Shopsmith Forums

I am adding the bandsaw table extension and fence to my used BS while on sale. I am debating whether to get the circle cutter. How well does it work?

One of my intended uses would be to round off 3"-5" thick bowl blanks prior to putting them on the lathe. Is it sturdy enough for this? Does it rally do a better job than the average joe could do by drawing the circle with a compass and cutting free-hand?

dkerfoot wrote:I am adding the bandsaw table extension and fence to my used BS while on sale. I am debating whether to get the circle cutter. How well does it work?

One of my intended uses would be to round off 3"-5" thick bowl blanks prior to putting them on the lathe. Is it sturdy enough for this? Does it rally do a better job than the average joe could do by drawing the circle with a compass and cutting free-hand?

In my experience… it's a dud. You may get better mileage out of it, though. And, if someone has some wisdom to share regarding how to get better performance out of it, I'd like to hear it.

I've used it with no problems on thin items with large diam. and had no problems but, with experience, I've found you have to feed slowly as the blad will try to wonder to the left. Thick items such as rough cutting for bowles will probably be just fine with the right type blade and slow feed rate.

I watched Norm on New Yankee one day build a circle cutting jig, it was impressive but since I never cut circles it was more passing time than learning.

However lately I have needed to cut a number of circles. Remembering Norm's jig I simply took a piece of 1/4 inch ply that was as wide as the table was wide and about 2 foot long. I then matched one edge to the back edge for the table and cut into the ply until the front edge of the wood was even with right side of the table. I stopped my cut and using a square I drew a line from the right most edge of the wood to the very front of the saw blade. Line is perfectly (90 dgrees)perpendicular to the cut line of the saw.

When I want to cut a circle I simply drill a hole in the wood on the line measureing the diameter of the needed hole from the intersection of the line/cut to distance on my line. In that hole I put in a screw with the head on the bottom side of the wood so the screw shank is sticking up out of the wood to act as a pivot.

Now all I have to do is measure up from one edge of the wood I want to cut a circle from a distance equal to the desired diameter of the circle and drill a hole. Put that hole on the screw sticking up and cut my circle. It is so so so very easy it is unbelievable fun.

Cost almost nothing, easy of use - can't be easier, result - perfect circles every time.

One day I may manufacture a jig like Norm had, where he cut a slot in the board so he could slide the piviot screw to virtually any location and since his was so long he had an out board support leg. But until then my simple jig works fantastic.

My advice before you spend a penny on a Bandsaw circle jig, make one out of a simple piece of 1/4 inch ply and see how well it works.

wheres the pictures?

I have it, seldom use it, but it is handy to make repetitive circles all the same size.

John

Yeah! The bandsaw circle cutter works good! The trick is to set it up according to the instructions that come with it. Problems I have had with it were caused because I did not set up properly. The resulting circles had an uneven edge at the starting/ending point.

You'll want to make sure the point (center of the circle) is exactly even with the front of the teeth of the saw blade.- - Use the proper size blade for the radius of the circle, and go slow making sure you let the blade cut at it's own speed.

charlese wrote: and go slow making sure you let the blade cut at it's own speed.

There are hundreds of places where that simple rule pays off over and over...

When I got my Bandsaw, the fence and table-extension and circle-cutter were thrown in as part of a special promotion (in 2007). I have used the circle-cutter on a few pieces of pine and I was impressed that the circle was needing very little touchup or sanding after that.

I have used it numerous times and it works very well. The trick is to get it set up properly. The instructions provided by SS work just fine. It cuts near perfect circles.