DIY Circle cutting jig for the OF1400

[ampcabguy]

I just finished my new circle cutting jig for the OF1400 (If festool wants the design let me know!)

The ideal is when cutting circles using any of the current jigs for the OF1400 (trammel, MFS700) I have run into problems. With the trammel, if you have the dust collection hose hooked up it gets wrapped around the router along with the power cord as you make your cut. (Personally I have not been able to get it to work with my OF1400 at all!)

With the MFS you have to deal with the bulk and it's a real pain to use if you have to make more then one circle cut AND if you just need to cut circles it's alot of money just to do so.

So I took it into my own hands to make the perfect jig for the OF1400.

I used a 9mm thick 6" X 12" Plexiglas, a bearing with an inner diameter of 30mm and a pivot from another circle jig.

Knowing that the outer diameter of the bearing was 42mm I routed out a 7.5mm deep hole 42mm in diameter. The bearing fit in very tight which is what I wanted.
Then I drilled a hole in the center of where the bearing sat and using a flush trim bit cleared the area in the center of the bearing of the remaining Plexiglas (1.5mm)

I made a channel for the pivot point to slide in when changing the diameter of your cut.

Now that I have it finished I can just attach a 30mm copy ring and place it in the bearing's center and cut!
Check it out while I make circles one handed holding the camera with the other!
Oh I'm righthanded and thats my left hand on the router. I think that says alot about this router and my jig!!

 

[Forrest Anderson]

I just finished my new circle cutting jig for the OF1400 (If festool wants the design let me know!)

...I made a channel for the pivot point to slide in when changing the diameter of your cut.

Very nice!

Can I ask for more details about the pivot point? How does it stay in place, ie what stops it sliding along the channel?

Forrest

 

[ampcabguy]

I just finished my new circle cutting jig for the OF1400 (If festool wants the design let me know!)

...I made a channel for the pivot point to slide in when changing the diameter of your cut.

Very nice!

Can I ask for more details about the pivot point? How does it stay in place, ie what stops it sliding along the channel?

Forrest

Forrest,
            Thanks! Here are some photos on the pivot point. I am not sure where you can buy just this item but I am sure one can be made that would work as a pivot point.

For example one could take a threaded knob close to the same size and strip away some of the thread at the tip and maybe shape the point like the one pictured.

 

[johne]

Very nicely done, now i wanna make one for myself
Maybe it would be a nice addition to make a 30 mm round plexiglass insert with a crosshair
to make setting the distance easier.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I just finished my new circle cutting jig for the OF1400......
Now that I have it finished I can just attach a 30mm copy ring and place it in the bearing's center and cut!

Great idea! Well done!

 

[Les]

Very slick and smooth. I'm not following how you routed out the 42mm hole for the bearing. Please explain.

Thanks

 

[ampcabguy]

Very slick and smooth. I'm not following how you routed out the 42mm hole for the bearing. Please explain.

Thanks

Hi Les, What I did was use a 1/4" sprial bit with the 30mm copy ring and routed out a 7mm (or so) deep circle that was 42mm in diameter.

First I made this circle which was 61mm in dia. with an old circle guide and boy was there tons of dust.
I made a couple test cuts in plywood before cutting the plexi. Using masking tape I was able to fine tune the hole to be nice and tight for the bearing.
When cutting the plexiglas I cut the entire area within the circle leaving about 2mm's for the bearing to rest on so it does not come out the other side.
I placed the bearing in the hole and using a heated exacto hobby knife I cut the plexiglas in the center of the bearing out. 

Here is the template that I used with the 30mm copy ring

 

[Les]

Thanks, wasn't sure how you made the tight fit for the bearing. Where did you get the bearing?

 

[ampcabguy]

It's from mcmaster.com

Item # 5972K159

The bearing is $16 bucks and I think that if you made a 30mm hole in the plexi and sanded it with a high grit paper you would create a low friction surface for the template guide to rotate on. That would save money and time.

 

[BarryL]

Amp

Can you tell what size holes (min to max) you are capable of cutting with this jig?

 

[pingvinlakrits]

This is sooo interesting, I was just thinking of making a jig JUST like this...

The bearing was a nice touch, I hadn't thought of that.

 

[mattfc]

My quick and dirty jig, no prizes for beauty but does the job fine. I wanted one that allowed me to do tight radius cuts, so opted to let the router base be able to slide over the centre of rotation. I fix it simply using a screw (screw it to the underside of the piece I am cutting.

Jig

With router attached (using the bars and the claming mechanism on the router, the bars a clamped fixed on the jig

Can do very tight (small diameter circles) as the router base can slide over the centre rotation screw

Router sitting in position on the jig

 

[Daniel_n]

I just finished my new circle cutting jig for the OF1400 (If festool wants the design let me know!)

The ideal is when cutting circles using any of the current jigs for the OF1400 (trammel, MFS700) I have run into problems. With the trammel, if you have the dust collection hose hooked up it gets wrapped around the router along with the power cord as you make your cut. (Personally I have not been able to get it to work with my OF1400 at all!)

This is a very nice jig ampcabguy! I was going to buy the SZ-OF 1000 for my of1010, but have now decided to buy some plexi glas and a bearing instead

 

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Hello.  I am new to this group.  I made a circle cutting attachment for my OF1400.  It attaches to the two guide bars and takes the place of one of the guide rail mount adapters and uses it's fine adjustment screw.  I can't find this guide rail attachment on the festool web site but they have a photo of it on p80 of the 08/09 USA catalog.  I made my adapter from a block of aluminum.  The way I use it is to drill and tap a 1/4" hole in the center of the work piece.  A 1/4" bolt fastens into this hole through a hole on the adapter.  I rough set the distance and can fine tune with the adjusting screw.  There are lock-down screws on the adapter to secure it in place.  Having the fine adjustment is very helpful.

I am not quite sure how to attach photos so here is a link to some:
http://dan.pfeiffer.net/tools/festool_of1400_circle_cutter.htm

Thanks,

Dan Pfeiffer
Euclid, OH USA

 

[tbellemare]

You must mean this Guide Rail Stop.

 

[nickao]

I have one of those Festool 492601 - Router Guide Rail Stop for OF 1400 I might sell for a little less than new. Its never been used.

If someone is interested I can dig it out of the box and take a picture.

 

[wnagle]

I just picked up this vacuum circle cutting jig on closeout.  At the price I couldn't- not get it.  I also picked up one set of extensions and a few other vacuum items from this vendor.  (They were really helpful when I ordered my vacuum pump and bag.) This circle jig can be extended to any length with the threaded extension rods.  This unit is pretty heavy duty...eventually I plan on getting  microfence and circle jig for it's precision. 

http://www.vac-u-clamp.com/specials/index.htm

 

[Dan Pfeiffer]

The vac-u-clamp is very interesting (and anything with a hyphen-name like that is cool) and the precision screw is appealing.  I am typically needing the hole rather than the round cut part so having a hole in it is not an issue for me. 

In theory using the Festool guide rail stop adjusting screw as I did I should be able to adjust by 1/10mm?  But there is a little slop in the screw and in the pivot bolt so I don't think it could be that good.  But 1/2mm seems reasonable?  And that's pretty close to 1/64".  But there is also probably a bit of flexing and slop in practice so maybe 1 mm is about the best to expect. 

I really like the bearing system that ampcabguy made.  That makes a lot of sense.  Keeping the power and dust collection from wrapping is a great thing.  I hadn't really thought about that when I made this adapter.  It would be nice to add the fine adjustment to that?

Dan Pfeiffer