is variable speed a must for marquetry?

[Martin Rock]

Hi All

I would like to get a scroll saw for marquetry, and wonder if variable speed is a must .

I could get my hand on a hegner 14" but it is single speed.


thanks for comments

Martin

[george wilson]

The BEST speed is HAND speed. However,I think that variable speed is an excellent way to go. I took an old die filer(a machine that holds files,running them STRAIGHT up and down), and made a variable speed jig saw out of it. Which I've never used myself. Loaned it to another guy who had some marquetry to make.

I have a variable speed Hegner. I don't like these new walking beam jigsaws that seem to be the only ones made now,including the Hegner. Their blades move in an arc,and also go backwards ad forwards as they saw,due to their arc movement. I'd rather have an OLD jigsaw like the old Deltas,or other saws from the 50's and 60's that do go straight up and down.

I also find the blade changing on the Hegner to be a big bother. Since I have little need for jigsaws,I haven't gotten around to making better,more convenient blade holders.

On the old Deltas,you just had the blade sticking straight up,and brought the spring loaded overhead down,tightening the blade with a thumb screw.

I got the Hegner very cheap at a sale where they broke up a shop. That is why I have one at all.

[Roger Barga]

Being able to control the speed on a scroll saw can be useful to adjust the speed of the saw relative to the packet thickness. It can also be really helpful to adjust the speed during the cut but you don't need a variable speed saw for this. I have a variable speed saw (RBI G4) and adjust the speed for the packet size on a few test custs before I start cutting the packet but I use a foot pedal, puchased separately (and should work on any scroll saw) to control the speed during the cut. Using the pedal I can bring the saw to a complete saw without moving my hands and bring it up to full speed using the pedal. You should consider one of these for your saw.

[Wes Grass]

The only modern one I've seen with vertical blade travel is the Eclipse. Saw it at the IWF show, real nice looking machine. Not cheap but seems fairly reasonable considering what the other high end machines go for.

Any others still available?