Thread: Circle Turner

I love rounded forms and build a lot of round furniture, wooden wheels, curved drawers, corner shelves, etc.

A while back, I went my local aluminium supplyer and bought:

• Rectangular extrusion
• Rectangular bar (that slides in the rectangle with minimal play)

I then went to a mate of mine with a machining bed who then cut a nice long opening in the top of the rectangle.

The next step was to make a few threaded holes in the bar for positioning the bar in the desired position when routing (plastic screws wont burr the alu and are recommended)

Using my mate's lathe, we then made a 4 mm threaded brass spindle. A flat base was left and a 6 mm threaded attaching point.

Attachment 30666

Two 6 mm threaded holes were then made in the bar to take the spindle - one at each end. Having a hole at the other end allows for larger circles if the bar cannot be slid out and turned around - as is the case with mine. The reason the spindle is not permanently attached is simple. It can easily be removed when I'm not using it.

If small circles aren't needed, the bar off a mitre fence on an existing channel running parallel to the bit can be adjusted to suit this purpose.

Now all I have to do to make a perfect circle is set the spindle at the desired radius from the bit and turn the work piece over a flute bit. 3 or 4 mm each pass and it soon pops through, leaving me with a perfect circle. I can then easily cut the circle into 4 equal pieces and I've got the shelves for a corner cabinet... I can turn a circle's outside edge, then move the spindle closer. Turn out a channel then move the spindle for the inside cut to make a piece of curved railing. This is the same method I use for making curved wooden railway tracks...

I use it all the time and hope this inspires someone to make their own.

Attachment 30665

Damien