Please help find a scroll saw! UK

[Panacea]

I'm a total beginner and really need help buying a scroll saw.

I want to make children's toys and household items like wooden ornaments etc.

Is a NuTool 330mm scroll saw SS13-4 any good?

I moved your thread to a more appropriate forum to maximize traffic and get you more responses to your request/question.

[wood-n-things]

Welcome to the forum. Some of our members from the UK will be by to help. Keep checking back. I changed your thread title to draw more specific attention as well.

[DaveP]

I'm a total beginner and really need help buying a scroll saw.
Is a NuTool 330mm scroll saw SS13-4 any good?

Hi Panacea

Is it any good.... well the blade goes up and down and its dirt cheap but that's as far as it goes, and its dirt cheap for a good reason.

If you want to make the items you want, then you should be looking at something a bit better relating to quicker and easier blade changing & using pin blades, motor that has more power, at least hi / low speed rather than single.

So the choice is to buy one and either get put off of scroll saw work for life, or realise its not up to doing what you want and buying something better, either way its a waste of your hard earned money.

What should you buy ...

For the great service and guarantees then it has to be from Axminster

The cheapest I would recommend is

Buy Jet JSS-16 Bench Top Variable Speed Fretsaw from Axminster, fast delivery for the UK

More money but even better is the Hegner clone

Buy Axminster AWFS18 Fretsaw from Axminster, fast delivery for the UK

Top of the range is

Buy Excalibur EX-21 Scroll Saw from Axminster, fast delivery for the UK

Good luck

[aubec]

Hi Panacea

I agree with DaveP about the service from Axminster, they are excellent.

aubec

[woodhants]

Have a Look at the E-bay site you be able to find Hegner , axminster , delta , brands , listed. At the moment there is Hegner listed with two days to go , I am down in deepest Hampshire and the saw I use is a Axminster AWFS18 , Has vari-speed control and a solid heavy weight of the machine , Keep the vibes to a minimum,
Mike's blades are listed also , Do invest in a Scroll Saw Manual new or secondhand from Amazon this will help you no end . Keep safety in mind wear a mask at all times !!! When using the saw. Just in time to make Xmas tree items , Keep it simple and let the kids sponge paint them - BEST OF LUCK SAM

[Mayo Farmer]

I'd echo DaveP. When I started I bought cheap and cheerful, and then spent more money on a conversion kit to take pinless blades. I then tried various things to get over having to use an allen key to change blades. In the end I went for an Excalibur.

It's a tricky decision when you think you might like something.

If you're unsure buy cheap and reckon that it will do you 6 to 9 months before you want something better.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Oh and BTW - whichever root you go get blades from Mikes Workhop

[CzechEx]

Hi Panacea,

I grew up near London, but now live in the Czech Republic. I first bought a SIP 01373 for cutting puzzles, but quickly realised my error.

Then I bought an Excalibur Ex-30 and had it imported from Axminster UK. (It arrived no problem, but I had some problems with them with the after sales service, but Patrick Magro from General International sorted it all out for me)

This saw has got a lot of brilliant points - a very long reach for easy cutting of large projects - a relatively very low vibration, esp at lower speeds. It is unbelievably quiet - in my experience it only can become noisy whilst actually cutting with thicker blades, but there's no way to avoid that. It's construction is like a tank. If you get a properly finished table surface, it is very nice and low friction (although I ended up sticking a sheet of "lumpy" Formica on it - long story - you can read it in the thread "Work Table Surface Friction")

The blade has a minimum forward / back motion of about 0.5mm. Sounds a little, but sometimes it looks like a lot. However, once you know how to handle this, you can use it to your advantage. It's also easy to change the blades.

If you buy one, you may find you have to do a bit of tweaking to get the blade just where you want it. But you can ask us about that later :-)

On balance, I would definitely recommend the Ex-30 if you are serious about scrolling and if you think you might do larger projects.

The only scroll saw I know about that really has zero fwd/back blade motion is the Eclipse - but it costs a hefty sum of money. And the point to remember is that a bit of this blade motion can help you cut.

Let us know what you decide!

Here's some work I've done on the said Ex-30:

https://picasaweb.google.com/110105772278431694555/PuzzlesForTheBritishJigsawPuzzleLibraryPublicDomainTKHandmadeJigsawPuzzles

Karsten.

[opa64]

I think that they will deliver to UK
The delivery cost about 20e to Finland.

[jigsue]

Hi
I started with a cheap saw (hubby though it would be yet another passing fad). Two saws later, I got my Hegner and it has served me well for over 10 years, nothing has gone wrong. It does everything I ask. Basically you gets what you pay for.

Like Sam says, there have been one or two on ebay recently - keep your eye out for various saws there.

If you do chose to get one from Axminster, I can vouch for them, we have lots of tools purchased from there and their service is excellent.

Whatever you decide - best of luck

Sue

[mcdowb]

Hi Panacea,


The a minister Awfs18' Hegner copy would be a great buy. I have one sold in Australia as a Cardatec 18. It is fantastic to use and results are as good as the Hegner. All Hegner spares fit. You will love it.

Barry

[Chef]

scrollsaw

i have a ex30 and wouldn't know what to do with out it the table is so big you can cut very large cutting got mine from axminister tools i waited quite a few years for a good saw to come to the uk always looking for the dewalt saw but they dont come to the uk---Brian--------------ps you get what you pay for