wood working question

[psiu]

Wood working question, I come to SPCR naturally...

.75 inch thick oak, I would like to remove a "core" from it...like a small circle piece that would then later fit back in place floating there (supported from behind the board on something else basically).

A regular hole saw bit requires the pilot-bit-piece though right? And I don't want a hole in the middle of my cored out piece. Not sure what I am looking for here. So...now what?

[Bluefront]

Without buying some special tool..... I'd cut out a circle with a normal hole saw. Then I'd cut out a circular section from another piece of wood with a jig-saw. Doing it this way would give you a pretty good fit....if you were careful.

The other way....use a drill press and a hole saw, with the pilot bit removed.

[psiu]

Hmm...could be an excuse for buying a drill press then. What's the reasoning behind not doing it by hand? Get the hole bit uneven and bad things happening? And I guess I would like the piece to be from the same wood so the grain matches up there.

Finally moved into a townhouse with a *drumroll* basement, so I can do things. Like my long delayed and packed away Wooden-Cube-Giant-Fan-HTPC project. Bought a table saw, have a work table, some storage, it's pretty nice.

This is for the eject button of a slot load notebook optical drive pushed up against the wood--which is only about .25-.5" deep at that location. Other wise I might just drill a pinhole out there and shave away the inside where it sits to keep from being pressed on.

[Plissken]

Hmm...could be an excuse for buying a drill press then. What's the reasoning behind not doing it by hand? Get the hole bit uneven and bad things happening?

Yes, you wont be able to control the cutting without a pilot, unless both the workpiece and hole saw are held rigidly.
If you use a hole saw, the remaining piece won't fit snug, since the saw kerf will leave a gap. I think that is what BF was getting at. Depends on what you are trying to do. You will probably get a tighter fit if you use a good jig saw method. Zero-gap fit will require 2 separate pieces.

[psiu]

Hmm...could be an excuse for buying a drill press then. What's the reasoning behind not doing it by hand? Get the hole bit uneven and bad things happening?

Yes, you wont be able to control the cutting without a pilot, unless both the workpiece and hole saw are held rigidly.
If you use a hole saw, the remaining piece won't fit snug, since the saw kerf will leave a gap. I think that is what BF was getting at. Depends on what you are trying to do. You will probably get a tighter fit if you use a good jig saw method. Zero-gap fit will require 2 separate pieces.

Ah. Actually yeah, I want a gap--going to glue the wood chunk onto eject button behind the hole and have it just float there.

[Aris]

cut it with a hole saw. Take your circle with pilot hole in middle, put it up against another piece of wood like what you cut the hole from. Then trace a circle around it on the board with a pencil. Then use a jigsaw to cut out the circle.

Then place your circle into your original hole cut from the hole saw.

[Beyonder]

Wood working question, I come to SPCR naturally...

.75 inch thick oak, I would like to remove a "core" from it...like a small circle piece that would then later fit back in place floating there (supported from behind the board on something else basically).

A regular hole saw bit requires the pilot-bit-piece though right? And I don't want a hole in the middle of my cored out piece. Not sure what I am looking for here. So...now what?

edit: the usefulness of my response really depends on something I didn't consider when I originally read your post--how big of a hole? Obviously, using a drill press and a circle punch would be easier, but those have a limited diameter (in my experience, finding something larger than a dryer duct is extremely difficult and quite costly).

The best way would be to construct a circular template, and then use a router with a flush bit (this is a bit with a small bearing on the bottom). I'd create a pilot hole with a regular bit and then swap to the flush bit. Clamp the template to the back, and use it as a guide for the flush bit.

I use something similar to this to cut out speaker baffles. To create your template, you'll need to buy a circle jig, or make your own. I opted to make my own (pretty easy to do).

This method will result in the cleanest and most accurate cut, by far, but it's also the most expensive. You're looking at ~$100 or more for a decent router, probably another fifty or sixty dollars in bits, and twenty or thirty bucks for a circle jig, assuming you don't make your own. And it's time consuming. But using routers and circular jigs is pretty much the standard method for speaker cabinet building these days. (nobody uses a jigsaw--the results would just be ugly)

[NyteOwl]

Another option might be a circle hole guide with one of those dremel type plunge "saws". You can also get the cutting bits to use in a dremel if you have one but you'll still need some form of circle jig/guide to keep it neat.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hello,

They do make a bit specifically for making plugs. It is somewhat similar to a Forstner bit -- after you drill it, you pop out the plug with a straight screw driver.

Here's a countersink and a matching plug cutter:

http://www.fine-tools.com/G312630.htm

[psiu]

Second link from Neil appears dead but googling for plug cutter helped. Thanks.