(maybe it's too flimsy) but make sure that it is put together solidly all around and that the saw is mounted solidly to it. Adding weight to the stand could help if it's all solidly attached.

cop1972: I recently made a post explaining how to fix the blade slipping issue: http://www.scrollsawer.com/forum/too...htm#post390369 .

Is the 90 degree mark on the scale not accurate, there may be an adjustment for that. If that's not the problem, if your blade is coming loose while you cut, perhaps that is why it looks like you aren't cutting at 90 degrees; as the blade gets loose, it can angle from one side to the other depending on how you are pushing the work through.

[wedo]

My experience with vibration is that if the blade slips (loss of tension) even a little I can feel it in additional vibration. So I use that as an indicator that I've loss tension. I then readjust and everything's back to normal.
Bill

[anewscroller]

I have a Craftsman 18" saw that vibrates. I made a stand out of 2 x 4's and added a 30lb weight under the saw. It runs pretty smooth at just over 1250 spi.

[DocCharles]

Mr.Doc Charles, I am also new to scrolling and got the Porter cable at Lowes;now that I have been scrolloing for about a month,I can see that an upgrade is in the near future...the darn thing just isn't worth the money unless you just want to use it a few times a year...mine vibrates, blades pop out all the time, it was a good 90 when i got it,but now when i cut out patterns it is easy to see it is off by several degrees, the only thing that saves me is the good ol flying dutchman blades, those blades are awsome.

cop1972
I had the same problem with the blades slipping out. I fixed this by removing the keeper screws and sanding the ends of them to scuff them up some, to give them more grip on the blades. This has worked wonders for me. Just do not sand them to the point you effect their ability to thread back into the hole, I used some rough sandpaper, help the screw with pliers and rubbed it on the paper, no power sanding needed. Hope this helps your problem.

[Hawaiilad]

I know you may not want to hear this, but we have all been through this problem.....I bolted down and then added cement bags to the cross member of the stand...ended up selling the saw and buying a good one...many years ago and finally kept stepping up to what I consider a great saw...Hegner. You may use a scroll saw that much to wish to invest that much money, but it sure is nice when you do use it. I use the darn thing allot so it was worth it. Just my 2 cents worth...hope it helps