Cherie Eppler is a scroll saw artist from Missouri. She has been scrolling for several years and runs the website CE Woodworks. She recently was a special guest speaker at the NEOS scroll saw picnic. She discussed basic scrolling and zero clearance tables for the scroll saw. The other day she sent me pictures of her new zero clearance table. I thought I would share them with you all.The zero clearance table has a few advantages. It provides stability for the pieces when very delicate cuts are made on the scroll saw. It prevents very small cut outs from falling through the hole and into the saw dust under the table. It's like magic when they fall through. You never find them again. Another but some what limited feature is the tear our on the back of some pieces can be reduced.
The pictures below are the table Cherie made for her Shop Smith scroll saw. It is cut to match her table. You will obviously need to cut your table to match your saw. Some scrollers make the table larger to support large pieces of work.
In this first picture she has cut the table to shape and marked the opening for the zero clearance insert. The insert is designed to be replaced as it wears out.
In the next picture you see the table with the cutout for the insert empty.
The best way to make the inserts is to mark the position of the blade on the insert then use a #9 blade to cut up the the blade position. This way you can remove the insert with the blade still installed. You might also consider cutting a small finger nail pull area in the upper right part of the insert. This just makes it easier to get in and out.
In the next picture Cherie has the insert installed and is ready to cut. She used double sided carpet tape to hold the table in place. You can get another advantage from a table like this if you devise a method of easily removing the table. After your blade begins to dull you can remove the table and when you start cutting again on the regular table a new set of teeth are exposed. It's like getting double life from your blades.
Cherie used 1/8 inch Baltic Birch plywood for her table. She has also tried acrylic but said the tape she uses on her wood tends to stick to the acrylic very easily so she switched to BBP.If you only cut delicate work occasionally you may want to consider a temporary zero clearance. In the picture below I have used a credit card. Just cut into the card about half way and use clear box tape to tape it down.
