How to make an even circle with a jigsaw. How to cut an even circle, having only a circular saw from tools. How to cut a circle out of plywood

Plywood sheets are rarely used in the same format as they are commercially available. Most often, plywood is additionally cut. Often there is a task to obtain a workpiece certain form. How to cut a circle out of plywood without even having on hand special tool, we will tell you more.

  1. It is recommended to cut only on dry plywood. Moisture increases the board's resistance and increases the risk of chipping, delaminating the veneer, and other defects.
  2. Make a replacement cutting tool better immediately when the primary signs of blunting appear.
  3. When using an electric jigsaw in order to obtain the cleanest edges of the workpiece, the cutting line should be directed along the fibers, but when using hand tool- across the veneer. In the latter case, there may be more chips, but the tool most likely will not leave the cut line.
  4. When transferring drawings or other elements to plywood, try to make sure that the flaws (spots, knots and cracks on the material) go to waste, and not to the plywood blank itself.
  5. If it is difficult, the task, for example, cutting round product, then you need to think about using a special tool (a circular or ordinary saw will not work) or original improvised means.

How to cut a circle out of plywood

The hardest thing to decide how to cut even circle plywood if there is no special tool at hand. But even in such a situation, there is a way out - improvised means. What is the essence of the method:

  1. The main tool is a plank of wood with a pair of nails.
  2. The first nail must be driven through the bar, and then placed in the very center of the plywood blank.
  3. The second nail should be as sharp as possible. It is driven in at a distance equal to the radius of the circle from the first. The tip should protrude from the plank by about 5-10 mm or more (depending on the thickness of the plywood sheet).
  4. By rotating the bar relative to the first nail, a furrow is formed by the second and gradually deepens in the plywood
  5. Rotations are made until the moment of complete cutting of the plywood sheet.

Instead of a bar, you can use a cord high strength, but the principles for obtaining the circle do not change.

More traditional methods making a circle from plywood using a suitable tool:

  • jigsaw - electric or manual. Initially, a sketch is made with a pencil (let's say according to a template), then a cut is made along the lines, and the finished part is additionally polished with a file or sandpaper;
  • milling cutter. Great tool for getting a circle out of thick plywood. The standard ruler is fixed with a self-tapping screw in the center of the circle. Next, the cutter rotates along a given radius, forming a hole with the correct round shape.

Why do you need a circle of plywood

Before you think how to cut a circle in plywood with a jigsaw, you need to clearly understand why it is needed. Subsequently, both the resulting round-shaped workpiece itself and the plywood sheet with a regular-shaped hole can be used.

Where a round blank of plywood can come in handy:

  • for the manufacture of various crafts and templates for them;
  • be used as a base for wall clocks;
  • apply for subsequent curly cutting or decoupage;
  • act as a stool seat, kitchen countertop or coffee table etc.
  • to create various souvenirs, for example, boxes, etc.

It may also be necessary to cut the correct circle from plywood for later use of a sheet with a hole:

  • installation of a mortise sink in the countertop;
  • receiving a ceiling with a cutout under lighting round shape ( Spotlights or one chandelier);
  • for the production of furniture decorative facades and other elements, etc.

A jigsaw is a very useful power tool. Using the right file, a little experience and confidence, and most importantly - correct position body, you can do everything with it. You can do a lot of things that you can't do with other instruments. The machine is used for cutting straight lines, curves, profiles and cutting circle. Great for cutting wood, metal and plastic.

The master showed how to cut a perfect circle with a jigsaw. He made a device out of wood. Its design is unpretentious, and the device itself is easy to manufacture. To get an idea of ​​this, see this image.

Material used:

12 mm plywood sheet. Wooden strip. Nails.

How to do

First of all, measure the size of the jigsaw base plate. The next step is to cut the plywood sheet into an L shape as shown in the image.

After cutting a sheet of plywood to the exact size, the next step is to cut a piece of wood to attach this sheet with nails. This strip is used to hold the jigsaw in its position.

Make sure that there should not be any type of opening between the strip and the base plate of the jigsaw.

The next step is to drill small holes in the sheet. The distance between these holes is, for example, 10 cm. These holes are used for cutting different diameter circle.

After that I drew it so that it looks good. It is now ready to be used to cut the perfect circle of the clamp.

Advantages:

This is very easy to do.

Easy to use.

Less cost.

Used for cutting round discs of various diameters.

For better understanding watch the video below.

All photos from the article

Fans of all kinds of needlework should definitely pay attention to this kind of arts and crafts, like cutting on plywood. In this way, you can make all kinds of figures, patterns and other decorative elements.

Moreover, it is quite simple to master such a technique, the only thing is that you first need to familiarize yourself with its main nuances, which we will do below.

What do you need to cut

First of all, consider what tool you need for this. It should be said right away that expensive plywood cutting equipment is not required. Therefore, anyone can do this kind of work.

The only thing you need to prepare the following tool:

  • jigsaw;
  • electric drill and brace;
  • scissors;
  • cardboard templates;
  • needle files.

In the photo - a manual jigsaw

In addition, various expendable materials, such as:

  • sandpaper, for grinding saw cut places;
  • tracing paper;
  • pencils;
  • glue;
  • acrylic paints, etc.

In addition, it is necessary to prepare workplace. Since working with any wood materials implies the presence of sawdust and unnecessary scraps, it is advisable to equip the workplace not in a residential area, but, for example, in a garage.

The workplace itself is a table. It is advisable to attach a stand for a jigsaw to it, which can be made from a plank. It is also necessary to ensure good local lighting workplace.

Cutting Features

Material selection

As you know, plywood is a multilayer material that consists of several layers of veneer. This makes it great for creativity.

The only thing you need to choose the right type of plywood. To do this, you need to pay attention to the following parameters:

Options Optimal material type
Thickness For do-it-yourself cutting out of plywood, you should not use sheets that are too thick, as this will complicate the work. At the same time, the material must be strong enough. That's why optimal value thickness - 8 mm.
Brand The brand speaks of the type of adhesive that was used to glue the veneer.

It depends on things like:

  • material price;
  • its moisture resistance;
  • environmental friendliness.

For the manufacture of decor that will be used in a residential area, you should use eco-friendly plywood brands, for example, FC. If the product is made for outdoor use, it is necessary to use moisture-resistant sheets, such as FSF.

Variety Determines the quality of the material, and hence its appearance. Accordingly, for creativity, it is necessary to use sheets of the highest grades so that they do not have any visible defects.
wood species For cutting are the best option plywood sheets from conifers because they are easy to machining and yet have an attractive texture. True, in cases where a slightly pronounced texture is required, you can use birch plywood.

What to cut

As a rule, people who encounter such work for the first time are interested in what can be cut out of plywood?

There are a lot of options - these can be:

  • patterns for decorating furniture or other interior elements;
  • panel on the wall;
  • decorative inscriptions;
  • all kinds of figurines, toys for children, etc.

Advice! You can also make functional carved objects from plywood, for example, caskets, candlesticks, napkin holders, lamps and much more.

Of course, you should start by cutting out the most simple products to "get your hands on it". After gaining experience, you can take on work of any complexity.

cutting process

After preparing the workplace and materials, we proceed directly to the cutting itself.

The instructions for doing this work look like this:

  1. First of all, you need to make an image of the future product. You can make them yourself, or find them online and print them out. It must be said that templates must be prepared even before cutting out words from plywood with simple outlines, as this will greatly simplify the work and increase its quality.

You can also prepare templates of simple geometric shapes in advance. different sizes to, for example, quickly cut a circle out of plywood or a square;

  1. then the images should be transferred to cardboard, for example, using carbon paper;
  2. now you need to cut out templates from cardboard;
  3. further prepared templates must be placed on a plywood sheet and circled with a pencil. If the pattern is large enough, it can be fixed with tape or even glue;
  4. now let's start cutting. If you need to cut the edge of plywood beautifully, giving it smooth shapes, you can use a jigsaw. More subtle and hard work, for example, small openwork patterns should be cut with a manual jigsaw.

To make internal cuts, you must first drill a hole. Depending on the subtlety of the work, for this you can use an electric drill or a brace;

  1. after cutting is completed, it is necessary to process the saw cuts with sandpaper. To correct the lines, you can use needle files;
  2. then the product must be sanded. If it consists of several parts, they must be glued, for example, with PVA or wood glue.

Advice! Novice craftsmen are often interested in experts - how to cut an even circle out of plywood? In fact, there are no secrets in this operation, the main thing is to correctly apply a circle to the material using a template or a compass, and then carefully and slowly cut it out with a jigsaw.

This completes the cutting process. Now the product can be decorated - painted with paints, applied with a burner or simply varnished.

Advice! Word templates for plywood cutting can be prepared in a text editor such as Word. This will allow you to select the most suitable size and font.

Here, in fact, are all the main nuances of this work.

Conclusion

Sawing plywood with a jigsaw is a much simpler task than, for example, wood carving. Therefore, in order to achieve good results It doesn't take years to master the skill. You just need to do the work carefully, adhering to the above recommendations.

The video in this article contains Additional information on the given topic. If some points are not clear to you, you can leave your questions in the comments, and we will be happy to answer them.

Often the question of how to cut even circles from plywood with a jigsaw confuses novice craftsmen. After all, it is much more difficult to do this than a simple straight cut, no saw will help here.

Most often with a task figured cutting jigsaw helps to cope. Jigsaws are manual and electric. A manual jigsaw consists of a frame with clips for the blade and a handle. Main disadvantages manual jigsaw: low mechanical strength canvases and small size framework. As a result, the blade is often torn and it is impossible to cut at a large indent from the edges of the part. Such jigsaws are usually used for processing wooden products. Electric jigsaws are ordinary, in which the saw is located vertically, and for artistic cutting, where the cutting element is a steel blade. Electric jigsaws usually used when working with thick material.

Key Rules

To make the sawing process simple and fast, you must follow the basic key rules of work:

In order for the edges of the plywood to be even, it is better to cut along the canvas.

  • you can only work with dry material, as moisture increases the resistance of the material, as a result of which the veneer may begin to delaminate;
  • need to change cutting blade immediately after the first signs of blunting of the teeth appear;
  • it is better to work with an electric jigsaw along the fibers of the material, so the edges will be more even;
  • with a hand jigsaw it is necessary to cut across the fibers of the veneer.

To work safely, you must adhere to the following recommendations:

  • firmly fasten the sawing table and saw blade in the frame;
  • the jigsaw must be with serviceable and well-fitted handles;
  • you should not press too hard on the jigsaw, trying to "help" it, this will only lead to faster blunting of the working blade;
  • straight and long cuts are best done with a wide blade, so the sawing process will go faster;
  • it is necessary to always see the markings, so the sawdust from the material being cut must be removed by hand, in no case should it be blown off, as they can get into the eyes.

Compliance with these simple rules will help a beginner learn how to cut circles with a jigsaw and facilitate his work.

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Cutting instructions

Before starting work, you need to drill a hole in the plywood for the jigsaw blade.

To cut even circles with a jigsaw quickly and beautifully, it is not necessary to be an expert in this field, but for a beginner it can be a very difficult task. In this case, the main thing is patience and, of course, the availability of the necessary accompanying tools, such as the jigsaw itself, a file, compasses, a simple pencil and surface polishing devices.

The first thing to do is to draw a circle on the surface of the material you will be working with. It is best to use a compass or choose a suitable circle and circle. It is necessary to trace with a pencil so that traces of it can be erased in the future.

If it is necessary to cut a circle inside the surface, then a through starting hole should be made. Next, you need to insert a jigsaw blade or file into this hole and fix the free end of the file with a clamp. Cutting is recommended in a sitting position. First of all, you need to fix the file in the jigsaw with a key, while keeping in mind that the teeth of the file should be pointing down. It is necessary to cut in the direction from top to bottom. The tool should be held level to avoid nicks and bevels.

The main thing in this process is not to rush and cut smoothly without sudden movements.

In the process of sawing, it is necessary to take small breaks, as the file can overheat and break. Here is the circle and ready. Now it is recommended to align the edges with a file, erase the markings left by the pencil and polish the part. Can be varnished if necessary.

Of course, it requires some skill and skills, but everything comes with experience. Therefore, following the recommendations described above should help the novice master in mastering this interesting and exciting activity.


When working with various types wood, you always need to know the detailed variations in its processing. Before you cut a circle in plywood, you need to know all the options, because you often have to adapt to the situation. There are many options for performing such an undertaking, and they differ dramatically.

In order to cut a circle out of plywood, you can use both professional tools, and improvised means.

Power tools or hand tools?

Tools and materials:

  • drill;
  • jigsaw;
  • jigsaw manual;
  • milling machine;
  • nails;
  • rope;
  • chisel;
  • a hammer;
  • stationery knife;
  • sandpaper;
  • compass.

When determining the diameter of the future circle, it is necessary to take into account the dimensions of the working cutter.

The most popular option among all is the electric jigsaw. This tool allows you to cut not only circles, but also any other geometric figures. Its only disadvantage is the need to form additional grooves at the corners (corners), but this is not noticeable when creating a circle. It is very important to choose the right nail file, because. they are of 3 types: tears on the left, tears on the right, tears on 2 sides. After the canvas is selected, cut out a circle of any size.

Jigsaw ordinary manual. Before cutting a circle out of plywood using this tool, you need to make sure that the workflow is available. The main difficulty is the limitation (usually up to 30 cm) due to the physical structure, i.e. in deep places won't work. At the start work activities not from the edge, but directly from the center, the nail file is refueled as a last resort.

Milling machine. Very convenient option, but requiring a rigid hitch with the surface, for which a self-tapping screw is screwed into the center of the circle. The circle is made of any diameter, and very quickly. Sometimes there is not enough working handle, which is why you have to make all kinds of impromptu brackets, which can be a channel, a profile, a bar, a board and even a rope, but it is much more convenient on a rigid hitch. This tool makes a fairly wide hole, so before starting work, you need to carefully measure the future design.

It is necessary to choose only sharp nails, and process the edges of the resulting workpiece with coarse sandpaper.

Nails. A very popular way in cases where the work should be done "already yesterday", and the tools will not be soon. It should be noted right away that the work in the end is quite rough, so it is used as a last resort. All you need is a hammer, 2 nails and a rope. One nail is driven in in the center of the hole, and the other is pulled on the rope to the required length (radius), after which a circle is drawn with a firm movement. Such circles with pressure continue until the circle is finally cut. At the very end, the nail is removed from the hole, turned over and carefully upholstered with a hammer to achieve a more accurate seam.

Chisel and stationery knife. Everything is much simpler here, because first you need to draw a circle with a compass (pencil), after which this circle is circled several times with a clerical knife under pressure. A feature of the stroke is the movement of not a knife, but a sheet of plywood, so as not to break the metal, and this action is repeated from 2 sides. Then a chisel is applied to the prepared seam and brought to the opposite seam with gentle blows (2-3 blows are usually enough). At the very end, a circle is knocked out with a hammer, as in the variant with nails.