Adrian ‘Tinky’ Broadhead
Adrian ‘Tinky’ Broadhead

Here we are again! I hope you enjoyed reading my first blog post as much as I enjoyed putting it together. This week I will be taking a look at another great machine, the Jet JSS-16 and offering you some words of wisdom!

I would love to hear from you by way of feedback so that I can make sure I am covering things you want to know about.

If anyone has any questions about any of the products being reviewed, please do not hesitate to contact me by leaving your comments below.

scroll_saw2_2

Scroll Saw Spotlight

This week I’m reviewing the Jet JSS-16 Bench Top Variable Speed Scroll Saw which is a great machine with which to embrace the world of scroll saws. In fact, it’s the machine that I started out with and look where it’s got me today!

It has a powerful 70 Watt motor and a 406mm throat which cuts up to a maximum depth of 50mm in softwood. This machine takes pinned and pin-less blades and has the huge advantage of variable speed. This means if you want to cut materials such as Perspex and other plastics you can. Simply slow the machine right down and using the right blade selection you can achieve great results!

You can also do piercing work with this saw. By 'piercing' we mean drilling an internal hole through the design and then, literally, piercing the blade through and re-attaching the blade to the blade holder. This can be a little tricky - the easiest way is to release the quick release tensioning arm, disconnect the top blade holder and then feed your work over the top of the blade before reconnecting.

scroll_saw2_3

Tinky's Tip of the Week

If you are doing a lot of repetitive work such as silhouettes or cut-outs with your scroll saw, you can save a lot of time by simply stacking and taping your work together as illustrated in my image to the right.

Most scroll saw machines out there can accept up to around 50mm as their maximum capacity, so if you are doing multiple items why not take advantage of the capacity? I find masking tape works best when attaching your wood sheets together and be careful to use enough not to let them separate or move about as you cut.

If you have your own Scroll Saw Tip please do leave a comment on this blog and share your knowledge with myself and other readers.

scroll_saw2_4

Pattern of the Week

Each week I will try my best to put a pattern onto the blog so that you will have a project to have a go at yourself! This week’s pattern is a clever (and beautiful) Polar Bear Puzzle designed by Bob Wells, which is great fun to make and even more so for children to play with! It is really good for those of you new to the hobby who want to try something a little more challenging as it will get you practicing cutting around curves and in tight spaces. You can use a huge range of wood to cut this out of - I usually use beech or another close grain hard wood. Once completed, it is quite good to use something like finishing oil that is not only safe for children but also brings out the beauty of the grain.

Polar-bear-family-outline

Click the image above to view the full size pattern and save to use as a template for your project. A big thank you to Robert Wells for letting us share his pattern with you this week. If you happen to give this a try both he and I would love to get pictures of your finished artwork up on the blog for others to see, so please do share!

Until next week, enjoy...