3 Round tabletops - cutting circles

3 Round tabletops

Son asked if I could make 3 new tabletops to replace the MDF which was starting to look shabby. They are used at their church.

He did offer to pay for the materials, told him he just could not afford it! Pine was the suggested material.

Table

Stand

MDF top


The tops are 600mm wide and 20mm thick.

Laminated pine board was available in 610mm wide and 20mm thick. Three by 600mm gave me 1800mm before allowing for trim and waste.

Available sizes are 1800mm, 2400mm, 3000mm, so 2400 looks the best and started compiling the Job Card using 2400. Cost ZAR549.00

Job card

In the meantime a resident was relocating and offered me some scrap timber, see thread https://www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk/threads/nice-haul.11831/ and a laminated board 2400mm long, 600mm wide and 20mm thick.

Scrooge looked at this and it was a no brainer, cost nothing, if a C-Up no great loss.


There were scratches, dings and 2 large white marks/patches where the feet had been attached. The board had been sealed with ‘whatever’ and I tried the hot air gun. No go started leaving burn marks and a nice big blister on my palm (careless).

Then came the Makita half-sheet sander with 100 grit.
Sanding both sides.


The board was divided into 3 sections for the tops taking into account the white patches.



The one edge was skew and needed to be cut off.



Next up sawing the board. Easiest to rest it on the table saw and use the 2 trestles for support. Circular saw to be used and the fence (long spirit level) clamped.



Cutting the board


Middle point determined looking at the defects. A 2mm hole would be drilled for a long panel pin. A highly complicated and expensive jig was made to draw the circle.



Some scrap pine. A hole for the pin and then 300mm a hole for a pencil, and circle drawn.





Boards marked ready for circle cutting.

Circle cutting covered in this thread https://www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk/threads/woodworking-and-ai.12017/
To make the jig to hold the router I needed some 15mm thick board. Nothing in stock, so improvise.
There was a sheet of hardboard 600mm wide and 1220mm long. Three pieces 600 long and 150 wide, 3mm thick, glued together would provide a very nice sturdy jig.

Easy to do on the table saw.
https://www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk/threads/do-we-learn-from-past-mistakes.11984/



The HB was glued and clamped






I did get a bit carried away with the glue and found some squeeze out when clamping.



Next was using an old Makita base to get the screw holes drilled and counter sunk.


Holes drilled and countersunk


Mount the Makita and rout down using a 2mm flute bit to get a hole for measuring.

De-mount Makita, fit a 6mm flute bit which will be used to cut the circles. Again rout all the way down to check if bit will cut all the way through.


This router does not have a small button to hold the switch in. Not convenient when using it in the router table. So, improvise with some wire, half a washing peg and fitted with pliers.

To be continued …………………

Continued .............



Flip the jig over and measure from flute edge 295mm for the pin hole. Slightly smaller than the required 300mm to give a cleaner edge.

Fit pin and set aside for a scheduled messy-dust-day as it will be done without the dust extraction fitted.

To be continued later …………………

Next instalment

The mess day:

Chap up the road asked for 2 pine planks to be planed. 2400x230x24 which will fit through the planer. Set up EB planer and hook up the industrial vacuum. First side went well, second side started to struggle getting though the planer. Stopped, switch off and check. The large vacuum was blocked, could not handle the volume of shavings.

Solution, just remove the vacuum pipe and let the shavings flow onto the floor, will clean up later.


The vacuum was emptied and the bag cleaned so that it could be used when routing the round over edges.

The EB still needs to be cleaned. The rollers and blades are a bit gummed up from the pine resin. Will need more than just a wipe with a rag.

In the background are the trestles set up with the router to cut the circles.

Cutting circles ….


The flute bit was lowered, while running, to get a start point. Then back up and adjusted down gradually. This router does not have a fine adjustment screw like the Ryobi, so careful manual adjustments. In the router table is a car scissor jack to deal with fine adjustments.

Grip router, turn on and start walking around the board. Just remember to rout in the right direction! Drop bit and repeat until through the board. The board is also clamped to the trestles to keep it steady and the cut out rests on the trestles. Some minor damage to the trestles, not serious.

Three tops cut, ready for rounding the edges.


The offcut waste


It is a lot and I will see what I can cut off for possible scrolling.

Will continue the thread when the rounding of the edges is completed.

Thank you for reading.

That worked out well Phil, did you have much router bit chatter?

Nicely done!

Very nice! I have always done this with a jig saw basically mounted in yiur circle marking jig. Never thought to use a router to make the cut

I do my circular cuts on the table saw?

Jonathan said:

I do my circular cuts on the table saw?

Click to expand...

I would like to see the jig you have for this?

Duke, will try and remember to dig it out tomorrow and share a photo.
It was one of those afternoons when necessity was the mother of all inventions