I cut this clock from 3/4" thick spruce and painted it black. You see a lot of metal art pieces that are black and that's what I wanted this to look like. It uses a 2 3/4" clock insert. I get my inserts from Bear Woods. Here is the link to the clock in this picture.
It's difficult to photograph projects when they are painted black so below is a simulated image of the pattern. It's easier to see the detail.
$12 per sheet of 12 coins plus $3.50 shipping
Inlay with a 1" Forstner Bit.
The perfect way to sign your work.
Foot Switch Repair:
I have used these MLCS 9080 Deadman style foot switches on my scroll saws for a few years. They are $22.95 on Amazon. I have purchased five of these over the years. One of them finally started to get flaky. When you put your foot on the switch it would hesitate to start the saw. Sometimes the saw would stop during a cut. There is not much to go wrong with these so I decided to take it apart.
Unplug the switch from the outlet. If I needed to tell you this step stop now. Buy a new foot switch.
Remove the single screw from the side of the unit. It's a long screw that goes all the way through to a nut on the other side. Don't lose the nut.
After you remove the switch plate be careful with the center spring. It is loose and will fall out. It's a large spring but if you are anything like me it will take an hour to find it if it falls out.
Funny side story: I was servicing a multi-thousand dollar printer for one of our big accounts. While disassembling the part that needed to be repaired I dropped a small keeper ring. This part was probably worth about five cents. Unfortunately, it was a special order part and not available locally. I had to find that part! I looked for over an hour. It had simply disappeared. This machine that was worth thousands of dollars and in a critical location was completely down for a five cent part that I had lost. Let me just say that no one was happy.
I made peace as best I could and ordered the part for next day delivery. I went home feeling pretty bad. Later that night I decided to throw my work clothes in the washing machine. My pants had cuffs. Guess what was in the cuff of my pants? That tiny keeper ring had fallen into the cuff of my pants. This is why I don't gamble.
The red arrow points to the switch that turns the saw on and off when you press your foot on the switch plate. This is most likely the problem.
The bottom of the switch plate has a plastic actuator. If this is broken or worn it's probably not worth trying to fix the foot switch. Mine was fine.
The first thing to do is use an air compressor to blow the dust out of the switch. Just blow into the area around the plastic actuator under the metal actuator. It would be best to just replace the switch but I did not have one. I am trying to source one and will pass it along when I find it.
While I had the switch out I decided to tweak the metal actuator a little. If the spring has compressed from use the metal actuator may need a bit more travel to actuate the switch.
When I put the foot switch back together it worked fine. The most likely cause was dirty or burnt contacts in the internal switch. For a permanent fix, I will replace the internal switch. Including shipping, it will probably cost $5 or $6 so it's worth repairing.
The steps above may completely solve the problem The switch is in a high dust environment and may have just had dirty contacts.
Email Newsletter Readers: Remember that the Newsletter is just a copy of the daily blog post. To see the post in it's proper formatting click this link. If you ever misplace a pattern or any item you see here you can always find it on the blog. Everything stays on the blog forever.
Products for your consideration:
Scroll Saw Pattern Design Tutorial: DVD
Let me teach you to create a beautiful wooden portrait pattern. I will show you everything you need from start to finish. The video will show you the free software program you can download for Windows or Mac OS. I will show you how to install the program and configure it for best results.
Let me teach you to create a beautiful wooden portrait pattern. I will show you everything you need from start to finish. The video will show you the free software program you can download for Windows or Mac OS. I will show you how to install the program and configure it for best results.
Then I will show you the technique to take your photograph and make a pattern from it. When the pattern is complete we will go in the shop and cut it.
The DVD is $10 plus shipping. This is a data DVD that you will use on your computer to watch the video tutorial
Every Scrollsaw Workshop Pattern from 2007-2017 in DVD
Purchase the entire Scrollsaw Workshop pattern catalog for offline access.
This DVD has 2,300 patterns published from 2007 thru 2017.
The DVD is $20 plus shipping. Ships to 60 countries around the world.
The DVD is $20 plus shipping. Ships to 60 countries around the world.
If you use the DVD on a Windows PC there is a simple viewer program to browse through the patterns.
The DVD also works fine on a MAC. The viewer program is not MAC compatible but there is an included PDF with all the patterns shown as thumbnails for easy viewing.
Want to create beautiful wooden vases on the scroll saw?
My two "Wooden Vases on the Scroll Saw" books make it easy.
The books are $12 each and available for instant download after purchase. Click for Video Demonstration.
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