Jigsaw into Scroll saw / Bandsaw jig

Very innovative solution! Good thinking.

-- John C. -- "Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth." George Washington

You are my kind of thinker.
Good use of what was available to get the job done.

-- Paul M ..............If God wanted us to have fiberglass boats he would have given us fiberglass trees. http://prmdesigns.com/

Creative and inventive,great job.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

Smart idea..

www.bandsawblog.com

-- "someone has to be wounded for others to be saved, someone has to sacrifice for others to feel happiness, someone has to die so others could live"

Good idea, and welcome to LJ

-- - Greetings from Brazil - --

Way to go. A problem to solve and a brain that can solve it. Welcome to LJ Mike. We always have room for another Mike (there are lots of us here).

-- Mike, American in Norway

So the boom arm (or tower) is not actually HOLDING the blade? The rollers just act as a guide to decrease the deflection of the blade, right?

-- Perform A Random Act Of Kindness Today ... Pay It Forward

Looks like a good solution until you can afford some more tools. I’m not sure from the pictures, but it looks like you could use something behind the blade to bring the saw teeth out beyond the roller bearings. If I’m mistaken and they are already sticking out further than it appears, please disregard.

-- Dale Manning, Carthage, NY

Guys,
Thanks for all the kind comments. It’s proved successful enough that I can avoid buying the “cheapest” bandsaw out there and save for one a couple of tiers up.

Joe,
The bearings “just about” hold the blade, almost pinching it. They’re tight enough to spin when the blade’s going, but not enough to bind.

Dale,
You’re right about needing something behind the blade, and not just to bring the teeth forward of the bearings. The current bearings help prevent the blade deflecting left to right, but so far nothing prevents deflection in the direction of cut, and as such the back of the blade is “friction” cutting into the soft pine.

-- Mike from Inverness, Scotland

If anyone else fancies building one of these it has one major downside compared to a real bandsaw which is sawdust clearance.

Matthias Wandel has a great write up with some mockups showing how dust is removed and from these it’s evident how this will cause a problem using the jigsaw to do any deep cuts.

-- Mike from Inverness, Scotland

Very innovative! You could add a metal strip to the tower face to stop that blade from eating into it. Or a bearing with a groove milled into it (like the one on the Carter Stabilizer). I love shop made tools that work!

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

Now that’s thinking out of the box, Bravo.

very nice, you have wonderfully “stretched the dollars” to make a useful tool, yourself.

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