Troubleshooting; Choice Of Blade And Speed; Blade Breakage - Delta SS350 Instruction Manual

OPERATIONS
FOLLOWING A LINE
With your scroll saw you should be able to perform straight or curved cuts with ease. Most beginners will experience
blade wandering; however, they eventually learn to control it as they become more familiar with the machine. Use scrap
material to practice cuts before starting a project. This enables you to develop your own style of cutting and you will
discover what you can do with your saw.
Always hold the work firmly against the table and do not feed the workpiece too fast while cutting. Feed the workpiece
only fast enough so that the blade will cut. Scroll saws cut faster across the grain than they do with the grain. Allow
for this tendency when cutting patterns that shift rather quickly from with-the-grain cuts to cross-grain cuts.
Make "relief" cuts before cutting long curves and never attempt to cut a curve that is too tight for the blade being used.
INSIDE CUTTING
Inside cutting takes place when the blade is threaded
C
through a hole in the workpiece. With your Delta 16"
Scroll Saw, you can perform this operation quickly and
easily as follows:
A
Loosen lock handle (A) Fig. 21, and raise the holddown
(B). Release blade tension by moving the blade tension
lever (C) to the horizontal position as previously
explained. Release upper blade holder lever (D) as
D
previously explained. This will release the blade (E) and
E
allow you to thread the blade through the next hole in
the pattern. Replace blade in upper blade holder and
move blade tension lever to the vertical position to re-
apply blade tension. Lower holddown and you are ready
B
to make the next cut.
Fig. 21
TROUBLE SHOOTING

CHOICE OF BLADE AND SPEED

Your scroll saw will accept a wide variety of 5" flat end blades and can be operated at any speed from 600 to 1650
cutting strokes per minute. Consider the following as a general guideline for selecting a blade and operating speed.
1. Use a finer blade for cutting thin workpieces, for hard materials, or when a smooth cut is required.
2. Use a coarser blade for cutting thick workpieces, when making straight cuts or for medium to soft materials.
3. Use a blade that will have 2 teeth in the workpiece at all times.
4. Most blade packaging is marked with the size of the wood the blade is intended to cut and the minimum radius
which can be cut with that blade.
5. Slower speeds are generally more effective than faster speeds when using thin blades and making intricate cuts.
6. Always start at a slow speed and gradually increase the speed until the best cutting speed is obtained.

BLADE BREAKAGE

Blade breakage is usually caused by one or more of the following:
1. Bending the blade during installation.
2. Improper blade tension.
3. Improper blade selection for the work being cut.
4. Forcing the work into the blade too rapidly.
5. Cutting too sharp a turn for the blade being used.
6. Improper blade speed.
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