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Thread: Laser Locator (with pics)

  1. #1
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    Laser Locator (with pics)

    Hi Folks,
    I'm sure that everyone who has ever seen a scroll saw already knows this but I thought that I would share it anyway. I'm NOT a scroller so if I have stepped on anyone's toes, I apologize.

    When I recently replaced my Delta Q3 (a great saw) with the DW 788 (an even greater saw), the features of the 788 turned me almost instantly into a "top-loader". Previous to that, I threaded the blade from the bottom. It became rather tedious and once an old rigor mortis-prone codger like me bends over, it is hard to straighten up again.

    Anyway, the top loading thing was great until I ran into some of those fretwork patterns with zillions of tiny holes that had to be threaded. Finding the hole in the pattern was easy. Getting the threaded blade to pass through the hole in the table was another matter. I could only hit the table so many times with the threaded blade before it kinked (a sure indicator that "premature" blade fracture is inevitable). DING-DANG-IT!!

    Since I now have grandkids, one of whom is approaching the age of linguistic cognizance, I have been "ordered" by the ladies involved (aka. wife and daughter) to abandon a lifetime of "colorfully descriptive expletives". Right now, I am at a C- but I hope to improve.

    The pics attached will show you how I made a quantum leap in cleansing my vocabulary. A laser pointer costs about a buck two-fifty nowadays so cost is not a factor. The clamp on the laser is not permanent. It was left there only to keep the laser "on" for the picture.

    When I have to "thread" a blade into a pattern, I simply push the button on the pointer and move the hole in the wood under the beam. BINGO! The blade goes through the wood and also the hole in the table! A slight change in laser position is necessary depending on the thickness of the wood.

    I may make this a more "permanent" installation but I can't think of a better structural material than Duct Tape.

    I plan to rig up something on the lathe with these laser pointers to verify diameters without shutting off the lathe. But that's for another boring post.

    Thanks for listening to all this nonsense that you probably already knew!

    Dale T.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    I am so busy REMAKING my projects that I don't have time to make them the FIRST time!

  2. #2
    Hi Dale. that's a great idea. Anything that will keep you from getting in trouble with the ladies is worth it in my book. Keep up the good work.

    I've wonder about the virtue of having a light projecting up from near the bottom clamp on the scrollsaw.

    My brother gave me a small LED flashlight mounted on the end of a length of that flexible tubing like your air blower. The other end has a magnet on it. I use it on my bandsaw because I can get the light in right at the blade teeth.

  3. #3
    That is a great idea... I have done some scrolling in the past, but had gotten out of it... This would have saved a lot of time!

  4. #4

    Thumbs up

    Dale, great idea and technology marches on....
    If sawdust were gold, I'd be rich!

    Byron Trantham
    Fredericksburg, VA
    WUD WKR1

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    Peshtigo, WI (~50 miles N of Green Bay)
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    Light

    [QUOTE=Dave Richards]
    I've wonder about the virtue of having a light projecting up from near the bottom clamp on the scrollsaw.

    Dave,
    Maybe we're not on the same page here. The light is attached to the scroll saw light and actually points down on the pattern. It is only on when I am positioning the pattern for top-loading blade threading.

    Actually this doesn't keep me out of trouble with the "ladies" but it is a step in the right direction.

    Dale T.
    I am so busy REMAKING my projects that I don't have time to make them the FIRST time!

  6. #6
    Oh no, Dale, we're on the same page. I know that your laser is on top.

    I was just saying I've wondered about placing a light below the table shining up though the throat plate and through the kerf.

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Peshtigo, WI (~50 miles N of Green Bay)
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    lasar

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Richards
    I was just saying I've wondered about placing a light below the table shining up though the throat plate and through the kerf.
    Dave,
    Gotcha. I'd be a bit careful in using a lasar below the table and shining up. Leaning over the table a bit too far could result in your requiring the rest of your patterns to be written in Braille. If I tried it, I would have one of my kids or grandkids check it out extensively - just to explore the safety issue.

    When my daughter was about twelve, she took a shop class and really got into it. After her bragging, I asked her to sharpen my lawn mower blade. She asked why. I told her that the grinder could be dangerous and that a spark or exploding wheel could make me blind. "You wouldn't want THAT to happen - would you?" She said "no", and sharpened my blades until she went away to get her engineering degree. I was a GREAT parent! That's a TRUE story!

    Dale T.
    I am so busy REMAKING my projects that I don't have time to make them the FIRST time!

  8. #8
    I don't do much of this type of work (actually, I don't do much of any type of work), but the discussion reminded me of this...

    http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product...r=scroll%20saw

    Although I like Dale's thinking. A simple laser pointer on a good articulating arm could be very handy at many of our tools for many types of cuts.
    Dan

    There are three ways to get something done: Do it yourself, employ someone, or forbid your children to do it.
    -Monta Crane

  9. #9
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    Sometimes I read these posts just for the humor-- better than TV--

    Great idea-- I see a lot of uses for these in some of my projects- Thanks!
    Jerry

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    Lasar

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Stuewe
    A simple laser pointer on a good articulating arm could be very handy at many of our tools for many types of cuts.
    Dan,
    Thanks for the heads up on the under-table light. My problem is the leaning over the table and under the wood to SEE the light. In addition to being stuck in a "bent over" position, I can also see a lot of blade kinking. At my age, either or both could/will be permanent!

    The other thing is that how do you know which hole you are seeing - even if, unlike me, you can see them? With really THIN fret stuff, that can be important. You want to maintain as much adjacent material support as you can when making certain cuts.

    AW NUTS!! I give up on this scroll saw stuff. I can make scrap much faster on the lathe - especially at 3500 RPM! HEH HEH.

    WEEEEEEEEEEE!

    Dale T.
    I am so busy REMAKING my projects that I don't have time to make them the FIRST time!

  11. #11
    Join Date
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    Tv

    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Clark
    Sometimes I read these posts just for the humor-- better than TV--
    Jerry,
    ANYTHING is better than TV except, of course, for Bill O'Reilly on FOX News. Even a long-winded tour of Spring's new shop beats "Desperate Housewives" by a Fein margin.

    I agree on the use of the new laser devices which are very cheap these days. The other day, I had some really great ideas for their use on my lathe. However, having had a "Senior Moment" in the interim, I've forgotten ALL of them!

    Dale T.
    Last edited by Ken Salisbury; 02-11-2005 at 5:03 AM.
    I am so busy REMAKING my projects that I don't have time to make them the FIRST time!

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    Sheeesh...I never thought I'd be putting this down on a WW forum, but the laser thing always rings a bell in my near-empty cranium. At work, there is a test lab for computer work, which also includes a scaled down network. It has all the same type switches, routers, etc... as the main network on the platform. This also means fiber cable for linking networks. For those who may not know, laser beams are shot through this cable, carrying the signal. Well, on the door entering the lab is this very official looking, but ominous sign: Caution: Lasers in use. Do not look into fiber with remaining good eye. I crack up every time I walk past there!

    BTW Dale, that's a pretty cool idea on the SS! If I ever have the chance to turn mine on again, I may have to try that, as from Day-1, I've not been a bottom-feeder with it!
    Cheers,
    John K. Miliunas

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