Advice needed: Cutting discs

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theallan

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Looking for a little advice from someone more knowledgable then myself (form a line!).

I've cut some veneer and glued them together cross grain to cut into discs (photo attached). The question is - how to cut them into discs?! Current plan is to use a fret saw to rough cut and then disc sander to smooth and final shape, but I'll never get it properly round.

Any way to stick it on a lathe and round it off there - without damaging the surface on either side... (she who must be obeyed fancies putting writing and pictures onto them for the Christmas tree)?

Thanks,
Allan
 

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Vacuum clamp or double sided tape to secure the workpiece. If you have a stationary disc sander I would use that to finish the edges with, stick the workpiece onto a turntable jig.

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siggy_7":19p03v19 said:
Vacuum clamp or double sided tape to secure the workpiece. If you have a stationary disc sander I would use that to finish the edges with, stick the workpiece onto a turntable jig.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk


This
 
cut two disks approx 1/2" thick screw one to your faceplate and make a sandwich with the other on the tailstock light use double sided Tape to ensure it does not slip.
 
If you have multiples of the same size to do you can make the first using the sander and then use it as a template for your router to do the rest.

If you don't have a good double-sided tape that gives you zero creep you can apply masking tape to both pieces and superglue the strips of masking tape together, this gives an incredible hold but they can still be prised apart. Another advantage of this is there's no adhesive residue as can sometimes happen with double-sided.
 
how big is the disc? if it's in hole saw size range, drill a hole through a scrap of wood then remove the drill from the arbor and run just the hole saw. put the piece of wood over the piece, clamp and drill.
 
Brilliant - thanks all! A sandwich with double sided tape sounds like a good option. I'll give it a blast and report how I get on :D
 
personally i'd make two circular cauls very carefully and then sandwich the veneer sheets in between using a few good tight screw clamps. i'd then just cut or sand off the excess sticking out beyond the cauls.
the reason I wouldn't go the double sided route is depending on the tape, you risk damaging the delicate veneers when you try to separate them.
if you have only got a few to do then you could just make a circular template, stick sandpaper on the back of it, put is down on top of the piece of veneer (sandpaper grips the veneer), then trim off the excess with a sharp knife.
 
Use the sandwich method on the lathe but you don't need to use sticky tape .Glue sandpaper to your ply and bring up the tail stock using a ring revolving centre if you have one sandwich the veneers between the two ply discs ,use a shallow fluted gouge to bring your workpiece to almost finished diameter then finish off by power sanding .Have faith Th friction between the sandpaper and veneer is plenty to drive your work
 
I tried the double sided tape approach on the lathe. Trimmed it down to rough with the fret saw and then a skew to finish it off and I'm really pleased with the result (photo attached). The edging is finished nicer than the surfaces!

Really approach all the advice! I like the sound of the sand paper approach as well. I'll try that next (still plenty more to do!).

Regards,
Allan
 

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