How to make a machine from a manual jigsaw with your own hands

Safety precautions

To preserve people's health and material assets, it is necessary to follow safety rules when working.

• Use only proper tools. Before starting work, it is imperative to inspect it for mechanical damage and insulation damage.
• Do not try to saw with a broken blade, especially on a jigsaw. A cheap blade is not worth your injury and treatment.
• Personal protective equipment should be used: goggles or transparent face shield, gloves, respirator.
• When using a jigsaw, secure the workpiece with a clamp and hold the jigsaw firmly with both hands. If you can’t secure it, call an assistant, also providing him with personal protective equipment.
• When working with flammable liquids, the use of open flames and open electric heating devices within 5 meters of the work site is prohibited.
• The workplace should provide good ventilation and removal of dust and fumes from stains and paints.

Safety glasses are required even when sawing with a hand jigsaw, despite the low cutting speed and the absence of an electric drive. When a taut file breaks—as it inevitably does, even for an experienced craftsman—pieces can fly far enough to hit the eye.

Security measures

When operating jigsaw machines, you must be careful and follow safety rules, which include using special clothing and gloves, as well as glasses.

You should work calmly, without sudden movements, so as not to accidentally injure yourself and the people around you. Operate and set up the machine in accordance with the instructions.

To make saw blades last longer, it is recommended to periodically lubricate them with machine oil, especially when working with metal. The machine must be regularly inspected and all driving mechanisms must be repaired in a timely manner.

Jigsaw catalog

Inexpensive machines with high accuracy

Rating of the best thicknessing machines for 2021
To independently study the intricacies of working on a jigsaw and carrying out minor household work, pay attention to the most affordable models. None of the errors here are critical.

Everything is adjusted, tightened, strengthened. In the process of preparing and servicing the machine, invaluable experience is gained. In this category, the main thing is to strictly follow the manufacturer’s recommendations and pay careful attention to preparing the first operational start-up.

Caliber LEN-90 – from 3,400 rubles.

After tightening the fasteners and adjusting the saw tension, the problem of noticeable vibration does not go away. Rigidly fixing the frame to the table surface will not help either. By the time a novice user decides to look for the problem, digging deeper, the play of the axial bushings becomes stronger and all the purchased files break. The issue with bushings is resolved by replacing them with bearings. You can save on pin files by replacing both pin fasteners with purchased or homemade units for fixing straight files. Moreover, the products cut out at this stage, after manual processing, take on a quite decent appearance. Technical characteristics of the machine Caliber LEN-85

BISON ZSL-90 – from 4,398 rubles.

Machine vibration interferes with precision tasks. Tightening loose fasteners and placing damping elements under the connections does not give the expected effect. But a rattling stamped table cannot be the cause of vibration, so you should look at the motor mount and drive elements. Theoretically, I accept the possibility of assembling a machine with beating shafts and pulleys, but in practice I have only encountered incorrect fixation of the flywheel. Loosen the fastening screw, set the flywheel without tension, and tighten the screw back. 98 times out of 100, adjusting the position will eliminate vibration from your new machine. The remaining 2% is due to manufacturing defects in drive parts, which are corrected as part of the warranty. Technical characteristics of the ZUBR ZSL-90 machine

Review of the machine from the 220 Volt store:

Kraton WMSS-11-02 – from 6,272 rubles.

All the advantages of an inexpensive machine are spoiled by the need to use pin files. The solution is to install homemade screw holders for direct consumables, but in this case the user will lose the factory warranty. I propose a compromise: drill a three-millimeter hole in two threaded rods of a suitable size - insert the ends of a regular file into them and tighten them with nuts. If you have one pair of pins, it will take you a minute to change the file. Operating efficiency is maintained and instructions are not violated. Technical characteristics of the Kraton WMSS-11-02 machine

In the following video, the author uses this machine to cut out a decorative trinket:

Dremel Moto-Saw (MS20-1/5) – from RUB 6,403.

The negative aspects of owning a Moto-Saw are the high cost of special consumables and the inability to repair the tool yourself. In fact, the minus points turn out to be advantages, for example, the design of the pins on the blade marked S50 allows for side cutting. This removes restrictions on the length of the workpiece being processed. The design of the machine contains no components that may require custom settings and maintenance. I admit that the shrill sound of the working tool will disturb someone, but the high speed of the saw makes it possible to put up with this feature. Dremel Moto-Saw (MS20-1/5) Specifications

The author of the video shares his impressions of purchasing this device:

Additional functionality of a jigsaw machine