How long should it take to swap a blade?

[BoomerangInfo]

Hey All,

As mentioned in my welcome post here I am coming from intarsia work, and wanting to do some scrolling. I look at all the intricate fret patterns with hundreds (or even dozens) of inside cuts, and my mind boggles.

My Ryobi saw takes pinned and pinless blades. Pinned are no good for these intricate cuts, and the pinless change system takes me 2 - 3 minutes every time I want to do a new inside cut. Is this really how long people spend every time they change from one inside cut to another, or is my saw just that poorly designed that I need to find something better?

How long should it take to move from one inside cut to another?

I could possibly buy a new saw, but AUS$500 would be my absolute limit, and the best saw I can see in this range, which may have a quick blade change system, is the Trupro 18", although not a lot of detail is given here.

My other thought was that I have seen people mention quick change blade clamps, but despite search around, I can't find an obvious link to buy these, especially in Australia.

Any suggestions on how I should be changing quicker would be appreciated, as I think I'll get frustrated quickly if I spend 80% of my time sawing, pulling blades on & off the saw.

Thanks. Russell.

[greatdane2]

I have a Dewalt saw and it takes seconds to change a blade. I started with a different saw and this was one of the reasons to move up to a Dewalt. My first Dewalt has severall thousand hours on it and is only used to cut metal. But with a tool I use a lot,having one I like makes for a lot better day. I have not done much fret work but if my saw took 2-3 minutes to change a blade it would be a good boat anchor.
And wellcome to this site.

Alan

[minowevie]

Well this is how my saw works, first you have to tighten the back screw right to tighten or loosen the tention. but on mine, I do the same thing, but after that, I have a leaver to do the same thing, and in the right place. then you have a clamp, that holdes you blade. mine has the same thing. but I don't have to take the clamp out, just undue the thum screw, and the blade comes out. pull it out of the hole of the fret. then change to a new hole. and redue it in ther upper clamp. tighten the thum screw, the titen the tention bar. and continue. hope this helps. your friend Evie
the pictures are of the tention bar. that you only push and pull. then the thum screw, you releas to get your blade out. notise the clamp stays in the top. with a scrue to hold it. I know lots of stuff. your friend Evie

[Jim8Mad]

When I started doing fretwork it took me about 2 to 3 minutes to feed the blade for each hole. My advice is practice! Just keep at it and you will get better and faster.

I have three saws, Delta, DeWalt, and Dremel. The DeWalt is my primary saw right now and it takes me the longest to change holes and rethread the blade for fretwork. The Delta saw has the quick blade clamping system, but it's not the fastest for me either. My Dremel saw is the fastest for me at about 30 seconds to bottom feed each hole and reclamp the blade. The only reason I'm that fast is because I have used that saw for about 6 years and have plenty of practice. The DeWalt is my newest saw and I'm still trying to get past the 2 minute mark.

[BoomerangInfo]

Maybe I do just need practice. I guess I need to give it a go for a while & see if it's me or the saw.

I was just down doing some fiddling, and notice my tensioner may be kerput. I accidently left it tensioned last time I used it (months ago) and now it seems it turns until it won't turn any more, to get the blade tensioned. Have I wrecked the spring or something? I need to get some serious uninterrupted time to sit downa nd just go over the whole machine I think, and my shed needs some major re-organisation to get my work flow efficient as well.

Russell.

[NC Scroller]

It is like anything else it takes time to learn. You just develop a feel or rhytm. To be very honest I don't even think about it.

[Mick Walker]

Russell, I have a Delta P-20 that I top feed with, it has the Quickset II blade clamps and I change holes in 5 to 10 seconds. The Quick set clamps once you have them adjusted to the blade you are using there is just a lever to flip to clamp or unclamp the blade.

[BoomerangInfo]

Sounds nice. I'll have to see if there's an equivalent here in Aus.

Russell.

[JohnB]

G'day Russ.
I haven't had a good look at my old ryobi in a while, but if I remember right, you have a small bolt that has an allen key hole in the head. When you tighten this it pulls two halves of a mild steel block together to clamp the blade.

If you know anyone that's handy with a welder, get them to weld a cross bar on the Allen screw, or weld the Allen key in the hole. At least the top change would be quick and easy then.
I believe the screws are a standard machine thread so are fairly easy to get hold off.

[BoomerangInfo]

Thanks John, I'll see if that might help.

Russell.