Fore and Aft

[Fretnot]

Hi Everyone. I was wondering if owners of 788s have the same problem as I have, it's no big deal but there are times when it can be a little annoying. It is the fore and aft movement of the blade, in my case about 1/8th, maybe 3/16ths. I notice this when I come to a right angle in the pattern. I cut up to the line and then back track, turn the piece round 180 degrees come back to where the cut finished, turn the piece around again and start cutting. Although I have cut to the line quite often when I come back to start the second cut the blade is not on the line I need to cut. I hope I have explained this okay. As I said, it is no big deal but if there is a way of correcting this then I would be very grateful.

[wood-n-things]

It is a common complaint especially on the newer models. There is unfortunately no easy fixes for this.

[tgiro]

There is one possible fix that is shown on Rick Hutchinson's site -- Rick's Scrollsaw

But, it does require modifying the scrollsaw in a way that some folks don't want to do, and it may not work that well.

The back & forth movement of the blade is because of the way the 788 mechanism works. If you look at the physics of the way the arms move up & down, you'll see that when the arms are all the way up, the blade will be closer to the back of the table - that same as when the arms are all the way down. When the arms are parallel to the table, is when the blade is closest to the front of the table.

I've found that when the saw is running slowly, this movement is much more noticeable. I usually run the saw speed between 60% and 80% and then slow my feed speed down. The movement isn't so noticeable then.

[lucky788scroller]

I havent had any issues like your explaining. There is a bit of natural front/back motion when the blade goes up and down, thats caused by the saws design,not really a flaw, but if its really 3/16 inch difference, it may be your saw. On my three dewalts, none are much greater than a 16th inch front/back motion.The only time this has ever effected anything I have cut was only when cutting anything extremely thick, like over an inch in thickness, but it was more of an annoyance than a project wrecker. (All my 788's are Type 1 saws)