Do-it-yourself jigsaw machines for wood. Jigsaw machine - do-it-yourself options

A jigsaw is a tool without which it is now simply impossible to perform many works on processing wood and materials in which it is used. Being compact and light weight, a handheld portable jigsaw is capable of cutting out products of very complex geometry from a workpiece.

The jigsaw is very convenient to use and also provides very precise and thin cut. If you don’t want to spend money on a purchased jigsaw, you can make your own at home.

The lightest product

The jigsaw table itself can be made with your own hands in a short period of an hour. The advantage of the manufactured design will be its simplicity. It can easily be mounted on a tabletop or workbench and, if necessary, can also be easily disassembled. Disadvantage homemade design can be considered its small area.

The simplest product consists of the following parts:

  1. Plywood.
  2. Mounting screws.
  3. Clamps.

The working basis of the machine can be laminated plywood, in which it is necessary to drill holes for installing fasteners and for the saw itself. Plywood must be at least 10 millimeters thick. At the same time, you may also have to make holes in the base of your power tool for mounting screws.

A homemade structure can be attached to the workbench using clamps. Please note that the heads of the screws for fastening must be recessed into the surface of the sheet so that they do not interfere with you while working. Such a machine can easily handle the processing of small workpieces up to 30 millimeters thick. You can easily find a drawing of this type of machine on the Internet, and then assemble it yourself at home.

Another option

This option consists of the following parts:

  1. Bed made of chipboard.
  2. Tube for vacuum cleaner.
  3. Laminated plywood for the machine cover.
  4. Confirmants.

There is a second option stationary device to work with wood material, which is assembled from a larger number of spare parts, but making it is not difficult. The frame is made of chipboard and consists of a back wall and two sidewalls. To make it easy to get to the power button, the machine has no front wall.

In the back wall you need to do it yourself drill holes for the vacuum cleaner tube and cord. The cover for the machine can be made from laminated plywood 10 millimeters thick. The entire structure can be tightened with confirmants. The jigsaw can be secured in the same way as described above in the first case.

On a machine made according to this option, it is possible to process more massive workpieces, however, when working with a thick workpiece, the jigsaw saw can go in both directions and lean back. At the same time, cutting accuracy deteriorates. This drawback can easily be eliminated with your own hands by installing a bracket on a homemade machine that will serve as a stop.

The jigsaw blade will move between two 11mm bearings, which must be screwed to an L-shaped strip made of steel. The back of the saw will rest against the wall of the bracket itself. This design will prevent your jigsaw blade from deviating from the intended path.

The bracket must be attached to the frame, made of 50 by 50 millimeter bars. It can be lowered or raised depending on the length and thickness of the wood being processed. To do this, the frame itself, together with the stop, must not be firmly attached to the side of the machine, but pressed against it with a hardboard, steel or textolite plate. We install a vertical frame post between the hardboard and the frame.

The machine can be more convenient if you install an additional limit bar on it, with which you can cut the material into workpieces of the same length and thickness.

The limiter is attached to the machine using clamps. His made from wooden beam , aluminum or steel angle. For convenience, you can also install a bar on the slide, which must be secured to the sides or bottom of the tabletop.

Table for a jigsaw made of chipboard

To make this jigsaw table you must have a certain carpentry skill, since when connecting its frame to the legs, it must be done in a tongue-and-groove manner. The tongue and groove itself can be replaced with a connection using dowels, wood glue and self-tapping screws.

The machine cover must be made liftable to facilitate access to the tool when replacing it. In order for the machine to be multifunctional, it is necessary to provide space for mounting a manual milling machine.

The table is assembled from the following materials:

  • block 80 by 80 millimeters;
  • block 40 by 80 millimeters;
  • laminated plywood or laminated chipboard sizes 900 by 900 millimeters.

Measure the distance between the legs, it should be from 60 to 70 centimeters. The bars for the legs and drawers will be obtained if you cut the bars 80 by 80 millimeters lengthwise. You can choose the height of the legs themselves at your own discretion, it all depends on how comfortable it will be for you to perform work on the machine.

At each end of the legs and drawers, it is necessary to drill two holes for dowels. The same holes must be made on the sides of the legs. Coat the dowels with glue half their length and insert them into the ends. After this, assemble the entire frame. It will turn out to be non-separable. After checking and possible corrections, it is tightened tightly.

All surfaces at contact points must be coat with glue. Use self-tapping screws for additional structural strength, which must be screwed through holes prepared in advance for them.

The lid must be attached to one of the drawers using hinges; to do this, a slot must be made in it to facilitate removal and installation of the jigsaw. In the back of the tabletop, you need to screw two strips with a pre-selected quarter into which the sole of the power tool should fit.

Holes must be made in the strips, into which bolts or clamping screws must then be installed. A jigsaw mounted under the tabletop will be able to cut thicker material if a recess is made in the lid for its sole. The easiest way to make this deepening is using a milling machine.

The resulting table will be very simple and spacious, so a large lid can provide the necessary strength chipboard thickness or plywood. Use sheets of 20 millimeters or thicker.

Jigsaw using thin saws

Since when cutting out complex patterns in plywood, a jigsaw is not well suited for this, you need to take a thin file. It can be fitted to hand power tool, using the original device.

We also attach the jigsaw to the tabletop, but the thin file needs to be tensioned, since it will not be enough just set on a pendulum. To facilitate the process of tensioning the file, it is necessary to make a rocker arm from a block.

The tension of your canvas is ensured by a spring. Place its lower loop on the transverse pin. Top loop must be inserted into the adjusting screw, which changes the tension force of the damper. All wooden blanks For homemade machine made from hard rocks tree.

Since the jigsaw machine does not have the ability to fasten a blade with a thin section, you can remake the piece old saw, having previously drilled a hole in it and completed it with a screw with nut and clamping plate.

A vertical slot must be made in the rocker arm into which a second steel plate must be inserted. It is attached to the rocker with screws. The upper part of the file must be attached to it in the same way as the lower one. To make it easier for you, you can use scraps from an old jigsaw to make the plates.


Leonid Ivanovich Sudakov from Shklov has been doing everything for rabbits on the farm himself for more than 40 years: from preparing food to beautiful, high-quality cages for long-eared rabbits.

It works various instruments, the main one is a jigsaw: you can dismantle a board, saw off a block, and cut out a shaped door.

Only the purchased tool worked for a couple of hours and broke. And the scale of the owner’s work is impressive. Then he decided to make electric jigsaw so that it can withstand heavy loads and can cut not only plywood, but also thick coniferous slabs.

Jigsaw machine diagrams

I knocked down a rectangular plywood box (see Fig. Item 1) - the base of the jigsaw. Nailed to the bottom wooden blocks(2) - for attaching the motor group. An electric motor was placed on them washing machine(3), connected a block of starting capacitors (4) to it and connected a start button (5).

The connecting rod with the piston (6) from the moped engine was placed on bearings and secured in the bottom of the box next to the engine. The cylinder (7) was screwed to the roof of the box so that the piston moved freely. I attached a pulley to the connecting rod and pulled the belt (8), connecting it to the engine pulley. Now, when turned on, the piston moves back and forth.

All that remains is to take care of the cutting blade (Fig., item 9, photo item 1). Leonid Ivanovich vertically screwed a bolt into the piston from above (item 2 in the photo), and sawed its protruding end (3) lengthwise with a grinder. I picked up a hex nut (4), drilled a small diameter hole in its end and cut the thread (5) with a tap. When I vertically inserted a jigsaw file (1) into the slot of the large bolt, I screwed on the nut and clamped it with a smaller bolt (6) screwed into its side hole. To make it easier to process wood, I attached a circle of fiberboard on top of the machine (Fig., item 10) with a hole in the middle through which the saw goes.

It has become more convenient to rotate and control the workpieces. The master is pleased with his device.

By the way
To avoid injury and vibration, install the jigsaw on a rigid support, and place a rubber mat under its legs.

Note
Instead of a washing machine motor, you can use any three-phase motor (even low-power).

A tabletop jigsaw machine will be useful to every craftsman who cuts out thin parts. However, it is not always possible and meaningful to purchase a full-fledged machine. In that case, get down to business and make it yourself!

The structure of a jigsaw machine - what lies inside?

Jigsaw machines belong more to special tools than to devices that are needed as to an experienced master, and for the amateur who manages the garage. Their purpose comes down to a special task, namely cutting out complex curved contours from sheet materials. A special feature of such machines is the execution of cuts without violating the integrity of the external contour. Most often, sawing occurs on wood and derivative materials (plywood, chipboard, fiberboard), although modern machines equipped with appropriate saws can also work with other materials, for example, plastic or plasterboard.

Such equipment has found application in the music industry (manufacturing musical instruments) and, of course, in the furniture room. Those who like to make things in their own workshop also buy such units. The structure of a traditional jigsaw machine, designed according to all the rules, looks like this: the working surface on which the saw is mounted hides a drive (electric motor) and a crank structure underneath. The tension mechanism can be located either below or above the machine.

To process a part, it must be placed on the workbench. Many models have the ability to rotate it at different angles to make bevel cuts. Stops and guides on the surface, as well as swivel mechanism may have markings, which greatly simplifies and speeds up the work. The length of the cut depends on the length of the work table - most models are limited to 30-40 cm. Electric motor power is an important, but still far from the most fundamental factor, since the machine has a huge reserve of unclaimed power. For example, for a home workshop or even small production An “engine” of only 150 W is enough.

The crank mechanism is much more important detail, because in in this case It is on this that the quality of transmission of the drive’s torque into the translational and reciprocating motion, directed in the vertical plane by means of a saw, depends.

Standard jigsaw machines are considered to be devices with an amplitude of movement of around 3-5 cm and a vibration frequency of up to 1000 per minute. Many models provide a change of speed mode for different materials. The jigsaw file itself is usually made up to 35 cm long and is capable of sawing material up to 10 cm thick. The width of the files can vary in a fairly wide range - from very thin two-millimeter to coarser ten-millimeter, with a thickness from 0.6 mm to 1.25 mm.

Even the thickest and widest file will easily break if you do not provide sufficient tension along the entire length of the file. Leaf and coil springs are used for this. Quite often, such machines are equipped with an air pump, which cleans the cut from sawdust by blowing it, as well as a drilling unit. The latter device is especially useful, because in this case the master does not need to be distracted by connecting electric drill and drilling a hole - everything happens on the working plane of the machine. Of course, you have to pay for convenience!

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

On the Internet you will find many different designs homemade machines, but most of them come down to repurposing into this device. By using your ingenuity and watching the video, you can easily make a homemade jigsaw from this tool. The jigsaw only needs a little modification. In fact, it plays the role of a machine drive and a crank mechanism, but the rest needs to be thought out and implemented.

Of course, manufacturers are trying to please consumers in this area as well, offering their own platform options for quick and convenient remodeling, however, in reality only you can make a device that suits your needs. So, the first step is to make a support table, for which sheet metal is most often used. You need to make a beveled oblong hole in it for the saw blade and holes for fasteners (countersunk screws are recommended), and attach the jigsaw to the bottom of the support table.

This structure can only be strengthened wooden table. You can go beyond this and install guide rails. The convenience of such a device lies in the fact that in addition to performing functions that are not entirely inherent to it, you can always disconnect the drive and with a slight movement of your hand turn it back into a manual jigsaw! If you constantly need this tool for work, it makes sense specifically for the machine - it will be cheaper than spending money on a real machine.

Advantages and disadvantages - we continue to modify!

But such a unit inherits not only the advantages of the tool, but also its disadvantages, in particular, the file is too wide for filigree work, which significantly limits the curvature of the lines. If there is a need for this, there will be a way out. So far, our machine differs from the classic jigsaw unit in the absence of springs that would ensure sufficient tension on the file. But it’s quite easy to build a simple rocker, which on one side will be under the tension of springs, and on the other, fixed to a nail file.

There is another option - to clamp the nail file between two guide rollers, but the first option is still more reliable. Don't forget to turn off the pendulum action on your jigsaw before you start using your homemade machine. There is another design - if your tool is powerful enough, then it can only serve as a drive in a structure of two rocker arms, between which a nail file is stretched. The movement is transmitted through a file attached to the lower rocker.

Machine from a sewing machine - giving a second life to old tools!

If you inherited a foot or hand weapon from your grandmother or mother sewing machine, consider yourself the owner of an excellent jigsaw machine! Of course, for this you need to “work a little magic” on the machine. First, remove the thread weaving device, which is usually located at the bottom of the machine. There is nothing complicated about it, just unscrew two bolts. Then we knock out the cotter pin and remove the drive shaft leading to the thread weaving mechanism.

Having unscrewed the top panel that protects the mechanisms, it is necessary to expand the slot in which the needle went. Be guided by the needs and width of the nail file that you will use in your work. Files for a jigsaw machine of this kind also need to be slightly modified, namely, cut to the maximum length of the needle that could be used on this machine. Grinding off the upper teeth and sharpening bottom part on the tip, all you have to do is insert the nail file into the needle holder and test your machine in action!

I didn’t want to permanently place my expensive Makita jigsaw on the table, so I decided to buy another one to create a table. I was very lucky to find a jigsaw in the “Our House” store Caliber LEM-610E for only 862 rub. Includes: wood saw, side stop, adapter for vacuum cleaner, spare brushes for the motor.

There was an outlet next to the display case and I looked at it in action. It is quite well made, convenient, there is a speed control with a wheel, and the activation is fixed with a button. The saw holder moves smoothly without any play.

It’s very fortunate that I was able to twirl it in my hands before buying it; I wouldn’t risk ordering it from the Vseistrumenty.ru website without knowing what it is. (Although they write good reviews about it) By the way, it costs more there and there is also a delivery fee... so I successfully bought it at Our House. :)

Despite its advantages, it has a number of disadvantages that I noticed upon closer examination:

1) The file does not fit into the saw holder. Apparently this is a defective copy, but I did not waste my time on the exchange. Each file has to be sharpened. (Although I won’t be able to use them on the second jigsaw after grinding - it doesn’t matter, they are relatively inexpensive)
2) And this flaw is visible even in the picture. The canvas is tilted strongly forward. (This was also corrected by placing tin strips under the back of the sole, achieving 90 o.
3) The speed control wheel turns heavily, not very clearly and with jamming. On minimum value speed, the tool cannot start at all (However, the same bullshit with starting is with my other “calibrated” drills. This is unpleasant, but does not spoil life much)


As always, everything is in the spirit of minimalism. I did not make a separate switch. It is quite convenient to turn on with a standard button and lock into place.

To do this, I bought a bracket at KrepMarket (this is a fastening element from some kind of system iron structures)

By the way, I really love CrepeMarket. Any screws, nuts, screws, fasteners. Every time I design something, I wander around in thought and collect the necessary details.

I cut off the excess and sharpened it.

Rear view. Now the distance between the bearings has a fixed clearance for the file of 1.2mm. I have a plan for the future: to make a gap adjustment.

For thin materials it can be lowered.

As an experiment, I drew a star and tried to cut it out evenly


For a 130mm file, the maximum possible thickness is 5cm. It turns out there are very long files, I recently saw a 300mm file on the market

I sawed off a 1.5mm slice from a 40x40mm block

Which is what I did. Now you can saw on it long blanks 11.5 cm wide. The old L-shaped structure also remains, and if greater strength of the holder is needed, it can be installed again, although new design remained quite strong and reliable.

I also came up with the idea of ​​making a knife from an old dull saw, grinding off its teeth and sharpening it.



They can be used to cut material like sealant into shapes. The cut is smooth. Much better than stationery knife. The photo shows a mouse pad.

Well, that's probably all. The table turned out to be reliable and comfortable. Now I have a tool on which I can produce more fine work than on a circular machine.

A plywood jigsaw has not faded away for decades. Craftsmen manage to make a real work of art from ordinary plywood. But here’s what I wanted to draw your attention to: while our man creates a work as a result of considerable physical effort, making millions of reciprocating movements with an ordinary jigsaw, his foreign colleague placed all the burdens on the shoulders of a small but very convenient mechanism, completely concentrating on aesthetic side his brainchild.

Many people have not heard of power jigsaws or know they exist, although they have actually been around for many years, even before electric saws were a thing. This does not mean the hand-held jigsaws that are now familiar to everyone, but stationary ones.

Below are three examples of these antique jigsaws. These examples are really interesting, but there were many early models, some of which were made of wood, some of which were with foot driven, as in these paintings, and some used a flywheel that was rotated by hand.

Now our brothers use more advanced technology, naturally with an electric drive. This includes adjusting the speed of the blade, lighting, blowing and sucking sawdust from the workpiece (nice, right?), and drilling holes. There are household ones with a price starting from $120, and there are also professional ones that cost more than 1500, again green ones.

In principle, this equipment can be bought from us, or in extreme cases, via the Internet, even cheaper. But many people now simply cannot allocate a certain number of green presidents from the budget to purchase a jigsaw, and some prefer to make such a jigsaw themselves. And since our “Home Crafts Club” was created for such people, it is for them that I am posting an article on how to make a tabletop jigsaw from the magazine “Do It Yourself” for 2003.

The tabletop jigsaw is designed for cutting wood and sheet metal: aluminum, copper and even steel. You can install it like standard canvases for hand jigsaw, and homemade, made from band saws, hacksaw blades for metal, etc. This significantly expands its capabilities and makes it an indispensable tool in any home workshop (photo 1).
The jigsaw has three speeds - 706, 1323 and 1730 working strokes per minute. A 120 W electric motor is used for the drive. The stroke length of the saw can be set to 12 mm or 24 mm - it is switched by rearranging the crank of the drive mechanism. The saw has the ability to tilt 45° both left and right. The tilt adjustment mechanism is designed so that the jigsaw work table always remains in a horizontal position. When the saw is positioned vertically on the machine, materials up to 66 mm thick can be processed, and when tilted at 45°, materials up to 44 mm thick can be processed.


Rice. 1. Diagram of the jigsaw and its drive mechanism

The desktop has enough large sizes- 500x870 mm, which is very convenient for work, as it allows you to process large-sized parts. The table is made of a steel plate 8 mm thick. The design turned out to be very heavy and therefore it is better to install the jigsaw in the workshop
stationary on a special stand or on a durable table.
The jigsaw structure is shown schematically in Fig. 1. It is based on a C-shaped frame with two levers swinging on axles, mounted on a common platform with an engine and a crank drive. The upper and lower swing arms form a parallelogram frame, with the help of which the jigsaw blade is fastened, tensioned and moved up and down (working stroke). The oscillatory movement up and down is provided by the crank mechanism, which is driven into rotation by an electric motor through a V-belt drive.


Rice. 2. Design of the machine bed (angle 50x50 mm) and dimensions of the work table plate (steel sheet 8 mm thick)

The base of the machine is a flat rectangular frame measuring 870x500 mm, welded from a 50x50 mm angle. Racks are welded in the corners of the frame
330 mm high, on which it is laid on top and secured with screws with countersunk heads work table plate - Fig. 2.


View from the rear pillar of the turntable.

A tilt-and-turn platform with a C-shaped frame and all the parts of the electric drive mechanism are suspended from the base of the machine. This device ensures that the saw is installed at an angle to the plane of the work table plate. The details and principle of its operation are clearly visible in photos 2 and 3, and the design of the front and rear rotary struts is shown in Fig. 3.


Rice. 3. Front and rear racks of the turntable, providing the ability to tilt the saw to the plane of the work table

The front rotary stand is a semi-ring with a semicircular guide groove, screwed from below to the table. This design of the front desk made it possible to get rid of protruding parts above the flat surface of the desktop. The rear swivel strut has a conventional design.
Both swing arms are made of steel pipe external diameter 27 mm with wall thickness 2 mm. They have almost the same design - fig. 4. Each lever is welded from two pieces of pipe. A boss with a hole of 010 mm is welded in the middle part


Rice. 4. Upper and lower swing arms

for the axle on which the lever is mounted on the C-frame. (Instead of welding, you can use soldering to assemble the arms brazing, for example, PSR. But in this case, the round shanks of the central bosses and end plugs must fit inside the pipe sections by at least 15 mm, otherwise the soldering strength may be insufficient.)


Rice. 5. Installation unit for the rotary axis of the upper arm on the C-shaped frame.

The installation unit for the upper arm axis is shown in Fig. 5. The lower arm axle is mounted on the C-frame in a similar manner. Here, as in all other units with rotating parts, protected ball bearings (608) are used, which do not require maintenance or additional lubrication, and in case of failure, can be easily replaced with new ones.


Front tilt-and-turn platform post.

The clamp parts are made of annealed, high-carbon tool steel (see Fig. 6 and Photo 4). It is not recommended to use regular structural (mild) steel for these parts. Soft metal clamping clips cannot securely hold the saw blade. Both halves of each clamp have quite complex shape. They grind them into lathe using a 4-jaw chuck.


Rice. 6. Upper and lower saw clamping devices.

Install clips for clamping the saw on bearings pressed into round sockets at the ends of the upper and lower arms (see Fig. 4 in No. 3, 2003). A device for tensioning the saw is installed at the opposite ends of the levers (Fig. 7 (see also Fig. 1, photo 2 in No. 3, 2003). The tension mechanism uses protected ball bearings (608), pressed into the corresponding sockets of the upper and lower arms. Adjust the tension of the saw by screwing the rod with the stop into the shank of the shackle attached to the end of the lower lever. A spring that tightens the ends of the arms lifts the upper arm when the saw breaks.


Upper saw clamp


The main elements and parts of the drive are clearly visible in photo 5 (see also photo 1 in No. 3, 2003), and the design of the crank mechanism is in Fig. 8. Rotation from the engine to the crank mechanism is transmitted using a V-belt drive (8x710 mm V-belt is used). Three pulleys are installed on the shafts of the engine and crank mechanism, the dimensions of which are designed to provide three speeds - 706, 1323 and 1730 working strokes per minute - at a rotation speed of the engine shaft of 1497 rpm.


Rice. 7. Design of the saw tension mechanism.

The drive mechanism (photo 5 and Fig. 2 in No. 3, 2003), which ensures the oscillatory movement of the saw up and down, consists of a crank and connecting rod. The crank assembly and the connecting rod connection with the lower arm have the same design (see views I and II in Fig. 8). Both units are secured with screws and can be easily removed or moved to another position. This made it possible to simplify the adjustment of the saw stroke length.

The length of the working stroke is changed by rotating the crank socket to a position closer to the axis of rotation of the secondary shaft (see Fig. 8, view A). To do this, unscrew bolts B and C and loosen bolt A. Then turn the crank assembly housing in the direction indicated by the arrows and tighten all the screws back into place. The saw stroke length can be set to 24 or 12 mm, which corresponds to the offset of the crank center by 10.2 and 5.1 mm from the axis of rotation of the secondary shaft.


Crank drive mechanism.

In addition to the careful and precise manufacturing of all jigsaw parts, it is very important to correctly assemble and adjust the drive mechanism. We are talking about vibration, which inevitably accompanies the operation of any crank drive. The fact is that the counterweight provided in the design, which is installed on the same shaft with the crank (see Fig. 8), turned out to be insufficient to compensate for vibrations when operating at high speeds.
Therefore, the drive mechanism was supplemented with another device - a balancing lever with two additional movable weights. Month-


Rice. 8. Design of the drive mechanism.

Crank drive mechanism.
then the installation of the balancing lever and the method of connecting it to the drive mechanism are clearly visible in photo 1 (see No. 3, 2003). The lower lever, connecting rod and crank assembly from the second set of parts, manufactured “in reserve”, were used as a balancer. The balancer lever crank assembly is installed on the side of the pulley block “out of phase” with respect to the position of the main drive crank (Fig. 8). When the main drive connecting rod moves up, the balance arm connecting rod should move down.

Reducing vibration to an acceptable level is achieved by adjusting the position of the moving weights on the balancing lever. The balancing procedure can take quite a lot of time to select the optimal weight of the weights.
In addition to wood, this stationary jigsaw allows you to cut a wide variety of sheet materials, including aluminum and steel. It is convenient and easy to use.

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