Scroll saw ability of drilling a hole in the workpiece and dropping the
blade through it without having to "compromise" the perimeter is great, plus
I think you or the SWMBO would be hard pressed to get hurt. It is
essentially a coping saw except the machine does the work. Blades are tiny
(maybe 1/8" wide at most) allowing you to cut like an exacto knife would cut
through paper. Bandsaw is a slightly different animal, (IMHO probably tough
to get hurt there also) but you have to cut through the piece to start
cutting. Never tried small width blades on mine and maybe control is the
same but scroller has a real edge in the set-up time. Seconds to start
cutting vs. minutes on the bandsaw by the time you check tracking, guide
alignment, etc.


"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...
I've got a Delta scrollsaw and love it. I also have a benchtop (9")
Craftsman band saw and love it too. Each has its own attributes so it
really depends upon what you want to do, then let that drive which saw
you get. My Delta is the 540, the model that basically preceeded the VS
one you're probably looking at for around $99. From what reviews I've
read on the Delta, most are quite pleased with it for hobby work.

The purists will have cramps in their lings over this I suppose but oh
well! I also have a Craftsman 3/4 router (older one) that works just
great, and recently got the Ryobi 2hp Plunge unit at HD for $99. Works
just great, and had a decent review in one of the WW rags not long ago.

Silvan wrote:

SWMBO is interested in buying me a machine for some reason. I can't
figure
it out either, but she brought it up.

She has in mind to buy me a scroll saw, I think. That could have side
benefits if she herself will play with the thing. She could make lots
of
little cut-and-paint stuff, and might have a blast. Might, if. She's
not
much of a tool person, and even though she *could* use it, I wouldn't
give
better than a 40% chance that she actually *would* use it. My kids
might
play with it too though, so that's probably another plus in that column.

As far as my own someday list, I keep constantly wishing I had a
bandsaw. I
don't have *room* for a big one, period, no way, no how, can't happen.
I'm
already going to have to get *very* inventive to figure out how to shoe
horn my JET mini lathe into my shop. So I was looking at the 9" Delta
at
Lowe's. Not much capacity, but maybe enough capacity for most of the
things I have in mind right now that I would do with it. The real
question
I have is whether I could get $100 worth of use out of it during the
time
between now and whenever (1-5 years, depending) I build a larger shop.

Is a baby bandsaw better than nothing? How about resawing something
like
box trays on a scroll saw?

Back to scroll saws for a moment, let's just look at Lowe's. They have
a
cheap, medium and expensive model. The expensive one is a Dremel.
Seems
like a nicely made unit, but since I'm the one providing most of the
cash
SWMBO would use to buy such a thing, I can understand why she winced at
the
$189 price tag. The $99 variable speed Delta would be less painful, but
it
looked somewhat crappy. I'm wondering how crappy it is in actual use.

Finally, let's throw routers into the fray. My Crapsman router is all
but
useless. I have to set the height in my table by propping it up with
various bits of scrap until I get somewhere in the neighborhood of where
I
want to be. It won't even pretend to hold a depth setting anymore. Is
there a router worth looking at in the $100 price range? I'm still not
a
router person, but I do like to put decorative edges on things
occasionally, and I do use my router once in a blue moon. Having
something
more agreeable would not be unwelcome. $100 is too low, right? I
figure a
good router would cost $250. Is that in the ballpark? I haven't been
looking at them.