Does anyone have one of these? I was looking for a good solution for cutting and finishing balsa/ply parts and saw this:

http://www.dremel.com/productdisplay...0&Color=99CCFF

Anyone got one and have any comments good or bad?

Very nice looking tool and I'd sure like to have one. I have an old Sears that cost me about $105 and it still works very well but it lacks all the refinements of the Dremel. If I had to replace my old one I'd still go to Sears and spend the rest of the money on balsa. If cost is not the defining criteria, get the Dremel.

I got my Dremel Scroll saw for Christmas in 1971 and it's still cutting parts. Very durable & reliable and I have used it on everything.

I got one a few years ago and it's really nice but I hardly ever use it. Maybe my technique is different than everyone else but I wind up using the band saw (1 Sears and 1 Delta) on everything. Either way, whenever I cut something, I leave enough room to sand the edge down to make the part cleaner.

I do have Dremel belt/disk sander but would like to go all out and find something better.

That dremel link takes forever to load so I assume you're talking about the scroll saw

I have had two Dremel saws in 35 years of building. The only reason I have had two is I sold one overseas because I was overweight in a military move so I had to get rid of "stuff".


They are almost indestructible and I would never buy another brand. Of course, if price is a concern, there are less expensive scroll saws available.

If you get the Dremel, you won't regret it.

Don

I've had mine for 22 years and it included a cable driven moto tool. Still works like new, I would recommend it to anyone.

There is one on that audtion site about once a week. Am I aloud to say ebay. Dave I saw one on the Marketplace under tools a while back, it sold cheap too. E-mail me and ill tell how to find them.

If you think you're going to stay in the hobby for a while and enjoy building, I highly recommend you get the cheapest scroll say you can for now. The reason why I say that is because once you get your band saw, you'll ONLY be using the scoll saw for inside cuts such as formers and lightening wing ribs etc.

Whether cutting plywood, and especially balsa, I can guarantee that you will use your band saw as your primary cutting tool once you see how it works like cutting through soft butter. And that's not EVEN to mention the excitement you'll feel the first time you band saw through a stack of 20 ribs all at once.

So I know you're only asking about the scroll saw, but take a serious look at getting a cheap one of those and then spending as much as you can for a really GOOD band saw.
While I have the Delta 14" Metal cutting bandsaw (with the variable speed transmission), that's a bit overkill, but you can pick up the standard Delta 14" open base model for about $500 or so which is a lot LESS than the cost of a good giant scale kit, and the band saw will be with you for life while the kit, well, won't

Here's a link to the least expensive 14" Delta in case you're interested. They also make a lighter duty 12" which would probably be fine for anything you want to do in the hobby (I'm also a woodworker so that's why I went overkill for the RC hobby).
http://www.deltamachinery.com/index.asp?e=136&p=919 for the description and
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...ccessories-all as one of the sources to buy it.

Highflight

If space and money are a problem then get the scroll saw. For modeling it will do the job of a bandsaw and will cost less than half. I bought a Central Machinery scroll saw, a Chinese knock-off of a Hegner. Hegner's are bullet-proof. but cost 500 to 800 bucks. I got the scroll saw on ebay for 30 bucks, barely used. I'm a ex-woodshop teacher and have both and usually stay away from the cheaper tools but this one works great and you can get more variety in blades than with a bandsaw. Central Machinery is sold here (California) by Harbour Freight and Tools. E-mail me and I'll tell where you can get a Dremel cheap. Dave... BTW the only difference between a metal cutting and wood cutting bandsaw is the speed and most are adjustable. Fast for wood and slow for metal, and different blades.

A band saw is one of the most useful tools you can have for regular woodworking. I finally sold mine because I can do most model building tasks with a scroll saw. If you are cutting holes in a plywood, or any other flat piece, and you need a hole without cutting from the edge, you can drill a hole, insert the scroll saw blade cut your hole and then remove it. When you have plywood that needs lightning holes you will be hard put to do it with a band saw. With the average depth of cut of a scroll saw of about 1-1/2" you should be able to cut almost anything for model work.

Yes, I have one but without the sander, highly recomend it, great tool to have in any modelers shop.

I have a dremel scollsaw and also a cheap Ryobi bandsaw. My model building is a hobby, ie I do it for fun rather than a fulltime occupation and on that basis the cheap bandsaw works fine for me. I have had it for about 5 years and replaced broken blades 3 times.

On the other hand, I have had my Dremel scroll saw for maybe 20 years. It has been almost superseded by the bandsaw except for internal holes in plywood such as in formers etc. Even so, it struggles at anything over 1/8" thickness. Also, the top arm seems to wander a little leaving the blade cuting other than at an accurate 90 degrees occasionally. I really think this tool is overated and if I was to replace it or go buy one from scratch, I would be looking at a cheaper one - something along the lines of the Ryobi one.

Alan W

I am rather late to this thread, but a couple of years ago I purchased a factory-reconditioned scroll saw for (I think) $89.99. I too use my band saw more, but for some applications there is no substitute for the scroll saw.

jess

Hi!
Go for a band saw instead... much more usable! I have had a Dremel scroll saw for more than 20 years but bought a proxxon band saw 5 years ago. What a difference!
Regards!
Jan K
Sweden

Thanks for all the comments, I saw the new dremel scroll saw in my local home depot last week, what had appealed to me about the new model is that it has a circular sander attachment, overall build quality looked good also. Having thought about it though i feel a separate belt sander would be better.

Thanks, Chris.

Chris....There is a ton of dremel scroll saws on ebay for very low prices...do not pay 100.00. I will email you some of the listings...You dont need a bandsaw.. to much money for our uses. The cheap ones don't work very well and a good one will cost you over 400.00. Believe me, I'm a long time professional woodworker and the dremel is the way to go. You can probably get one for 30.00. Email me and i'll give you the info. Thanks Dave