Hello all,
I just returned from Hartville Hardware and a Jet Scroll Saw Demo.... this is a "heads up" to all scrollers thinking about the Jet. The demonstrator (?) attempted to clamp a saw blade into the upper holder, but it would not hold. After several tries, he removed the clamp and found that it had broken at the top of the blade cut-out. He apologized and went to the back room taking the clamp from another new machine. Inserting it into the demo saw, he again attempted to clamp the blade. This one did not hold either. Taking it apart, it too had broken in almost the same place. This happened again, in the same place, with a third clamp.
It seems that if you apply too much pressure to the cam tensioner, or do not have the set screws that actually hold the blade properly adjusted, the pot metal (at least it looked porous like pot metal at the break) clamp will break with little additional force. So, like Steve says, make sure you read the manual and it might not be a bad idea to order a spare clamp, just in case.
After the demo (or whatever you want to call it) I went up to play with the saw. It is NOT a tool less change on the bottom clamp and as a "top feeder" it is too cumbersome to use, for me. I guess I'll wait to see what Ray's new saw looks like.
This is not a condemnation of the Jet saw, but simply a heads up as a possible weak link in the saw. I am sure with proper adjustment it will work just fine.
Dr. Jeff Popa
