Blade Chucks - Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts Message Board

NMScroller · 11-01-2007, 07:21 PM

I have seen a new saw in Sears that I'm not familiar with. I was standing around the section when the salesman was showing the three models on display. This particular model, The Craftsman "Professional", takes pin and pinless by use of a blade chuck in the bottom. It is also pretty stable, but only has an 18" throat.

My question is, how many of you use the blade chucks and actually like them? I used them once or twice and hated them. To me, (still fairly new at this) they seemed to take too much time to align and became a catalyst for buying a new saw. I would have liked to recommend a saw to the other customer, but I didn't know enough about the blade chucks to say anything.

The only benefit I saw in the blade chuck was that if you buy enough of them, you can have spare blades ready to go pretty quick. To me, that's just more small parts to fall behind my work bench.

Brian

GrayBeard Phil · 11-01-2007, 10:32 PM

Brian:

Once you have aligned a blade chuck, it stays aligned for a long time. A good saw using pinless blades should be able to un-tension the blade, release from chuck, remove the blade from a fret-hole, re-insert into new fret-hole, re-insert the blade into the chuck, and re-tension the blade in a very quick order. Sometimes quicker than a saw that uses pinned blades.

Some of the "in-expensive" saws, things get a bit out of hand with the complex use of special tools and so forth. Don't judge pinless by inexpensive saws.

Don't get confused by the volume of posting on blade chucks here, or on other boards, since what you read is only when someone has a problem. Most of the time there is no problem.

Pinned blades require a drill hole diameter as large as the pin length. Many plans (patterns) don't accommodate such a large drill in the design. You already know what size drill to use for pinned blades that you use.

I use mostly wire sized drills to pre-drilled the holes in fret-work I do. Usually I stick with the #57 (0.043") or #62 (0.038") drills.

(aside: 3/64" =0.0469 and 1/32 = 0.0313 and a 1/16" is a huge 0.0625")

You should stay with the blades you are most comfortable with. This is a hobby for most of us, nothing more. If using pinned blades is OK with you -- "Be True, Dude"

Phil

11-01-2007, 07:21 PM	#1
NMScroller Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Columbia, SC Posts: 338	Blade Chucks I have seen a new saw in Sears that I'm not familiar with. I was standing around the section when the salesman was showing the three models on display. This particular model, The Craftsman "Professional", takes pin and pinless by use of a blade chuck in the bottom. It is also pretty stable, but only has an 18" throat. My question is, how many of you use the blade chucks and actually like them? I used them once or twice and hated them. To me, (still fairly new at this) they seemed to take too much time to align and became a catalyst for buying a new saw. I would have liked to recommend a saw to the other customer, but I didn't know enough about the blade chucks to say anything. The only benefit I saw in the blade chuck was that if you buy enough of them, you can have spare blades ready to go pretty quick. To me, that's just more small parts to fall behind my work bench. Brian __________________ ---Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have.

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11-01-2007, 10:32 PM	#2
GrayBeard Phil Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Near Detroit, Michigan Posts: 1,156	Brian: Once you have aligned a blade chuck, it stays aligned for a long time. A good saw using pinless blades should be able to un-tension the blade, release from chuck, remove the blade from a fret-hole, re-insert into new fret-hole, re-insert the blade into the chuck, and re-tension the blade in a very quick order. Sometimes quicker than a saw that uses pinned blades. Some of the "in-expensive" saws, things get a bit out of hand with the complex use of special tools and so forth. Don't judge pinless by inexpensive saws. Don't get confused by the volume of posting on blade chucks here, or on other boards, since what you read is only when someone has a problem. Most of the time there is no problem. Pinned blades require a drill hole diameter as large as the pin length. Many plans (patterns) don't accommodate such a large drill in the design. You already know what size drill to use for pinned blades that you use. I use mostly wire sized drills to pre-drilled the holes in fret-work I do. Usually I stick with the #57 (0.043") or #62 (0.038") drills. (aside: 3/64" =0.0469 and 1/32 = 0.0313 and a 1/16" is a huge 0.0625") You should stay with the blades you are most comfortable with. This is a hobby for most of us, nothing more. If using pinned blades is OK with you -- "Be True, Dude" Phil