One of those days

[ChuckD]

It has been a while since I did a serious project due to courting, driving, marrying, and moving. But I made a promise of a cutting suitable for a raffle. John Wayne is still popular so I started to cut the one in the Fall copy, 2000 Scrollsaw Mag. It was the first protrait I ever cut so I thought I would cut him out again. The first six blades I tried in my Delta P-20 broke within a inch of starting, or slipped out of the clamps. Now I am not new to this so I know all the tricks to prevent this sort of thing from happening, sand the end of the blade, slow down, make sure your not going sideways, etc. I am stack cutting four 1/8 baltic so it is not to thick. Small blades at first then up #7. Does any of the other P-20 owners have and problems with thier clamps or blades? I then switched over to my Hegner. It is slower to change the cuts but I have less trouble with it than the P-20. Anyway John is cut out and drying, so I can keep my promise. Last year, with a very simple cut of John Wayne they made about $300 for the club.

[scrollpup]

Not an owner of either saw Chuck, but congrats on making some dust.And can ya post a pic of the Duke when you get him all tided up? Good luck on another successful raffle!


Jerry

[sawdustus]

Rather than sanding them (tried it and it doesn't work) I use a piece of cloth dipped in mineral spirits to wipe the residual manufacturing oil off both ends of the blades each time I unwrap a new dozen. It's amazing how much oil is left on them and how slippery it makes them. Also, wipe the inside of your blade clamps before you begin with the now clean blades since they will retain a bit of oil.
The other thing I found is that with the Delta 650 the clamp adjustment has to be tight when you put the blade in and the blade has to be fairly close to the front of the clamp. Too far back and it slips out.
Hope this helps.

george

[Mick Walker]

Chuck D, I have had my P-20 for 6 years and have never had a problem with the clamps. I just take the blades out of the package and use them. I do cut about 1/8" off them. I use Olsen and Flying Dutchman blades.

[Rick-H]

Mick you can fix that on the P20 so you don't have to cut the blades. Take the oil filler off the top arm pivot, it screws out. Take the top cover off the saw, just 3 bolts. You can somewhat pry the cover up over the top pivot bolt head where you took the oiler out. The air lines and electric wires connected to the arm do not have to be removed. There is enough play in them to get where you need to.
Now you can see the link arm that connects the top and bottom arms on the saw at the back end. There is a screwdriver slot in the top of that linkage. Just tighten that screw a little watching the balde clamp rise as you do it. Stop when you have raised it about 1/8" +. While you are there check the screws are tight on the top of the yoke for the top arm.
Put the saw back together.

[Rick-H]

Mick
Have you tried the fix on your saw yet?

[Max]

Chuck,

Just two weeks ago I had a similar problem with my P-20. It was the bottom clamp that wouldn't hold. After much investigative work, I found that when I clamped the blades in the lower clamp the blade as not set straight in the clamp. This caused the blade to bend. Now, I pay a little more attention when inserting the blade. After breaking/bending about six blades I was glad to find the problem was me, not the saw.
Something else that I came across recently was the blade was moving side-to-side pretty bad. I checked the connection between the top and bottom arms (like Rick suggested) and it was still tight (I had that problem before and tightening the bolt with locktite seems to be holding). There is a pressure washer at the pivot point that was flattening to the point that the upper arm moved sideways. I slightly bent the washer a bit more to increase the pressure at the pivot arm and now, no vibration or sideways movement.

[Rick-H]

As for bent blades in the Delta clamps. If the blade is bending forward, the screw in the blade clamp is bent. Replace the screw.
At sometime the clamp was not adjusted right and too much pressure was used to close the clamp, that bent the screw. Replace the screw and no more blades bending forward.

[Max]

Hey Rick, what about the bottom of the blade being bent toward the back? Any ideas? I think it was just me, but maybe there's something else I should be looking for.

[Rick-H]

That I would guess was put into the clamp crooked. Then when you applied the tension the blade clamp straightened up and bent the blade.