Michael Simpson Virgina
01-03-2011, 1:59 AM
I was in my local woodcraft the other day and got a chance to try out the Rockwell BladeRunner. It looked pretty cool on the website so I was all set to purchase one, if it performed like it was portrayed.
Well I kept my money. The first problem was the miter/fence was horrible. It just did not fit very well. The guides on the saw did not have any adjustment.
Many of the blades I tried did not fit correctly between the guide blocks.
The upper blade holder was a joke and little or no blade adjutment. About the only things I did like about the saw was the blade chainging system and the variable speed. The upper blade support also doubled as a hold down for smaller pieces of wood. It also had a dust collector hook up that I did not get a chance to try.
With out any orbital options the blade was difficult to cut thicker stock.
I left the store but in the back of my mind I just knew I could invert my Festool PS300 Jig Saw.
I spent about 4 hours measuring the base and base insert with calipers and cut many 1/8" templates on my laser. Once I had a fit I used the CNC to cut the slots in a 12" x 9.5" x 3/8" piece of balic birch shown here.
176125
Using a couple 4, 4x10mm bolts I attached the tool to the new base. I then cut two sides out of 3/4" melmine particle board and attached two clamp supports. All this was held together with 7 drywall screws.
176127
Well it works pretty well. With the small plastic dust collector shroud and vacume port attached it does a good job at dust collection.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYZnWVz8B6s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLy9zfgwktA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5j-POx4gN8
I normaly use my Dewalt scroll saw for cutting simple notches but its hard to cut a straight line on the scroll saw. I can use my band saw but I normaly keep a large 1" resaw blade on that saw and its a real pain to change. When I build my CNC I use the Festool Jig Saw for all the non tablesaw cuts. With this configuration it makes it much easyer to follow your line and still get good dust collection.
The next step is to add a zero clearance insert but in order to do that I need to create a fixture to mill both the top and bottom of the base.
Well I kept my money. The first problem was the miter/fence was horrible. It just did not fit very well. The guides on the saw did not have any adjustment.
Many of the blades I tried did not fit correctly between the guide blocks.
The upper blade holder was a joke and little or no blade adjutment. About the only things I did like about the saw was the blade chainging system and the variable speed. The upper blade support also doubled as a hold down for smaller pieces of wood. It also had a dust collector hook up that I did not get a chance to try.
With out any orbital options the blade was difficult to cut thicker stock.
I left the store but in the back of my mind I just knew I could invert my Festool PS300 Jig Saw.
I spent about 4 hours measuring the base and base insert with calipers and cut many 1/8" templates on my laser. Once I had a fit I used the CNC to cut the slots in a 12" x 9.5" x 3/8" piece of balic birch shown here.
176125
Using a couple 4, 4x10mm bolts I attached the tool to the new base. I then cut two sides out of 3/4" melmine particle board and attached two clamp supports. All this was held together with 7 drywall screws.
176127
Well it works pretty well. With the small plastic dust collector shroud and vacume port attached it does a good job at dust collection.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYZnWVz8B6s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLy9zfgwktA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5j-POx4gN8
I normaly use my Dewalt scroll saw for cutting simple notches but its hard to cut a straight line on the scroll saw. I can use my band saw but I normaly keep a large 1" resaw blade on that saw and its a real pain to change. When I build my CNC I use the Festool Jig Saw for all the non tablesaw cuts. With this configuration it makes it much easyer to follow your line and still get good dust collection.
The next step is to add a zero clearance insert but in order to do that I need to create a fixture to mill both the top and bottom of the base.