Need help with a backgammon board

[B.O.B.]

Hi all!

I have recently completed a marketry backgammon board and am now looking to make the coloured circular counters.

A friend suggested turning them on a lathe but I don't have access to one, plus I want to cut a pattern on the upper surface. I thought of using a rosette cutter, similar to a forstner bit that cuts a circular plug with a profiled top into a flat board. I thought I could then free the plug by ripping the board on a table saw. Unfortunately the rosette cutters I can find do not cut the right sort of profile.

Can someone suggest where I might find such a device or alternatively another method for making round game counters out of timber? Or, heaven forbit, where I can by the plastic ones used on draughts boards?

Thanks

Bob

[pugwash]

Buy a chunk of dowel and slice it up. cover it in tape first to stop chipping the edges.

[toolbagsPLUS]

Can someone suggest where I might find such a device or alternatively another method for making round game counters out of timber? Or, heaven forbit, where I can by the plastic ones used on draughts boards?

Thanks

Bob

Hi Bob,

Depends on how big you want the counters if they are over an inch and 1/4 (sorry 32mm) and also depending on your skill level regarding router use (please no slight intended) you could cut a sample out of scrap material and the use a profile cutter on a routing table and do it that way. Taking all necessary safety precautions of course. 'Cos routers bite big.
Another way maybe to set up a board on a bandsaw and set up a circle cutting jig and walk them around the blade.

Rough cut them, then place them on a spigot and into the chuck of a drill press and sand them round.

One more just occurred if you have a trimmer set up a circle cutting jig on it and cut them out that way using several passes increasing the depth each time.

Well hope that may spark other ideas from some other members.


Cheers


Steve

[petersemple]

Use a hole saw to cut a circle into a board that you can then use as a template for the router. Just make sure the hole you cut is large enough to account for the size of the router bit and any template guide you use.

Peter

[pugwash]

Bob, Draughts are often made from wood as well as plastic. Games Workshop in Perth sell them. Maybe try toyshops.