Source for small adjustable circle cutter?

[Richard Hash]

I'm looking for a small circle cutter, something that will go down to 5/8" diameter with a 3/16" center hole. Does anyone know of a source for such a thing? I'm pretty sure they existed at some point, Raymond Levy mentions having one in his "Mechanical Marvels" book.

The Fuller #4C only goes down to 7/8".

Half an hour of searching did not yield anything smaller than 7/8" dia. I may have to resort to using alternative methods (ie trammel and sander)...

--/Richard

[Grant Wilkinson]

Since you mention that you need a 3/16" center hole, I'm assuming that you want the disks that are cut out rather than the hole that is left, yes?

Could you use a hole saw, or do you need the ability to change the size?

[Bill Dufour]

Do you want the hole or the plug? In other words is the 5/8 the hole diameter or the plug diameter? I doubt if you will find anything that is under one inch outer diameter. Below that hole saw, annular cutter, or twist drill. I have seen adjustable auger bits. but not power drill bits.
You could buy a straight shank boring head I suppose but I would not recommend it in a drillpress due to side loading.
Bill D.

They do make one for power drills!
http://www.irwin.com/tools/drill-bits/drill-press-adjustable-wood-bits

http://www.shars.com/products/toolholding-workholding/boring-heads-accessories/2-boring-head-3-4-shank-combo-11-pc-set

[Ben Rivel]

What sized discs/pucks are you looking for? What about just slicing up a dowel rod in the diameter you need and drilling holes in the slices? You can get dowel rod in many different species.

[Jamie Buxton]

Lenox sells a hole saw with 5/8" OD. It goes on an arbor which usually has a 1/4" drill bit for the center hole. If you can't tolerate the quarter inch, perhaps you could use a 3/16" diameter router bit with a quarter inch shank.

[Mike Heidrick]

Curious to know what you want the make.

[Richard Hash]

I want the "wheels" (eg plugs/disks), not the piece with the hole in it. I've thought about using a 5/8" hole saw, but by the time you cleaned up the disks they wouldn't be 5/8" anymore. I'm leaning towards borrowing a friends lathe right now. This is to make the wheel pieces that attach to the center spider for the "Roller-Gearing Mechanism" in Raymond Levy's "Making Mechanical Marvels in Wood" book.

I found a picture of a rendered model to give you an idea - http://dl36mmdz94630.cloudfront.net/uploads/assets/images/000/038/411/large/ShareToFusion360Hub.jpg

[Jim Morgan]

You could also use a router circle-cutting jig, like the Jasper 400. It's calibrated for hole size, using a 1/4" bit, so a 1" hole would yield a 1/2" disk (or a 1 1/8" hole would yield a 5/8" disk). The jig uses a 1/8" center pin, but you can always enlarge this afterwards. Just be sure to secure both the center disk & the surround with double-faced tape.

[Larry Edgerton]

Buy a 3/4" hole saw and bend the teeth in just a tad on the inside, then chuck your disks on a 3/16 arbor [carriage bolt] and carefully sand to final size on the drill press. Make up a right angle out of plywood and glue sandpaper to the upright face and work this off of the table so as to remain square. Just a random thought.........

[Grant Wilkinson]

As Ben mentioned, your easiest solution may well be to buy a 5/8 dowel, cut slices from it and center drill them.

[Richard Hash]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm sure there is a micro circle cutter out there somewhere, but I can't find it.

These "Mechanical Marvels" models have considerable precision (I've built 8 so far, the most slop I've got so far is about 0.006-7", or a bit less than 1/128"). Store bought dowels (even the "precision" ones I've found) aren't even close to their advertised size, most are undersized 0.010 or more. I don't have a lathe (yet!) but have resorted several times to visiting a friend with one to make fairly precise dowels. I think I would need to bore the hole first, I am not sure I could precisely center a hole on a disk that was already slabbed off. Wood choice is important too, since I live in a pretty humid area (massive understatement there).

Thanks again.

[Doug Garson]

Good luck with the dowel idea, I tried it once with little success. The dowel splits easily since its end grain.

[Brian Deakin]

I am not sure if I am understanding correctly but if you have access to a lathe could you not turn cylinders ,use a micrometer to measure the diameter and either part them off or use a band saw / hand saw to cut the cylinder into round discs of appropriate thickness

This approach allows you to choose any wood you desire , you may be apply to find wood scraps for nothing or use pen turning blanks

regards Brian

[Grant Wilkinson]

If you have easy access to a lathe, I would agree that's the way to go. I also would agree that your best approach would be to drill the hole through the square stock first, then mount it between centers, so that the hole is in the exact center of the finished piece. As an aside, I'm surprised that you can't find dowels that are more precise. I guess that I'm in a good market.

Just out of curiosity, Richard, could you not simply cut the dados to match the dimension of the pucks? That way, if you used dowel that is a bit plus or minus 5/8", if would not matter. I've never made one of these machines, so this is a question out of ignorance, but on the face of it, it would seem to be another solution.

[Richard Hash]

Well obviously I thought using a circle cutter would be the easiest!! ;-) (with that minor issue of actually finding one)

Yes, I agree using a lathe with pre-bored hole is next in line in terms of effort, that's next on my list.

And yes, I could completely remanufacture the wheel to have bigger/smaller dados, if I had only given consideration to making the rollers first and sizing the dados to fit, but I did it in the reverse order, thus my predicament. Making a new wheel sounded like a whole lot more work than ordering a circle cutter, at least so I thought! (especially since I see references to people owning very small circle cutters, so I know they must be out there somewhere). But alas, doesn't look like that's in the cards for me.

I was really looking more for a source for a circle cutter, and less for alternatives, but it's on to alternatives for me... I think the lathe idea is the way to go, and I agree with Doug, end grain is tough, but by turning your own dowels you can orient grain however you want..

Thanks again.

[Larry Edgerton]

I looked around and could not find one small enough, but.....

I have this set, and they do a very nice job, clean cuts. You could buy the 5/8, cut the wheel but not all the way through the stock, change to a 3/16" bit and drill the axle hole.

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=42292&cat=1,180,42288

Just another random thought..........

[Ben Rivel]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm sure there is a micro circle cutter out there somewhere, but I can't find it.

These "Mechanical Marvels" models have considerable precision (I've built 8 so far, the most slop I've got so far is about 0.006-7", or a bit less than 1/128"). Store bought dowels (even the "precision" ones I've found) aren't even close to their advertised size, most are undersized 0.010 or more. I don't have a lathe (yet!) but have resorted several times to visiting a friend with one to make fairly precise dowels. I think I would need to bore the hole first, I am not sure I could precisely center a hole on a disk that was already slabbed off. Wood choice is important too, since I live in a pretty humid area (massive understatement there).

Thanks again.
Wow, thats quite a bit of precision to expect from wood.

Are you getting the plans for such devices from somewhere or are you figuring them out from images/video?

[Richard Hash]

Ben,
I'm going thru the early 1990's Raymond Levy book "Making Mechanical Marvels in Wood", trying to keep things as tight as possible and still function smoothly. It's the first woodworking I've ever done where I've needed to use a micrometer (I found out I go cross-eyed really fast trying to even see a 1/128" now), and I've learned alot about what species work well for me and how grain affects expansion. I live near the Gulf coast, and my shop can be 98% humidity in the summer, so planning for shrinkage is important. What I've noticed is that mesquite and jatoba barely move for me at all when I take them inside (where humidity is maybe 50-60%). The few samples I've watched have moved about 0.002 which I think is just amazing! So I tend to make the tight tolerances pieces out of those...

[Edwin Santos]

If you have a plunge router and guide bushing set, here's an approach that might work for you:

Make a 1"hole in 1/4" or 1/2" material using a Forstner bit or a hole saw, or a circle cutter on a drill press. This will be your template.
Secure this template to your stock with hot melt glue or double face tape, and then use a plunge router with a 1/2" template guide bushing and a 1/4" router bit. The resulting circle you will be cutting out should be precisely 5/8" in diameter and not require any sanding or clean up.
You could drill your 3/16" hole by marking the center of the workpiece while the template is in place, using the same 1" Forstner bit you used to make the template (the center spur of the bit will mark the center of the wheel. Basically you're using the drill bit like a transfer punch. Once the center is marked, drill your 3/16" hole either before or after you rout the wheel. Since precision is critical to what you are doing, I think you should drill the center hole with a drill press to keep it square to the wheel so maybe it makes sense to do so after the routing operation.

Make sure your router bit is centered in the bushing.

You can accomplish the 5/8" diameter wheel with other combinations of template hole diameter, bushing diameter and router bit diameter. For example, you should get the same outcome with a 1 3/8" template hole, a 1" guide bushing and a 1/2" router bit. I hope this makes sense. As I read what I'm writing here, it sounds more complicated than it really is. You don't have many of these to make based on the picture, so this should only take 30 minutes or so.

[Dan Cameron]

Here is a way to make your wheels. Cut squares about 3/4" across and drill a 3/16" hole in the approximate center. Buy a 3/6" partially threaded bolt and cut off the head. With washers/spacers push the bolt thru the wood square and with a nut, mount the bolt in your drill press chuck so that the wood spins with the chuck. Now make a right angle mount for a router that you clamp to the drill press table. Position a straight router bit below the wood square with the bottom of the bit 5/16" (the RADIUS of the desired wheel) away from the rotational center of the drill press. Turn on router and drill press and SLOWLY feed the quill until the all of the square is turned to round. Voila!

[Edwin Santos]

Store bought dowels (even the "precision" ones I've found) aren't even close to their advertised size, most are undersized 0.010 or more.

Thanks again.
You could try the inexpensive hardwood dowels sold by the Beall Tool Company for use in their wood threader fixture. They claim to be accurately sized and they offer 5/8".

[Jason Mikits]

If you use the lathe, I would not predrill the center hole if you need it to be precisely concentric. I would chuck the piece of wood, use the tail stock while getting the outside diameter, and then use a drill bit in the tail stock (morse taper drill or morse taper chuck and drill) for your center hole. Otherwise your center hole will likely end up slightly off center, or not quite square.

[Dave Sabo]

Can't you just order 5/8" wooden discs fro pm a website somewhere ?

[Kerry Wright]

Do a search for a 5/8 plug cutter. Grizzly even has a set of various sizes.

[lowell holmes]

Check this add.

https://www.infinitytools.com/tenon-cutter-set?gclid=CjwKEAjwjunJBRDzl6iCpoKS4G0SJACJAx-VmvTBV3W5okHaSH9t2c4vj5KaZR1pKGlJp5v9Sg24PhoCYOLw_ wcB

[johnny means]

Wow, I thought plug cutter wasn't going to come up.

[Greg Parrish]

For small stuff like this why not buy a set of plug cutters. Will prob be cleaner than hole saws.

EDIT - DOH! Should have looked at page two before responding. LOL

[Edwin Santos]

If you have a neander streak in you (and because you don't have many of these to make) you could also consider cutting a 5/8 x5/8 blank and pounding it through a dowel plate, then slice off the discs you need. The largest size in the Lie Nielsen dowel plate happens to be 5/8", or if you have a 5/8" drill bit you could drill your own through a piece of metal. Paul Sellers demonstrates a "poor man's" dowel plate using hardware store washers with the appropriate I.D.

[Charles Lent]

There are more reasonably priced 5/8" plug cutters if you decide to try them.

https://www.amazon.com/Carbon-Steel-Drill-Working-Cutters/dp/B01E4W7TT4/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1497466508&sr=8-5&keywords=5%2F8+plug+cutter

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IHNP27M/ref=sxr_pa_click_within_right_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0 DER&pf_rd_p=3008539542&pf_rd_r=RHH7ZG26AWA91R7F314A&pd_rd_wg=3gsFZ&pf_rd_s=desktop-rhs-carousels&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_w=n3sHy&pf_rd_i=5%2F8+plug+cutter&pd_rd_r=N8NGB1VRS0XF8FJVG650&psc=1

Charley

[lowell holmes]

Or this add.

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=adjustable+wood+drill+bit&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=198193213857&hvpos=1t1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2575139413830609655&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027818&hvtargid=kwd-350442803167&ref=pd_sl_8inyyfkeuw_b

There are several cutters.

[Roger Feeley]

An idea from the machining world
-- A very small boring head. Sherline sells one but it's a #1 Morse taper and you would have to adapt that to your drill press. Once you get the thing mounted, you should be able to make a different cutter from round HSS that cuts straight down.

If you can find a small boring head with a straight shank, the rest should be easy.