Jerry and banished monkey;

Thanks for your ideas.  I took the assembly apart and sanded the surfaces and that has helped  ( think I will re-sand a little more).  Also thanks for the bolt and nut idea if I ever strip the threads.  I also talked to Mike at Mike's workshop and he didn't think the flat ends would help much and to flatten my regular spiral blade ends with a hammer,  also, flat end spirals don't come in 2A or smaller blades which is my basic problem.  The larger blades usually stay put in the block.  

 

Well,  thanks again.  This scroller web site has been a life saver for me.  There aren't many scrollers in the immediate area that I can find, especially portraits.

 

Ron