# Improved Lighting For My Scroll Saw



## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

Some time ago I had replaced the original DeWalt light with two halogen drafting board lights, on each side of the saw table to get rid of the blade shadow and moving mechanism shadows that existed around the point where the blade enters the wood. I did this to improve my accuracy, and they did a great job of removing these shadows and improving the illumination of the work area, but I found that I was frequently bumping my head into the lights and getting burns from them.

I recently found and purchased two of these LED lights to mount on my Dewalt 788 scroll saw in place of the halogen drafting board lights.

Shop Style Selections 15-in Adjustable Brushed Steel LED Clip-On Desk Lamp with Metal Shade at Lowes.com

I designed and built a bracket to mount these lights to the upper arm of the saw after my initial plan of clipping the lights to the rear of the saw table failed because I kept bumping into the clamps with my work. The new bracket that I made wraps around the upper arm of the saw just ahead of the DeWalt label and extends out from both sides of the saw arm. Each side extension of this bracket has a hole where I attached one of the lights after removing it from it’s original clamp. This required dis-assembly of the lamp head and unsoldering the wires in the lamp head, then removing the wires from the flex tube, and then removing the original clamp. After installing the base of the flex tube on my new bracket I then re-threaded the wires up through the flex tube into the lamp head, re-soldered the wires, and then re-assembled the lamp. The same was done with the second lamp. I routed the wires back along the left side of the upper saw arm and fixed them in place with tie-wraps. The switches for the two lights ended up along side of the rear frame casting of the saw, so I attached them to this casting, one above the other, with double sided carpet tape. Between the switches and the power supply/plugs there are several feet of additional wire that would easily reach a wall outlet if one was directly behind the scroll saw, but I have mounted a power strip to the left side of the rear leg of the saw stand, so I loosely twisted the wires together and then plugged the lights in to this power strip. The saw and foot switch to run the saw are also plugged into this power strip.

I’ve now been using these LED lights for almost 2 months and find them ideal for my purpose. They are very bright and emit a very white, non-flickering light that is perfect for scroll sawing. Being able to easily position them on each side and slightly forward of the blade and shining down at about a 45 deg angle at the blade eliminates all of the blade shadows and makes it very easy to follow the lines of my patterns. Running all day long the lamp housings never heat up to much over 80 or so degrees, so I never burn my head on them either.

These lights would make great auxiliary lighting for most any shop tool, either mounted on their original clamps or specially made brackets. I’ll be buying more for my drill press, band saw, etc.

Be careful not to buy the weighted desk top version of these lights. The base of the flexible shaft is different than the one with the spring clamp shown above. If you buy one of these it will be much harder to modify.

Attached are photos of this installation on my DeWalt 788.

Charley


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

I like it...
well done...


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## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

Stick486 said:


> I like it...
> well done...


Me too.


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## RJT501Win (Apr 21, 2012)

Hi Charley
your idea of LED's sure got me thinking..
my shop has some dark corners 
most of the time I use a LED headlight 
maybe I could fix your idea on some of my gear
cheers
JohnT


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

Hey! I got the same ones at lowes! They work great, and were darn cheap as well. I have lost one row of LEDs, but still plenty bright. Better still, they are cool to the touch and don't give too much glare off of the table.


Really like your base. I just use the clip on mine


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## marecat3 (Nov 30, 2010)

great idea


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Nice. I just finished putting LEDs in my shop to raise the overrall light level so it is really bright, and used the 2600 lumen bulbs above my table saw, workbench and sliding miter. Used under counter strip lights in several otherr areas so there are no dark corners any more. But still need a couple of lights on severral tools, band saw and routerr tables in particular. Your idea is great and the reflectors keep the glare cown and the LEDs run cool so no burning your fingers or worrying about fragile currly bulbs. I also finished a honey do by putting 6 high powered LEDs in the garage. It iis now brignt in there. Have the jointer and planer in the garage so they now are brightly lit. Oh, and so is the laundry area in there, which is what my honey wanted in the first place. I got the warmer color because it is more comfortable to me. The blue light models have proven to keep you awake. The warmer ones dont interrferre with sleep.


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

Just right for a problem I've been thinking about. Thanks.


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

Wow! I thought my idea was good, but I didn't expect so many "likes" in 24 hours.

Now I've got to take some more pictures to show why I've been improving my scroll saw.
I've been spending a lot of time in front of it since early August. A new post with pictures coming soon.

Charley


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## old coasty (Aug 15, 2014)

Thanks for the idea. I'm headed to Lowes today.


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## firstmuller (Aug 28, 2014)

I will have to look into this myself. I have a hard time seeing the blade on my scroll saw also.Thanks for the post
Allen


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## Potowner1 (Feb 17, 2011)

Charley,

Nice job on the mount. I have 2 of those lights and until now have clamped them on a cross bar that I hung from the ceiling. The lights are really good for the money and I will now try to attach them to my EX 21. Tnaks for showing us.


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## herrwood (Apr 19, 2014)

Looking at your photo i see the vac hose can you post a pic of what you did for dust collection I have been trying to figure a good way to collect dust on my DW788.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

kp91 said:


> Hey! I got the same ones at lowes! They work great, and were darn cheap as well. I have lost one row of LEDs, but still plenty bright. Better still, they are cool to the touch and don't give too much glare off of the table.
> 
> 
> Really like your base. I just use the clip on mine



Pardon the mess... The clip works great on the Delta saws


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## firstmuller (Aug 28, 2014)

I just bought 2 and just have them clamped onto the table of my 21" Xcalibuer and it sure is nice. Thanks for the info.
Allen


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

Kp91 Doug,

You scroll saw on a ship? Fredricksburg, VA isn't very close to water. Where are you?

I spent time on a heavy cruiser in the North Atlantic and would never have even tried to scroll there....just way too rough. I wasn't interested in scroll saws back then either.

Using two lights, one on each side of the blade aimed down at about 45 deg. makes the blade shadow and the motion flicker go away, so it's much easier to see where the blade is entering the wood. 

I have a Delta Q3 saw as well. I used it heavily for about 7 years and then bought the DeWalt 788 and now have both. They both cut about the same, maybe the Q3 cuts a bit faster, but I like the blade clamps and tension adjustment on the DeWalt better, so I tend to use it more. I teach scroll sawing, so I let my students try both to see which they like better. 

I have two more of those LED lights and will be putting them on the Delta Q3 sometime in January. I'll try to remember to post some pictures here of the mounting bracket that I make for them. The Delta Q3 bracket won't be as easy to design and make as the the one that I made for the DeWalt because of the moving upper arm just left of the stationery upper arm. It falls below the bottom of the stationary upper arm on the downward stroke, so a similar bracket to the one that I made for the DeWalt won't work on it.

Charley


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

Firstmuller Allen,

I'm glad you like the LED lights, but I tried to clamp my LED lights to the rear of my DeWalt 788 table when I first bought them, and I kept running into the clamps when I was cutting larger pieces. You will probably grow tired of the problems from clamping to the table and make a bracket to hold the light mountings up and out of the way. 

I don't have close access to a friend with an Excalibur, so I can't recommend any designs, yet.This may change in the Spring of 2016 though. I'll try to keep you in mind if I design a bracket for one.

Charley


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

herrwood said:


> Looking at your photo i see the vac hose can you post a pic of what you did for dust collection I have been trying to figure a good way to collect dust on my DW788.



There's not much to take a picture of. The photo that shows the vacuum hose along the side of my DeWalt 788 shows almost all there is to see. The hose is resting across the top of the power strip that's attached to the left side of the rear leg of my saw.The standard vacuum cleaner metal hose end is just tie wrapped to the sheet metal mechanism guard under the saw table. There's no collection fittings or shroud around the lower arm of my saw at all. The vacuum velocity is enough to pull the saw dust from under the table without doing anything else (if I remember to start the vacuum). I could post a photo of the standard metal end of the vacuum hose, but I doubt that the black tie wrap would even show up in the photo. My vacuum picks up almost all of the under table saw dust with the hose end just held near the lower blade mechanism. I wish I could think of a good way to do the same thing above the table of my saw. Every ornament or reindeer that I cut leaves a bunch of saw dust on the table top.

Several years ago they totally rebuilt the house next door to me. I mean they gutted the whole thing. Only the framing, outside walls and roof were left of the original house before they began putting it back together totally new inside. One day during this tear out work I saw the owner carrying the house central vacuum across the lawn toward the dumpster and I asked him if I could have it. He brought it over to my shop. Then he went back and climbed down into the dumpster and got me the 25' hose and all of the accessory fittings for it. Over the next few days all of the PVC vacuum pipes and wall outlets also found their way over to my shop.

I fixed the vacuum (bad control transformer) and cleaned it up with a plan to put it in my shop. It had incredible suction and my shop is small, so I thought that it would be ideal for collecting sanding sawdust, scroll saw dust, drill press dust, etc. I knew it wouldn't be big enough to collect the saw dust from my Unisaw or planer, but I thought that if it just picked up the fine sawdust and helped me clean the floor that it would be worth having.

The fabric filter in it proved to be way too small for collecting fine saw dust. It was just a loose fabric bag permanently attached inside just above the bottom collection container and it plugged quickly from saw dust, so I didn't permanently install the vacuum, but I did occasionally use it to vacuum the shop floor.

This past Spring a friend was closing his commercial wood shop and he offered me an Oneida Dust Deputy. It's a small plastic vortex type filter intended to be used with a shop vacuum. The dust is separated out of the air and drops into a 5 gallon can below the Dust Deputy. Only relatively clean air goes into the shop vacuum. 

I hooked it up to my shop vacuum and then used it to vacuum about 4 1/2 gallons of sawdust out of the bottom of my Unisaw. Then I vacuumed the floor. When I opened the shop vacuum it was 99%+ empty. Almost totally clean. I immediately knew that this filter had to be installed on that whole house central vacuum that I had. 

I installed the central vacuum unit on the wall in my shop's attic with the Dust Deputy mounted to the lid of the 5 gallon bucket sitting next to it. I drilled holes and ran the PVC vacuum pipe around my shop and placed one inlet port on each floor and one through the wall to the outside next to the shop door so that I could vacuum the cars and my truck with it too. Then I installed big open sided hooks across my shop ceiling so that I could easily route the vacuum hose across the ceiling in several different directions to the different machines that I would be using it with, and also to my work bench. I routed the exhaust pipe from the vacuum out through the attic wall near where the vacuum was mounted. Even if the filters miss some real fine dust it will never get back into my shop. I had to buy some additional pipe and fittings, but was able to use most of what had been given to me. For less than $150 including the $35 that I gave for the Dust Deputy the installation was complete.

With the vacuum fully installed it was time to test it. Again, I cleaned out the Unisaw, but it was still almost empty. Then I cleaned the rest of the tools and then the floor. All was working great until I accidentally plugged the end of the hose. A few seconds later I heard a loud wumph from the attic. I went up there and found that the 5 gallon plastic dust pail had imploded. It was now triangle shaped. My shop vacuum never did that to the bucket. What suction that central vacuum unit has!!!

So I needed a metal barrel for my vacuum system, but I couldn't find one small enough to fit up the pull down attic stairway to my shop attic. My son said he would try to find me a 30 gallon metal grease barrel, but that was going to take him some time to find. Then I realized that my plastic buckets (Firehouse Subs Pickle Buckets) had ribs running around the top 4" inches of them to reinforce the open end of the bucket, and the one that collapsed had only done so in the thin lower areas of the bucket sides. I then realized that by stacking 3 buckets together, the top bucket would have these ribs all the way to the bottom of it and the lower walls of these other buckets would reinforce the top bucket to make it 3 times as thick. 

I'm still using my vacuum with the 3 buckets stacked for strength and no more implosions have occurred, but my son has found me one of those small 30 gallon metal grease barrels. I'll make a plywood lid for it and attach the Dust Deputy sometime early next year when my life slows down a little. I've got more Christmas presents to make right now, and my central vacuum is doing exactly what I wanted it for. Several times since installing it I have opened the bottom of the central vacuum and there's never been anything at all in it and I've had to dump the top 5 gallon bucket 3 times so far. The central vacuum with the Dust Deputy attached is working perfectly.

A picture under the table of my saw won't help much, but here are a couple of photos of my central vacuum, the stacked buckets and the Dust Deputy up in the attic of my shop. At the time that I took the photos I hadn't finished the exhaust piping on the right. Even pictures of the imploded bucket are included.

Charley


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## herrwood (Apr 19, 2014)

That is a nice setup and sound like it does a great job plus with the unit in the attic its quiet. When I saw the vac hose I thought had configured a collection box for the saw. Never thought about just running hose along the bottom like you did will give it a try. I get most of the top dust by having a dust collector hose near the top of the saw but hose seemed a little too big to fit on the bottom with out rigging something up and I do not do a lot of scroll saw work. I just do it for fun no selling, I like that with the scroll saw I can complete a project quickly.


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

herrwood said:


> That is a nice setup and sound like it does a great job plus with the unit in the attic its quiet. When I saw the vac hose I thought had configured a collection box for the saw. Never thought about just running hose along the bottom like you did will give it a try. I get most of the top dust by having a dust collector hose near the top of the saw but hose seemed a little too big to fit on the bottom with out rigging something up and I do not do a lot of scroll saw work. I just do it for fun no selling, I like that with the scroll saw I can complete a project quickly.



Ed,

I'm scrolling about 5 hours a day right now, trying to meet the Christmas present rush. I too never sell what I make, but give everything away (see my post about Christmas Ornaments). My vacuum is running longer hours than that because I am also connecting it to my sanders and drill presses. If I didn't have the Dust Deputy separating all this super fine sawdust my lungs would be filling up with it. Get one for a shop vac or whatever you use for a vacuum. An old canister house vacuum cleaner will do if you connect a Dust Deputy ahead of it to separate the dust from the air. The bag in the vacuum will never see the saw dust so the vacuum level will remain the same (until the bucket over fills DAMIKT). 

Charley


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## herrwood (Apr 19, 2014)

I will have to check the post to see what you are making, good idea on the christmas presidents. I am pretty well cover for dust collection. I have a dust collector with the upper paper filter and using a separatorand also have a air filter unit and connect my handheld tools to a vac, or the DC.
I'm in my mid 60's and between a few years in the engine room while in the Navy, working as a laborer and being involved in woodworking and old cars for most of my life. I figure my lungs are getting near full of all kinds of stuff so I recently got serious about dust collection.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I finally looked at the pictures of the scroll saw and really LIKE the use of flat aluminum for mounting the light. Easy to work with and plenty strong. I have some thick, 2 inch L shaped stock that would be very easy to mount on practically anything. I have one more extremely bright LED fixture to set up and your idea really clicks.


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## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

I have this https://www.uline.com/Product/Detai...zvbn8AFuzCo9jp5C3Hfl8aAuNm8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds mounted on my scroll saw cabinet. I sit on a stool and am able finally see those lines


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

I was doing great, copying your idea, until I turned the saw on and watched the light assembly go up and down a million times, before rocketing across the room. 

May I shouldn't have tied it to the arm that moved the blade?


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

Sold the single speed Hegner I bought for two hundred twelve years ago for four hundred. Bought an RBI for two, added a couple things and sold it to a buddy for what I had into it and used that money to buy a variable speed Hegner. All this and answering questions about the saw got me to looking it all over again. A LOT more information out there on using them today and I'm actually enjoying the critter for the first time. 

The LED light I bought for the RBI went out the door with it, so the new, used Hegner didn't have one. The problem [of lack of lighting] was solved by that I, a while back, bought several sewing machine lights as task lights for various tools. For example, I mounted one on the head-stock and one on the tail stock of my lathe and they provide the light I need to tend details, when turning. I had a couple more I was going to mount on my miter (right and left), but hadn't got to yet. Because the Hegner hold down is iron, the rare earth magnets attach to it fine and it seems to be doing the job.

Just for reference, these run about nine to fourteen dollars (get the ones with the most LED's, which, I believe, is about forty-five).


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

Wow, you have been digging into ancient history.

Using two lights is better, because it almost completely eliminates the blade shadows, so you can actually see where the blade is cutting. Going with LED lights also eliminated the forehead burns that I kept getting when I was using the halogen lights. I still use the same two light system and vacuum when using my scroll saw, but several years ago my son brought me a metal 20 gallon grease barrel (grease came in a plastic bag inside) and I made a lid from two layers of 3/4 cabinet birch ply to attach my Dust Deputy to it. No more bucket implode incidents, but the barrel emits an oil can type pop sound sometimes when I start the vacuum. 

Put two lights on your scroll saw, one shining down at about a 45 deg angle on each side of the blade. I think you will be very pleased with the result.

Charley


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

This is a well aged string. I found some small, 50 watt equivalent LED reflector bulbs that screw into a standard light socket. I bought $2 gooseneck lamps at a second hand store, took the bases off and mounted them using the threaded shaft. Works great, stays cool, a huge amount of light, switches on the back of each reflector. Or pop for a little more to get miniature relflector new. These throw a fairly sharp edged shadow, which actually helps locate the blade position. I'd probably affix the mounting plate behind the machine, connected to the stand, so the goosenecks extend over the blade.


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## Rusty Nesmith (Feb 1, 2020)

When you get old like me you will want one of these.


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

Wow, this is ancient history. 

My intent was to show that providing a bright LED light on each side of the blade cutting point, high enough not to get in the way but angled down at about 45 degrees to illuminate the blade from both sides. This nearly eliminates blade shadows and makes it much easier for me to see where the blade is cutting. I frequently was catching myself steering the work to follow the blade shadow and not the blade itself. You cannot eliminate the blade shadow with only one light, unless it is in front of and centered on the blade, but this is the exact point where you want to put your head and eyes. I too use magnification when doing very small work, but it has no light and is attached to a head band. A stationary magnifying glass has not worked for me. The lens abbarations
give me headaches, because I'm constantly moving my head around when I cut to see the cut from different angles. If you can work with a stationary lens you are better than me.

Each year the company that supplies the lights that I'm using changes the design slightly, but they are producing a similar light and they are in my local Lowes store. They don't look exactly the same, because the lamp head is a slightly different shape.
Go with two lights of whatever light you choose, and aim each one at the cutting point of the blade from each side. I'm quite certain that you will like the result, whether you use a magnifier or not.

Charley


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## Rusty Nesmith (Feb 1, 2020)

Sorry I didn’t notice the date. It was at the top of the list so I thought it was recent.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

Rusty Nesmith said:


> When you get old like me you will want one of these.


"old"??? I had to get one of those when I was 40..... Still running strong, I just wish it was LED instead of the round fluorescent tube. It takes a bit to get started on cold winter mornings


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## Rusty Nesmith (Feb 1, 2020)

kp91 said:


> "old"??? I had to get one of those when I was 40..... Still running strong, I just wish it was LED instead of the round fluorescent tube. It takes a bit to get started on cold winter mornings


I had one with the round bulb from Harbor Freight and didn’t last long. This one has LED’s and didn’t cost much more than the other one. Bought this one at Woodcraft.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Have 2 26oo lumen reflector LEDs from Rockler, one above my table saw, the other over the workbench. The center of my garage also has one, plus several 200 watt equiv. bare bulbs in the other four garage sockets. No dark spots anymore. I also have one on each of my band saws, and a bright bulb above my SCMS. Really does the job. 

If you buy a used gooseneck lamp from a second hand store, you can remove the threaded nut from the bottom, drill a hole and use the nut to secure it to another spot on or near your tool. Here are pix of my Laguna and small BS in the shop. Both are recycled and have small LED spot lights to focus their beams on the blade.


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