Scroll saw for DIY

[conny]

Looking for a decent scroll saw for diy use when I retire. Anyone got any recommendations?

Looking at a budget of around £100.

 

[EddieM]

You'd don't say what size throat you require.

 

[conny]

Minimum of 2" (50mm to you youngsters LOL) As it's for diy I don't think I'll need bigger than 3" (75mm).

 

[EddieM]

Minimum of 2" (50mm to you youngsters LOL) As it's for diy I don't think I'll need bigger than 3" (75mm).

Confused me for a while there, the throat size is the max horizontal distance between the blade and the back of the arm, not it's capacity (vertical cut ability)

 

[Doppleganger]

You could get a band saw for little more than £100.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-tt...uE3wkGz1glGGYizcEvwaAvw7EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

But I would add that the best advice after buying a cheap band saw is to get a decent new blade!

 

[conny]

Sorry Ed, I assumed the throat was the distance between the table and saw blade stroke. LOL. Lesson learnt.
In that case looking for a throat of around 16".

Doppleganger, I have a fairly decent bandsaw but now looking for something that will allow larger pieces to be turned around on the table. Most bandsaws I've seen are quite limited on the turning area.

 

[Burnerman]

Check out the Clarke 16”scroll saw from Machine Mart.....pretty good and tough for the price.
Generally they take ordinary coping saw blades.
John

 

[conny]

Found the Clarke 16"

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-16-scroll-saw---css400d/

And also found this one from Axminster,

https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-craft-ac405ss-405mm-scroll-saw-105249

Both very similar though the Clarke has a slightly higher speed range than the Axminster but the Axminster has a very slightly more powerful motor, (125w) to the Clarke (120w)

 

[Deleted member 174758]

If you've realised that a good bandsaw bade can vastly improve the performance of even a medioce saw, then the same is also true of scroll saws - Pegas blades outperform the cheap blades by quite some way.

On the subject of throats sizes, 16in is pretty much the standard depth for most of the smaller/DIY saws. To go to 20 or 22in (or larger) you really start talking big bucks (look at Hegner if you want a fright).

 

[Doppleganger]

And also found this one from Axminster,

I rate Axminster highly, both for their customer service and their machines.
The typical Clarke type machines seems to have a relatively short market life span before new models appear. That can make it tricky to source parts for the obsolete models.

 

[Diver Fred]

1. Aldi's are selling a Sheppach scroll was badged as 'workzone'.

 

[EddieM]

@conny did you get one? If so, how do you rate it?

 

[conny]

I got the Clarke one in the link above but haven't used it much yet.
Seems to be capable of doing the small corners and turns I needed to do for a particular task so I'm quite happy with it. You can buy adaptors so you can use pinless blades but don't think I'll bother with them at the moment.