How to Turn a Cylinder with a Router
George VondriskaMaster woodworker George Vondriska demonstrates the process of turning a cylinder for your woodworking projects by using a router. A WoodWorkers Guild of America (WWGOA) original video.
20 Responses to “How to Turn a Cylinder with a Router”
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With a bit more work a worm and gear with a small stain and you could crank and drive the router at the same time. bigjgoode’s idea tops it off.
By attaching a piece of plexiglass (removable) to the router sled, you could also maintain the suction in the box and decrease dust coming out the exposed rectangle at the top as you watch the progress of the cut.
Is there a plan for this jig?
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We do not have anything on this jig other than this video.
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Could you attach a variable speed drill to the drive end on some sort of bracket and lock in drill at a slow speed to turn the blank?
Hello Customer,
Thank you for contacting us.
I haven’t tried anything like that, but it sounds feasible.
If you have any other concerns, please contact us at 1-855-253-0822, or chat with us on our site.
We greatly appreciate your business!
Sincerely,
Lindsay
Woodworkers Guild of America Video Membership
Great idea. I have already thought of a specific project.
Thank you.
As you move the router, you’ll have only one hand on the router to control it and it will be a a bit of a reach when the router is on the opposite side of the hand crank. If the post that is being turned is a lot shorter than the inside of the box, you will need to create some other method to secure the tail end in its center.
Sears had a legacy device they called a “router crafter” that you can often find on eBay. It is adjustable and can handle a 3″x 36″ work piece . The router sits on top as in your device, but is connected by a cable. As the crank is turned, the router is pulled across the work piece. You can create cylinders or spiral roping, coving, etc. The quality of the cuts is not as smooth as on the lathe, but doing roping on a conventional lathe isn’t possible. I have one of those, used it for some impressive looking table legs, but otherwise seldom use it. Filing and sanding the rough edges on 4 spiralled legs can get quite tedious.
Nice, I enjoyed this newer to this so gives me some ideas… Thamks
You mentioned a 3/4 router bit. What shape/ type of bit are you using?
This is a fantastic Jig! I don’t know who came up with this, but they deserve a drink on me!
How is it for making small diameter cylinders, such as dowel rods?
Threaded T-Nuts at the Dead Center end with a jamb nut would make it a bit easier.
Also, a removable crank so you can put the threaded rod into a drill would make sanding easier.
If you left the shaft protrude past the crank handle, you could chuck a variable speed drill on the shaft and have it turn the piece while you have two hands free to sand.
This is a good idea, but it could be improved with some gears and a threaded rod. The idea being to make the router platform perform like the carriage on a metal lathe, which would provide for smoother, more uniform cuts. A slow speed motor could be an additional feature.
George, you have already answered the lateral movement issue that I had, but while you are moving the router, I noticed you were keeping it tight against the edge on your side. At that point, is the router bit centered on the workpiece?
Yep, the router bit needs to stay centered over the work piece, and that’s controlled by the router’s position on the box.
The stops on the sled allow it to move forward and back on top of the box. Why wouldn’t you want the sled to simply be centered over the box, in order to cut right down the middle of the workpiece? Wouldn’t that give you a more consistent diameter?
Great jig. I’m really looking forward to trying this. Thanks
Hi, David. Having some lateral movement in the router’s travel path allows for some imperfections how you’ve centered the work piece. You will also be able to work more efficiently with this lateral movement, covering a wider path with each pass while you are in the early phases of rounding the work piece. As long as your jig is constructed in a square and level fashion, the lateral movement will not negatively affect the diameter consistency.
Would you make a smaller box for shorter pieces? It seems the size of the blank is limited by the length of the box and the length of the spindles.
I wouldn’t use a blank shorter than 27″ (9″ shorter than the jig) in this version of the jig. If you do, you’ll be asking the threaded rod to provide more support than it’s capable of. Shorter blanks call for a shorter jig.
How about using a battery operated drill instead of the hand crank?