So, after doing a lot of reading of different reviews on scroll saws,
reviews found on the web, I was absolutely convinced that a DW788 is the one
for me. BUT, and this really is a big but, they don´t sell it in my country
and won´t order one either (market too small, they said).
So, I checked with other countries that use the same electricity as we do
here in Finland, that is 240V, but nope, didn´t find De Walt scroll saws in
any one´s catalog. Finally got a little more info from De Walt U.K.. They
said manufacturing of the European model had ended in 2000, because sales
where not high enough. They didn´t think there would be any saws in stock
either, anywhere, which is a reasonable assumption I guess. Still, there
must be some second-hand ones in circulation, well I hope so. Anybody know
of a place doing international sale of second-hand woodworking power tools,
somewhere in Europe? I already checked on eBay, but didn´t find any that
where offered nor shipped outside the U.S.
My second chance would be getting a U.S. model, since these are still in
production (or was it not manufactured in Canada at the Excalibur
factories?). Shipping costs would of course be quite high, but the scroll
saw could be run with an electrical converter that I know are sold over here
(not cheap either I assume, but I should check it out). Any suggestions on
reputable online stores in the States doing international sales?
My last "hope" is getting a Delta P20 instead. Delta is sold over here, but
the problem is that they don´t keep too much of a stock of spares and
accessories. I have a bad experience with a Delta disc 9"/belt 6"-sander
that I purchased, the official importer in Finland wouldn´t order me a miter
gage for it although it was an original accessory for the sander. Delta
Machinery in the U.S. first told me to contact the European representative
in the U.K., they told me to contact Toolbank in the U.K.. Toolbank told me
they would maybe order me one, but didn´t and never got in touch with me
again, so I ended up trying to contact Delta Machinery in the U.S. again.
There I got an order fax number for the head office, placed my order as
their representative adviced and, guess what, never got any reply from the
head office. So, I contacted their e-mail info again, exchanging e-mail with
the same person as earlier on, and was adviced to do the same as last time.
I stopped trying there, seemed impossible to order Delta accessories from
Delta Machinery or anywhere else. So you see, I´m a bit afraid of getting
yet another Delta machine, as I don´t believe they will care to provide
accessories and spares even to brand new Delta machines. Apart from this
aspect, I would prefer a variable speed parallell-arm scroll saw and the P20
is sort of "almost variable" with its belt drive system. Then there is the
working surface that is quite rough and one thing I really don´t like, the
working surface can only be fully tilted in one direction and then 15
degrees in the other for some reason. I sometimes work with long pieces that
need bevelled scroll cutting in one or the other end of the piece and if
this requires more than 15 degrees in a certain direction, holding the piece
in a stable manner gets tough. Therefore I´m not that keen on the P20 even
if they would give you normal customer support and service. Unfortunately,
it seems to be the only readily available parallell arm middle prized scroll
saw on the Finnish market. The next step is the 1000 euro (that´s about the
same value as dollars) and more class with the Hegner made in Switzerland,
these can be ordered over here, but that´s just too much money for me. After
all I´m just a hobby user (although I really really would like an Eclips,
man they look good both specs- and otherwise!).
Maybe an easier way out would be getting one of those Chinese cheap clone
scroll saws after all. It´s just that a friend of mine owns a Rexxon (the
usual brand name they use over here) and is not very happy with it. He says
it isn´t rigid enough and doesn´t cut smooth, but it was cheap.
Ok, as usual my posts get too long. I guess what I really would love is some
suggestions on second-hand power tool shops and just good normal power tools
online shops that do international shipping and have a good reputation. Any
suggestions, links?
TIA, Ken
Finland