Best way to cut wooden circles?

Joseph Shaul

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206
Location
Madison, WI
I'd like to cut some wooden discs, and was wondering if someone could help me find the best tool for my application. The three options I've been looking at so far are:

#1: Circle cutter bit for drill press . Several companies make these ranging in price from $10 to $100, and with a maximum outer diameter between 4 1/2" and 8 1/2". I've got an adequate drill press drill press with a good-sized motor, so this is a convenient option, but most of them seem to require a not-so-convenient pilot hole in the middle.

#2: Router jig. This is pretty simple - just an aluminum sheet with a mounting point for a plunge router and a peg you mount in the center. I've already got the plunge router, so making one of these could be quite cheap; however, a pilot hole is still required unless you can find another way to keep the apparatus centered.

#3: Dremel circle-cutting jig. Dremel makes a circle-cutting assembly that appears to be based around a suction cup - hence, no requirement for that pesky pilot hole. However, they don't work with cordless dremels, which means I'd have to buy another one.

Any thoughts?
 
The husband says that what you are taking about in #1 is a hole saw and
with a drill press you don't need the pilot bit, remove that, make sure your work is well clamped down and cut your circle.... slower is better than faster
 

I was thinking along the lines of an adjustable hole saw, like one of these, capable of cutting at least 5" holes (very useful for speaker building):
825-6510.gif



Does Lenox make one?
 
How big are the discs you want to cut? If they can have a center hole you could cut them with a router and trammel or on a table saw/band saw with a pivot point. If it can't have a center point you could make a template and use a router with a flush trim bit.

I wouldn't use idea #3, I've never seen a suction cup that stuck to porous wood
 
I was thinking along the lines of an adjustable hole saw, like one of these, capable of cutting at least 5" holes (very useful for speaker building):
825-6510.gif



Does Lenox make one?

As far as I know, the adjustable hole saws like that do need to be run with the center pilot. Even with the workpiece clamped to within an inch of it's life, the offset cutter will try to rip the wood out of the clamps and throw it around the shop, especially on a 5" hole.

A regular holes saw like this in the drill press can get by without one:

1c2835f723d7e247c09b4ebe6a3468c1.jpg

Most of the methods suggested so far involve a hole of some sort in the middle. Along the lines of Eric's suggestion, how about using a circle template and a plunge router with a guide bushing to follow the template? You could cut the template with the adjustable hole saw or any other tool that'll get the level of accuracy you need, then lay the template on top of your "money" wood and use the router to cut your disk. You'd use different templates depending on the type of router setup -- guide bushing or flush trip bit. Sort like this...

Circle Templates.jpg

Sorry if this is already info you know, but in case it's not...

Guide bushings

Does that make sense?
 
Ok no one said there were any paramiters on this topic about cost or anything, but am i the only one that thinks the best way to do circles is with a lathe? No holes in the center and perectly round. any size you want and any thinckness. you can even round the edges over and make wheels. Do a whole cylinder and cut as many circles as you want.
 
If you want to use the router that you already have, Lee Valley sells this little rig.....

05j3601s1.jpg
05j3601d2.gif

>> LINK << $6.25

You could maybe make something up yourself, using the same idea, you do have to use good double sided tape.

if you are making small discs, then you could make one, and use it as a template, again, using double sided tape to hole the template in place.

What size(s) do you need, what material are you going to use and what is the application?

Cheers!
 
Along the lines of Eric's suggestion, how about using a circle template and a plunge router with a guide bushing to follow the template?

That is a very good idea - cutting a set of plywood circles for templates is an extremely economical solution to the problem at hand, and one which doesn't require me to drill pilot holes in the wood to be cut. Thanks for the tip!

As for a router template, I'm intending to make myself something like this, except using aluminum instead of acrylic. (Here's hoping I don't goof up all the little holes!).

41H1DX3SA9L._SL500_AA280_.jpg
 
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... unless you can find another way to keep the apparatus centered.

This is a jig I designed which traps the circle cutter, adjustable from about 2>6", within another plate. As you can see a pin type jig is required to make the jig. :D

MultiCircleJig.jpg
Note that the pivot pin sits in an adjustable eccentric boss (10 o'clock from the router bit).

MultiCircleJigA.jpgMultiCircleJigB.jpgMultiCircleJigC.jpg
 
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