Hands-On: Dremel’s Scroll Station
By Sean O'HaraIn Use
We quickly discovered that the Dremel’s 1.8 amp motor is quite well mannered. There’s almost no vibration at low speeds, and cranking the speed up to maximum only makes the saw a little louder and adds a small amount of shaking. At medium to slow speeds (where we ran most of our tests) the saw was quiet enough that we could easily talk over it.
The 18” throat was great for cutting deep on larger shapes and the 3/4” cutting stroke never faltered on any wood we put in its way. Basically, if you can lift it onto the saw table and the stock fits between the upper arm and table, the Dremel will cut it.
We didn’t secure the station to the table but the saw never moved from its position or squirmed around like cheaper models we’ve seen. This is where the Dremel’s 50 pound girth really came in handy. With the motor running, the cutting table was rock steady and confidence-inspiring. Everyone who gave the Dremel a go in the Toolmonger shop had no problem working close to the blade because the Dremel never twitched during testing.
The only times the machine ever gave the slightest hint at anything but smooth operation was when a blade broke. This happened about five times during the long Toolmonger test cycle — and normally only when we were doing something extreme like feeding wood through at a strong sideways angle to put lateral pressure on the blade. When the blade eventually snapped, we felt a very slight jerking motion in the wood and a clanging sound as the two ends of the blade banged around. But that was all.
It was loud — and a bit startling — but in every instance the blade arms on both sides held the broken bits firm and didn’t allow them to fly off or cause any damage to the operator or the wood.
During normal operation the Dremel proved to be a tank. No matter what crazy shape we cut, the saw would plow right through the stock without delay or kickback. We put close to 1,000 feet of curvy cutting past the Dremel’s blade, and besides the plastic air blower snapping of in our hands, we encountered no difficulties at all. Even after the blower came off we still had no trouble seeing the cut.
After a full day of operation blades were the only thing that showed any signs of wear at all. A quick vacuuming of outside and interior compartment via the side door and the innards were free of debris and ready to go again.
Read on to page three for our conclusions.
August 27th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
I’ve been wondering this for a while now, but I’ve not looked into the idea any further than simply wondering: would a scroll saw like this, with an appropriate blade, be usable in place of a band saw for cutting metal? If not, why not?
For that matter, would a typical wood-cutting band saw like you’d see at Home Depot or Lowe’s be usable for metal if you slowed down the blade a bit and put a metal-cutting blade on it?
August 28th, 2007 at 5:31 am
A scroll saw CAN be used to cut metal, but it won’t exactly be a picnic if the desired cut is large or the metal is thick. I’ve used a bandsaw before with a metal cutting blade and it sliced through aluminum and steel like butter. A lot of solid lube was used to cool things down and smooth the cut. The same bandsaw model was used in the woodshops and metal-fab shop so I assume the only difference was the blade and speed settings.
August 28th, 2007 at 7:01 am
I’ve never been around a scroll saw, but a “wood-cutting” band saw works well for small or decorative cuts in light metal and plastic. Just use the right blade and take your time.
August 28th, 2007 at 8:29 am
The main difference between a metal cutting saw and a wood cutting saw are the blades and the speed. The blade runs a lot slower to cut metal. One other thing is that many metal cutting bandsaws have clamps built in for bar stock and can tilt and cut like a chop saw for nice square cuts.
As far as cutting metal on a scroll saw, I wouldn’t think it would be that good unless the metal was pretty thin, I’d think you’d go through blades pretty fast otherwise.
May 7th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
All I want to do is cut out a series of zig-zag teeth that wrap around a cardboard tube, roughly 1/16″ thick. Each cut will only be about 3/16″ into the the tube. One half of them go at a 45 degree angle to the right, the others to the left, so each full tooth only needs 2 short cuts.
The salesperson at Home Depot sold me 3 things to do this job: the MS 400 XPR; the XPR multi saw that attaches to it; and the Dremel workstation 220-01 that was supposed to hold the blade in vertical place so that I can turn and push the tube into the blade with both hands. (all this cost $200!)
But for the life of me I / we can’t see how to lower the arm of the workstation and lock it there. This should not be rocket science. I suspect that this is not the right trio of tools for my job. Dremel has not returned my calls and emails! I’d prefer to have a small hobby sort of tool(s) like a Dremel, rather than some larger, more serious power toll. But whatever can get the job done. Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Matt