mmattockx

The bandsaw has a continuous blade that runs around two wheels in a loop, the scroll saw has a straight blade that moves up and down, like a jig saw or reciprocating saw. The bandsaw cuts faster and will do thicker work, but I found mine to be less precise for small/light pieces (that may have been me, though). The scroll saw can use very fine blades that allow small radius cuts and very fine detail to be cut, but it is slower to cut. The biggest difference is that you can remove the scroll saw blade and put it through a hole in your piece, then cut interior holes with it (think lightening holes in formers, ribs, etc.). This is impossible with the bandsaw. I have also seen where people made a table that they mounted a standard jig saw upsidedown with the blade sticking up through the table top and used this for cutting interior and extrior holes. I haven't tried it, but it should work well and you don't need to remove the blade for each cut (which gets to be a nuisance with a lot of cuts to make).


Mark