Product Description
"GENERAL TOOLS" CIRCLE CUTTER7/8" To 4" Circle Cutter, Combination Round & Square Shank Circle Cutter For Use With Drill Press, Maximum Safe Speed Is 500 RPM, Replaceable 3/16" High Speed Steel Bit & Replaceable 11/16" Pilot Drill.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #125634 in Home Improvement
- Size: 1
- Brand: General Tools
- Model: 4
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 2.50" h x4.88" w x6.88" l,1.85 pounds
Features
- Returns will not be honored on this closeout item
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Handy product
By Mark Colan
The description of this product is misleading - it says "General Tools 4 7/8 to 4 Circle Cutter". What it means is that it has a range of 7/8" to 4" diameter circles.
This is a good, highly adjustable, and useful tool. You can adjust and replace the pilot bit, the height of the circle cutting blade, and the radius of the circle. It is intended for use in a drill press, because the circle cutting blade must scribe circles evenly, and having the bit 90 degrees with respect to the work is important to make that work.
In a couple of cases, I wanted to cut partial circles - where the circle's edge was over the edge of the work. I was surprised to find that this worked out just fine, though I lowered the cutter to the work slowly. For really clean circles, especially for wood with tough fibers, a good strategy was to to scribe the circle on one side and drill down enough to where the pilot just pierced the other side, then flip the work and finish that side. The circle scribes met perfectly and I got very clean circles cut.
I think the package says to run it at 400 RPM. My drill press doesn't go slower than 500RPM, and it does ok at that speed.
PRECISION: ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
The main problem with this device is that there is no way to precisely measure the radius of the circle you are going to get. The best you can do is measure the center of the pilot to the edge of the circle cutter, then make a test cut on scrap, and measure the result.
UPDATE: ShopNotes #95, page 7, has a tip on making a setup gauge for circle gauges like this one that looks like it could speed up setting the radius and make it more accurate.
If you were off by a small fraction, you might like to have a worm screw to move the cutter by a small fraction and try again. Unfortunately, the best you have is to loosen the screw, move it with your fingers a small amount, and try again. So in the end, you're going to do trial-and-error repeatedly until you are satisfied that you aren't get anything better without spending time you're unwilling to spend.
BOTTOM LINE
3 1/2 stars, rounded to 4. For the price, it does a reasonable job, though getting a precisely measured circle is a problem. It is a heck of a lot better than fixed hole saws, which make it very difficult to remove the plug, though they are usually more accurate, IF they are the size you wanted.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.Works like I planned
By James Adams
I had used a friends before buying mine. He had purchased his over 20 years ago. It was packaged different, but it was the samee thing. It worked really good, but you almost need a drill press to work one. I was trying to do it with a hand drill and the work is hard to hold and it catches a lot. It works great with a drill press.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Great little tool!
By Bryan J. Beck
This thing had many more uses than I intended for it.
I originally got this to make a bunch of popcan stoves for family and friends that camp. And I've used it to make plastic washers and score holes on all kinds of material.
It's very adjustable and you can replace the drill bit with a plain sharp point.
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