First circle cut on a table saw

[keith micinski]

I had a little table top to make and have always wanted to try cutting a circle on the table saw and it went surprising well. I also wanted to bevel the top to take away from some of the thickness so the table saw was the only tool I had to do this with. One thing I learned is that I should have probably cut the circle out first and then did the bevel because I ended up hogging a lot of material out of the waste piece due to the angle.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Looks great! It turned out really well.
Mental note to myself to use two cuts if I do the same.
Since no one else has asked, whats the apparatus under the table?

[scott vroom]

Could you describe your process for cutting the circle on your table saw? I watched a couple of youtube vids where they used a centered 1/4" carriage bolt that was attached to the TS top. The top was spun as the blade was slowly raised after each rotation.

[keith micinski]

It's a sausage press/ fruit press.
I took a piece of OSB and cut a 12x12 square and then counter sunk a hole in the center of it. I then found the center of my blank and screwed the bottom of the blank through the hole. In hindsight,I should have either used regular ply wood with a smooth face or ran the OSB through my belt sander because I felt like there was a little bit of friction between the two pieces. I think this led me to leave the screw just a little bit looser then I would have liked and there may have been just the slightest bit of slop but I don't think it was enough to notice. I then angled the blade to 35 degrees and measured over half of my circle. I took double sided tape and stuck the OSB down to the table saw. Then I slowly raised the blade and turned the blank at the same time.
Again if I had to do it over I would have cut the circle first then cut the bevel because the angle of the blade was causing it to hog out a lot of material out of the waste side kind of like making a cove moulding.
I just took it nice and slow and made sure to spin the blank at a consistent speed. Once the blade made the circle all of the way through I had to pry the blank off of the table saw and move it over so I could cut a flat rim on the edge and kind of just eye balled what I thought would look good on that and get me close to my 18" circumference.

[Kevin Womer]

I too am interested in the process, and your piece turned out great!

[keith micinski]

I have used a router with a trammel to cut the last sausage press table but it wasn't a beveled edge. I think the next one I do I will probably use the table saw again. One thing I would change in the future is I am going to tape a push block to the center of the piece so that when you rotate it its not so easy to cause the piece to wobble a little. I did this for the straight cut but I didn't put it right in the center.

[Kevin Womer]

Thank you and again great job!

[scott vroom]

Thanks for sharing, Keith.