# Small Circle Cutting (no centre hole)



## Cowbell (May 20, 2014)

Hi Guys I'm new to the forum and live in Australia

At the moment I'm making a few knick knacks (jewellery) in between making guitars. 

The main thing I am struggling with is cutting small circles (between 1.5 and 2 inches in Diameter (30-40mm)). I don't really want to use plug cutters as I'm sure there is a way to do it with the tools I have (small bandsaw, router, drill press, laminate trimmer)

The circles would be easy to cut if I wanted a centre hole, but I want there to be no centre hole. I don't mind if there is a pin hole on the back side as I can fill that with epoxy/ filler. I'm mainly using highly figured curly timbers (scraps) and when I tried out the jig pictured below, the wood just split down the curly/ fiddle back grain lines (leaving 3/4 of a circle.)


























The stock I'm using is about 2-4 mm thick

I was also wondering if a similar jig would work better on a scroll saw (the blade might be a bit close to the clamp though...)?

Other alternatives. I could just program the circle into Cad and get them Laser cut. that would cost about 100 bucks for a few hundred circles.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Welcome to the forum, Stu.


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## Cowbell (May 20, 2014)

Cheers James! 

There's some cool stuff on here


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

The fact that your material is very thin indicates that the hole goes right through, that being the case why can't a Forstner bit be used, look on Gumtree for a cheap drill press and problem is solved.

Drill press | Power Tools | Gumtree Australia Kingston Area - Cheltenham | 1046571981

The hole can of course be routed by making a template and using a template guide and suitable bit, the simple formual for calculating the size of hole in the template is:
diameter of template guide minus diameter of bit plus diameter of finished hole, ie:
50mm hole required, using a 30mm guide with a 6mm bit gives us:
30 - 6 + 50 = 74 mm hole in the template which can be made using a circle routing jig, details of a simple to make one are in this pdf.

I'm having to assume that you have a reasonable amount of woodworking experience because you forgot to complete your profile which ensures meaningful answers. Being in Australia you may well live close to me in Rockingham WA in which case I would be happy to give you all the help that you need.


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## Jakexp (Apr 26, 2013)

Hi Stu, 
You can use a hole saw bit with the centre drill bit removed if you clamp the timber to your drill press table. 
I only watched this video this morning.. Woodturning with Tim Yoder, Ep. 4: Making Colored Pendants - YouTube
Tim does it towards the startoif the video (you just have to get thru the 2.5mins of ads at the start).
Jake


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## PawPawRay (Apr 5, 2009)

I make wooden earrings and cut the circles from 1 inch dowels using a miter saw. I can cut 150 in about 20 minutes.
Visit http://pawpawsworkshop.etsy.com to see finished product.


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## Wildwood (Aug 14, 2010)

Hi Stu - welcome to the forum - have a read through this thread from a while back, where some of us discuss making circles without central holes. The table saw jig works well with just a small pivot underneath, but the small size of your circles would be a worry, as you would be having your fingers rather too close to the blade for comfort.

http://www.routerforums.com/show-n-tell/43154-made-some-wooden-router-table-insert-rings.html


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## Shortslvs (Jan 13, 2013)

Have you thought about using a lathe? You could cut a length of whatever the lathe can hold then bandsaw to thickness. 

I would do it that way, but your material thickness might be what you are stuck with and therefore my answer is bad.


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## Santé (Jan 14, 2010)

Hello
This jig will solve all problem for small holes or small pieces
it is in english
http://www.lescopeaux.asso.fr/Techniques/Docs/Sante_Tripode_Anglais.pdf


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## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

Santé said:


> Hello
> This jig will solve all problem for small holes or small pieces
> it is in english
> http://www.lescopeaux.asso.fr/Techniques/Docs/Sante_Tripode_Anglais.pdf


That is a clever and interesting jig, Daniel. Thanks for posting it.


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## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

Stu, glad you found us, it's great to have you as a member of the community, welcome to Router Forums.


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## graycat (Oct 14, 2013)

Like Jake said; Good quality hole saw without the center drill, in a drill press. I do it regularly. It "works a charm". Only caveat - make certain the workpiece is firmly clamped.

Peter M


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## BCK (Feb 23, 2014)

Santé said:


> Hello
> This jig will solve all problem for small holes or small pieces
> it is in english
> http://www.lescopeaux.asso.fr/Techniques/Docs/Sante_Tripode_Anglais.pdf


thx for thr pdf...


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## Cowbell (May 20, 2014)

Thanks for the Reply guys, it's one of those cases where you spend a few hours trying to solve a problem and get completely stuck after your trial jigs don't work the way you intend them to. 

I had thought of the using a holesaw but just wasn't sure how many circles I would be able to cut out before the blades went blunt (maybe I've never used a really good quality holesaw). I have enough material for about 160 circles and it is all in 4mm form, and can't be re sawed etc.

I have little woodworking experience, I was at university pursuing printmaking (4 years ago) and found that I really enjoyed making things out of wood. My long term goal is to make acoustic guitars, but the humidity in my shop swings from 50-65% without a dehumidifier so I have to make do with other woodworking projects for the next little while. 

Stu

Stu


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## Shortslvs (Jan 13, 2013)

That sounds fun. I would love to build a guitar someday and a boat. These are the things I think of as the coolest of the cool


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