Shopsmith 20" Scroll Saw

[moggymatt]

So after the minor prep, it was simple enough to square up the blade to each table and start playing. For all the projects on this first round I used Pegas #7 reverse skip tooth blades. Wood was pine, redwood, and hemlock. Just some scrap I had laying around. 3 projects per saw but one was wisked away before I could get a photo.[ATTACH]20720[/ATTACH][ATTACH]20721[/ATTACH][ATTACH]20722[/ATTACH]

The obvious similarities of the two saws are:
20” capacity, left/right tilt, tool less blade change, quick tension release and variable speed(when the newer SS blade setup is used). Upper dust control and dust collection is built into the Shopsmith but not the Dewalt.

Regarding dust control, I used a shop-vac on ½ the projects and my HF 2HP dust collector on the other ½. The Shopsmith stayed cleaner by far, and the dust collector did better than the shop-vac.

Now what I found when cutting on each was that the Dewalt table sits at 40" and tha SS at 41 7/8". Not a big difference. I'm 6'1" so I was comfortable on both heights. A bigger difference was under the table. From the front edge of the Dewalt table to the stand was 9". On the SS it's 13", I found I didn't feel as crowed, even with the dust collection tube running down there.

The Dewalt wins a few points when it comes to piercing cuts. The upper arm pivots and allows a top feed without disconnecting the top clamp. The SS gets there but you have to take the clamp off the upper arm while the blade is attached. I'll give a more experienced opinion on the SS method after round two when I do a project on each saw that has a lot of inside cuts. Vibration was almost the same on both, extreamely little or none at all. As I mentioned earlier, I put some clear wrapping tape on the SS table out of frustration over the black residue. I thought it might cause the wood to not slide as easily but didn't find that to be the case. For now I'm going to keep it on there and see if I run into problems.

I thought noise was going to be a problem with the SS as it's attached onto the MKV frame but with the dust collection going, it was no real difference in my shop. Without dust collection the Dewalt is almost silent. The SS is what it is.

Any questions?

[eartigas]

I just caught this one while searching about the scroll saw. I thank you for the report, very interesting. I only have SS scroll saw so I can't compare but a least I know I have a good contender in the race.

Ed