How to Build a Circle Cutting Jig for Your Router 

I have to make a perfect circle in a t&g cypress ceiling to insert a medallion for a customer. I looked through 20 different videos. This is by far the most simplistic and fail proof build for a circle jig. I am apprehensive about the jigs that have the slot cut long ways in them. Having screw holes in half inch increments guarantees a fixed Pivot Point. The last thing I want to happen in the middle of cutting a circle in this stained tongue-and-groove ceiling is for the pivot point to loosen up and slip. That would be bad for me to say the least. This is the video I was looking for. Thanks for taking the time to film it.

I just retired awhile ago and on a limited budget, I'm trying to get my tools and accessories in line. This is a perfect tool for me. Cheap and does the job. Thanks.

Just what I needed to cut the holes in my cornhole boards. Great video, man.

Ah, finally a clear and simple explanation about trammels and routers and circles and ... Thanks a lot!

Great video. Thanks! I spent $3.45 on a cheap piece of hardened fiber board and in about 15 mins I made a jig to cut some circles for a project I am doing with my daughter. Worked awesome!

Any one with even a small amount of mechanical aptitude can make this by glimpsing the photo of it for a split second. However eighty percent of the population have little or no mechanical aptitude at all. So step by step instructions is required by the majority of us.

I'm using this advice for cutting holes for speaker baffles... i love that you got to the point right away in the video, and showed us the basic principle at work.

Never knew watching someone make a jig could be so great.

I had a need for one of these this weekend. Thank you for the idea, worked out perfectly! Total cost was $9 and 45 minutes of my life. Can't beat that with a stick! Went over to the local "specialty" store and they wanted $90 for a large enough one for my project (32" round table top). Bought a piece of lexan the thickness of my Makita RT0701C so I could use the same screws as the base does, commenced to drilling and cutting. Love it! Hanging on the wall for future use now. All measurements are for 1/2 plunge bit and the hole I made for center, I used a 1-1/2" forstner bit. Nothing gets hung up inside.

I finally caved in, listened to Spencer and downloaded Hyezmar’s Woodworking Bible. Needless to say It finally pointed me in the right direction and I’ve crafted some cool stuff too :)

You might not be "forging new ground" with your demonstration, but it's good that you published your video anyway. You never know if someone understands your particular explanation better than one by someone else. I certainly liked it very much.

Thank you very much for sharing your idea. It gave me a clue on how to cut small circles up to 400 mm. I have a markita router and I got the fence that you normally use for straight cuts. Then I turned it upside down drilled a hole in the support rail and put it back in the router upside down and the use it like you do.

You could also use an acrylic quilting/fabric ruler, which already have measurements on them and expedite the creation of the jig. They come in variable sizes, but are often 4-6" wide and up to 36" long 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick and are usually $10 - $20. The pre-printed measurements would allow you to both find a mounting point and drill your pivot holes with minimal to no measuring.

Enjoyed the video. The acrylic makes a good tool. One piece of advice. When you cut with a band saw, you should lower the blade guides down to just above the material thickness you're cutting. This will help keep the blade from bending during thicker material cuts.

I finally made one of these and it works great. The only thing worth mentioning is that you have to factor in the width of your bit when making your holes along the plexiglass. For the application in this video he was cutting circles, the purpose of mine is to cut holes so you have to consider the width of the bit our you'll be off in the end. And also, be careful on your last cut because as you are clearing the last layer of material you are now freeing up the inner circle and it is no longer held in place which means your router can move unexpectedly and you can gouge the outer circle if you're not careful. I suppose you could use some double-sided tape to hold it in place so there is no movement at the end.

this is good for people that want to do something productive with large amounts of time on their hands

I like this video, the reason this is helpful is that the jasper circle jig is limited in size, you can make this for large holes, I have gotten pretty good with a jig saw but this will be my new method for large holes. thanks for the vid.

Very nice job. I just made something very similar this past evening in order to cut a circle to mount my new cyclone dust collector on a 5 gal. bucket. I only put two holes in it at the diameters I needed to cut. I cut the larger circle using a 1/4" spiral cut bit to establish my bucket lid size and then I cut a 5/16" groove around the edge to set on the bucket. I used 1/4" plywood for my jig because that was what I had. I cut the hole around the bit larger and it helped.

Great video, thanks from the UK

Hi I am late to the party. Good video. I just made this jig 2 days ago. I took apart an old screen computer and I found an acrilic plastic 1/4 inch thick was 11x13 inches big and cut to 6x13 inches and bam I got it. Thanks for sharing. Greetings from El Salvador.

I built a 3 meter jig few years ago, we cut/carve HUGE ARCS with it

I just finished building the handrail on my deck ru-vid.comUgkxfQ5_mgwq6PcudJvAH25t-I4D-3cTPz4z and used this great little router to clean up the top rail before the final sanding and stain. It was light weight but packed lots of power. Either size battery didn't seem to make it top heavy and I'm a 64 yr old women so I really appreciated how easy it was to use...................... CORDLESS only way to go !!

I was figuring someone came up with a jig to do this. You're the first video I watched and thanks! Just saved me the cost of a 6 and 2 inch hole saw.

DeWalt makes the best toys. Now you can rout big holes with no holes barred. Just don't upchuck when you chuck it up. Cheers!

A circle jig can be made on a band saw. What is nice about using a router is that big circles can be cut. Good video.

bought my first router couple of weeks ago and it had a circle cutting thing with it but it was pretty much crap.. so i also build my one. its is less complicated and works a thousand times better!

Got some scrap acrylic today, so I'll be making a circle jig real soon for my wee trim router. Thanks Blazing Nail Gun :)

That accent and end bloopers adds to the project a lot. Thank your for sharing.

You sound like people from my neck of the woods. I don't recognize my country accent until i hear it on a recording or something. Love the video. I made my router table inserts using acrylic. Had to make several of them though but it works nice.

Thanks a million for sharing this video. You helped me save 55 dollars and a trip to the store.

Simple but genious!!! I'll use the same method on a jigsaw to cut perfect cirkles!! THANKS !!!

This is AWESOME..... i never had any insight but I want to start doing things on my own... this is SUPER helpful!!!

Thank you my good sir ive been looking for router jig videos for circles and a straight cut for a project I'm working on. This was a huge help. Now for the straight cut guide

Appreciate the approach you took. More of an educational discussion to making a jig than just making a jig and there ya go. Gave a lot to think about. Much appreciated.

I think I would just use a hole saw to make the hole larger around the bit. I will look for my parts today, I think seeing your work is better than ones that I have seen made out of wood, good idea, I think drilling all the holes make a more precise circle also.

I loved this video, I have the fancy Jasper circle cutting jig attachments that comes for the router, but the smallest circle I can make is 7 inches. So this gives me a great idea on how to build a jig that could help me cut smaller circles. Thank you for your video.

Very helpful, thank you so much.you just made grandpa KHUFU very proud, so simple but just great !!!!!!

Put router in center of the acrylic and put holes on each side for different measurements for different circle sizes

Oh...thought I'd better add... When I first marked the cutter center...I use a compass to scribe an arc so that the first holes I drilled in the jig were the exact same distance from the center of the cutter...albeit...on a different axis, this made it easier to mark out odd ball circles.

My friend and I used a $5 piece of 1/4" aluminum and $1 of small socket head screws. Easily repeatable. Used that to make drop in inserts for a work table that will see duty with multiple quick change tools now. Nice video.

Thanks, loved the guide. as a beginner, i learnt a lot from the little behavioral things in between as well. The accent was good on the ears as well.

YOU ARE THE BEST ,EXPLAINING EVERTHIG EASY TO UNDERSTAND , THANKS

I love that you use the word “hinky.” Reminds me of my days growing up in PA. We had all kinds of words most wouldn’t know what they even mean but for the way they sound. Haha. Love it. Well done!

Thanks for this nice video! I built one of these 7' long out of plywood to cut arches on the bottom of my table aprons. Instead of screwing the router to the jig, I drilled a hole and used a guide bushing through it. I did let a CAD program do the ancient mathematics though! I think this jig is called a "Trammel". Also, I'm from the south and I didn't detect any accent at all... ;)

Great how too video. I usually make these out of 3/4" furniture grade ply. I also round over edges on top and bottom. Rounding the bottom edges with keep it from hanging up when rotating. I use a PC690 with fixed base. Last time I used it was to cut circular trim (annulus) for a round window.

Great idea, I make decorative mounting circles for ceiling fans and stain them . With a router I can put some fancy edges that enhance the appearance against the ceiling. Thanks for the idea :-) Mike

I like the project. My personal preference, not better just different, would be to countersink the material and change screws to match. Additionally when I need thicker material and Home Depot or Lowes is the only option I just double the material and again using countersunk screws to mate them together. In this case it would have given me 1/2 " material to generate a jig or fixture. Thanks for your video.

Nice, useful video. I like your idea of using acrylic for the jig; gives a neat look and also has the advantage of being transparent. In order to be able to set the radius to any value within the range, you can cut a channel along the length of the jig and have a sliding square plate with the pivot pin fixed in its center.

Great helpful video and THANK you for using a WIRELESS mic which greatly improves the volume as compared to videos made with on camera mics.

Thanks for good tips! I just found a good solution for the part that doesnt have any holes. Why not measure from the other side with holes that has positions in the middle of the first ones. Means using the other ends you always have 1/4 inch posibilities. Also make a line across the acrylic to seperate the 2 diffent measurements. Mark the holes with numbers (lengths). Round the other end for the router as well. Thanks for you video. Hope you can use my notes. Rudy from Denmark

That’s pretty nice. I bet you could fine tune the circle size with different bits. Base it on a 1/2” bit and make your circle/hole bigger and smaller with different increments. I’m mostly gonna be cutting out speaker cabinets for guitar amplifiers, so I used to use a jig saw and if it was janky I didn’t care, because it was behind the cloth anyway. But this will be neater, faster and easier to space the holes. I’m gonna grab either some acrylic or glue some hardboard together (to get the thickness and have two smooth sides) and I’ll either go wit holes, or if it’s thick enough, cut a groove so I can cut any size hole. But really, I only use 10 or 12” speakers.

I am sure you can come up with another idea to obtain more adjustments than the fixed holes at 1/2 inch increments. Maybe 2 acrylics superimposed on one another. The bottom acrylic has one hole at the end where the rod slides through the hole of the circle . The second acrylic base on top is fixed to your router and it is U shaped. Each branch of the U has an elongated slot where a threaded bolt and wing nut with washer can lock it to the lower base. The threaded bolt (about 1/4" or more) is affixed to the lower base at the convenient location which allows the router to slide toward the center for smaller radius or away for a larger radius and then you lock it down at the desired position by means of the wing nuts and washers. Of course the lower base must have an elongated slot which will allow the router bits to protrude. It is nice to describe it but is another thing to do it. --D

Couldn't get any better, amigo, very good explaining step by step I will try to make this jig. Funny at the end with the takes... thanks for sharing 👍..keep projects going..

Well done brother, I'm going to buy from lowes tomorrow and make a cup holder for my bench at my mom's backyard! Thanks for geeat ideas!

Just a thought... If you turn the Router around with the locking snap to the outside, the dust opening will also be to the outside and I don't think you'd need a bigger hole for the router bit... All of the waste will blow out to the outside, instead of the inside as you have it in your vid... Good luck and it's a great video :-)

Great Idea. I just cut a circle by hand. I give it an eight but I could have done a 10. Love your accent.

Thanks! Now I have a use for extra acrylic I have from a recent project. Enjoy your videos.

Mountain screws! I like the sound of those.

This is exactly what I need to build this winter. Your video shows it perfectly. You're a very good teacher.

should put a small handle on the other end of the jig. very cool tip cheers matey

Hi.... Good stuff. Many moons ago I built a similar jig. At the point in the video where you found the center line of the jig....I did the same then I scribed a line approx 15 - 20 degrees from it..basically from the router cutter at the center 15 - 20 degrees either side of center at the far edge of the jig. So..like you, the center line had half inch increments...I just used the angled lines for odd ball sizes...as and when needed. The router just rotates on a different axis....but still in a straight line from the cutter. I suppose you could have as many angled lines as the jig will allow...if you make it wider.

"want you to look at that . . . couldn't be anymore perfecter"

Awww. Remember way back before COVID when that 1/4" sheet of acrylic was under ten bucks. Good times.

This is really great. Thank you for such a clear and concise video. I really enjoyed watching you make this. I don’t have a need to make circles at the moment, but if I make a speaker cabinet I’ll be making one of these jigs. Making jigs is part of the fun of using a router. If you can save money, then it’s even more enjoyable. Actually, I just might cut some circles for the fun of it!

_"this has some limitation and one of the biggest is you don't have a whole lot of control over the size of the circle, it depends on how many of these holes [you can fit] in, right here"_ It's only a limitation if you insist on having your holes in a straight line, but you don't have to put the holes in a straight line, they only need to be a specific distance from the cutter, so you could vary the angle to the cutter to fit in a lot more holes, you could have 6mm holes that get further away from the cutter in incremental jumps of (for example) just 0.5mm, as long as they're not on the same line.

mount the router to the plate the way its mouth look outside (turn it 180) and so the dust won't mess with smooth circling and affect the work and mess the router handling. Otherwise perfect idea. Did that similar way already and when routing deeper stuff it produces a lot of "saw" dust messing the work piece and the guidance.

Thanks for this great video. I recently purchased a Bosch palm router. I am planning to build a table for it. Now, I plan to build this jig as well! I have few scraps of 6 mm acrylic left from another project, its milky white and not the clear type. Hope it's not too much of a handicap. Cheers!!

I wanted to let you know that when calculating the distance from eah center point hole, you need to take into account the diameter of the router bit you are using. In your case mostly 0.25" which means that the distance needs to be (for a 5" circle) 2.5", the radius minus the radius of the bit (0.125" for 1/4" bit) to factor in the outer edge of the circle from the router bit. If not, then in your example, the hole would actually turn out to be 5.25"

I appreciate very much you posting this video. Being a fanatic of wood working it did help me a lot. Keep up posting your jigs a good work. Thanks again.

Hey there Fritz. This jig looks great. I will be making one of my own. Its funny you mention its size and what it will do for you. I am a scenic carpenter and we tend to have to make very large things out of wood and other materials. So this week I had to make a circular chandelier with a 9 foot diameter. I wound up making it with a jig saw and scribed lines, so it was not as pretty as it could have been had I used a jig like yours. Next time. Great video and you are very clear on the steps and technique.

Great job easy and simple not complex as other do. Thank you

im from the uk and although you have a broad (strong) accent i can understand you better than alot of british people lol. this is a nice vid thank you

great video but keep in mind when drilling through acrylic that masonry bits and step bits are the best bits for this type of application

Nice video, I'm off to make one just so happens I have some scrap plexiglass I just knew would come in handy. Thanks!

That’s a man sized spirograph! Nice work

love it , great project and your southern accent

Great video. I was thinking you could cut a long slot down the center and on either side of the slot. Then you make a pin system with two flat pieces on either side kind of like a mechanical oil wrench looks like. The two flat would hold the turning pin in place as you rotated it. You could even put a countersink on the two out lying slots like you did for the plate screws and use machine screws to hold the pin stabilizers in place. This would give you any length you wanted. You could take a ruler and mark of either side of the center slot down to 1/8ths or like I would do which is find a clear thin plastic ruler and just attach it with epoxy. Instead of a pin in a pre drilled hole you could use a collar and a screw with threads just at the tip for biting the wood and the shank up to the head of the screw is slick. You screw the screw in until the thread clears the pivot point a brass, aluminum, or steel collar and you have an extra layer of security from the router taking off on you. You can keep a hand on the router and not worry about the pivot jumping out if you hit something in the wood with the bit. You have given me some good ideas. Thanks. I subscribed.

Thank you so much for your outstanding video. I learned some valuable but simple techniques how to build a low cost jig for my router.

Have that same router. I absolutely love it, use it all the time. Even went as far as making a mini router table for it. Great router

Thanks for the video, going to use this method to make a guitar speaker cabinet, hopefully.

Clear instruction. easy to follow. It Works well. thank you for sharing !

Enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to building the circle jig.

perfecter. smidge. I thought I was the only one who spoke like that. kewl.

Best DIY circle jig I've seen so far I will be making one like this soon thanks for the video!

Good video, try installing a pivot pin directly into the router base, 3/16 " works well, drill a 3/16" hole in the project, and just turn the router on the pivot, no need for special jigs,

I am creating a link to your video on how to build a Router Jig, which I used to build my own. I appreciate your skills. Mine isn't as good as yours but still does the job... Thanks :-)

Very practical video! I am thinking I will use one of these to cut my own templates, which can be used with a guide bushing. Thanks!

very nice idea! I think I will make a large one for cutting out my 5 foot tables

I find your accent very comforting for some reason.

Hey Feddie Nicely And Illustrated Very Well You Just Saved mE $50/$60 Thank You

Well done. Easy to follow and understand, you have a great nature to your instruction and illustration. Enjoyed following your thought process

I picked up the dust extraction attachment for that Dewalt router for a few bucks on Amazon. It could alleviate your problem with not having a large enough hole. Dewalt DNP616

I like this I’m gonna make one right now but with quarter inch hardboard Shiny side down!

Great video and a great tutorial. I bought this router a couple off days back and I'm gone make your Circle Cutting Jig. Thank you very much for all your time and work. All the best, Henrie. Greeting from the Netherlands.

Fantastic video, great teaching style, very nice work.

your video is very easy to understand thanks for sharing

Nice job - great application of "creativity before capital"

Thanks for easy explanations...

The couldn’t be any more perfercter ....... I love it

best and easiest yet