HELP!!! please

[Judy Hunter]

I have been scroll sawing for a long time.  And I use spiral blades.  Everything was fine until this last week. No matter what I cut or the blades I use there are small ridges on the cut edge.  I have tried Mikes blades and two other kinds.  I am still getting the ridges.
this pieces is 3/8 Baltic Birch stacked x 2.  I am also getting it on the 3/4 Maple.
This is my delta which up 'til now has been Great.  Please help if you can I am running out of ideas.
Hope you can see what I mean in the Picture.

[mrsn]

Have you cut those thicknesses before? Do you get ridges on everything you cut?
Have you changed the speed of the saw or your feed at all?

[Judy Hunter]

Yes I have cut this thickness, many times.
Yes it is on everything.
the speed is at 5 which is where I usually cut.
I have tried slowing the speed and have tried increasing the speed.
I usually cut pretty slow to follow the lines.

[Duon]

I use alot of Spirals, and have seen that effect, for me it usually happens if my blades are too loose, (I discount this in your case since your experienced). The other times i've seen this is when I try to cut thick material. I solved this by using only FD NEW SPIRAL blades. There are other spirals even from FD. But the New Spirals make a big difference especially on thicker stuff. I hope this helps.

[Keefie]

Judy, I had a play with my spirals today (jeeze that sounds bad lol) trying to reproduce your effect, I managed it only when I didn't tighten the blade properly so it was slack when cutting, You aren't getting blade slipping and becoming under tensioned are you? just a thought.

Keith.

[Mainewoods]

Judy, I agree with Keith on the blade slippage!  Try cleaning your clamps with some mineral spirits.  Even a minor amount of slippage can change the way your blades cut.  If that doesn't seem to fix things, check your blade travel side to side and front to back.  Something may have gotten out of whack, requiring you to put it back in whack!

Good luck!

Glen

[Judy Hunter]

If I could spell HALLALULYAH! That is what I would say.  I am back up and running.
I did all of the suggestions. Cleaned the blade ends. Increased my cutting speed and slowed the feed.
I even tightened the arms top and bottom.  So it may have been one or the other or all of the above.

THANK YOU so much for the suggestions.

A frustrated old lady is an ugly old lady. So I am going back to playing with spirals like Keefie

[Keefie]

Glad you got it sorted, keep playing with your spirals, it'll keep a smile on your face..

[rob roy]

Hi Keefie, sounds like you're on a DOWNWARD SPIRAL. LOL.
Rob Roy.

[Al W]

I thought this topic was going to spiral out of control.  It did.

Glad to hear you found the problem Judy, I will keep the info in mind as I also use that type of blade frequently.

[Keefie]

With the government we got Rob, thats all we are allowed a Downward spiral !!!!

[rob roy]

Hi Keefie, couldn't agree more, but at least your spirals and Judy's spirals have a far nicer ending, not to mention useful.
Rob Roy.

[spiderman]

I have been scroll sawing for a long time.  And I use spiral blades.  Everything was fine until this last week. No matter what I cut or the blades I use there are small ridges on the cut edge.  I have tried Mikes blades and two other kinds.  I am still getting the ridges.
this pieces is 3/8 Baltic Birch stacked x 2.  I am also getting it on the 3/4 Maple.
This is my delta which up 'til now has been Great.  Please help if you can I am running out of ideas.
Hope you can see what I mean in the Picture.

is this the one you were talking about the cutting edge  was the crown on the scroll saw?

[Judy Hunter]

Yes this is the scroll saw that they couldn't fix.   The crown is CROWN ROYAL  a gift for getting at my saw sooner.
the people at Acme really are great people to work with.