Somewhere in the distant past, probably at Sears, I bought a nest of deep whole saws for about $12.00. They would Easley cut a whole through 2 inch stock. They were definitely not of top quality and because of their extra depth they got out of round easily. They got a lot of use and didn't last all that long. They were a handy tool to have in my shop and I have looked for another set with out success, for the last couple of years.
Paul Franklin ----- Original Message ----- From: Dale Leavens To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 11:00 AM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] cutting a circular hole A fly cutter is a drill bit set into a thicker mandrill which is to be mounted into the chuck of a drill press. There is a bar which runs through a square hole in that mandrill laterally which can be slid further out from the shaft and tightened into place with a set screw. This lateral bar has another rectangular bar extending down with a beveled sort of sharpened chisel tip which revolves around the bit center as they both turn and which describes a circle the radius of the amount of the lateral beam protruding from the mandrill.This sharp chisel then is spinning at the radius from the center which has been selected by the user and of course the entire thing is necessarily unbalanced. In a drill press it does at least maintain it's position relative to the work being cut, on the end of a hand held drill though, just the off-center vibration makes it near impossible to keep steady. Once it begins biting into wood, and remembering at two points in the rotation it is cutting cross grain while at two other points it is cutting with the grain, the rotation torque is constantly variable. As hard and strong as the steel is, the possibility of any number of things failing is very high. Because of the design too, the depth of the fly cutter is only about an inch. They do come in different sizes, the one I have probably cuts up to about 4 and a half maybe 5 inches. My experience is that regardless of how much care I use one or other of the set screws fails during the process and usually it is the radius which begins expanding. I had such a problem when cutting to form a nice arch shaped cutout on the fence I made for my router table. My idea was to cut the hole just centered a little below the radius of the hole then with the table saw cut away the edges to form what would look like a very steady handed ban saw operator had formed a fine archway for the dust collection. From one side it turned out like that, the other side ended up having a quarter inch deep curved line about 3/8ths outside the circumference of the arc. I hid this from view by making that the back side of the fence and covering it with the construction into which the dust collection hose gets fitted.I then ordered two sets of what should be good quality hole saws. ----- Original Message ----- From: John Schwery To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 9:10 AM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] cutting a circular hole What is a fly cutter and what sizes of holes do they cut? earlier, Dale Leavens, wrote: >Fly cutters in anything other than a drill press which keeps it >running true are prone to breaking apart or having bits fly off if >they aren't kept running absolutely true. You are warned never to >use them outside of a drill press. > >A broken wrist is only one of a number of serious injuries one can sustain. > >----- Original Message ----- >From: <mailto:spiro%40netaxs.com>[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com>blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com >Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 12:49 AM >Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] cutting a circular hole > >spade bits and fly cutters, (hole cutter for drill press here) are >similarly difficult to 360 center and can wrench a wrist if they hit a >knot in the wood. > >On Fri, 23 May 2008, Dale Leavens wrote: > > > You should never use a hole cutter in anything other than a drill > press for reasons of safety however you can safely use a hole saw. > These come in a number of sizes, I think my largest is 4 and a half > inches. These can be used in a hand power drill. There is a central > twist bit which is longer than the peripheral ring with saw teeth. > The twist bit guides the rotating saw into and on through the wood. > > > > I suggest that once the bit comes out the far side and before the > rotating saw part cuts through that you remove the hole saw and > complete the cut from the other side to keep it from tearing the > wood as it exits. > > > > You can buy individual hole saws or a set. If not readily > available where you live I bought my sets from Leevalley.com. > > > > I doubt you will find a spade bit big enough but you could get a > large auger bit for a hand brace & bit. > > > > Hope this helps. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Robert Riddle > > To: <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com>blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com > > Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 2:19 PM > > Subject: [BlindHandyMan] cutting a circular hole > > > > > > I need to cut a circular hole in one of the boards comprising my > picnic table for the umbrella. Everything I've read says to use a > circle cutter in a drill press, which I don't have. Are there any > other options? > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > > Checked by AVG. > > Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.0/1462 - Release Date: > 5/23/2008 7:20 AM > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > >---------------------------------------------------------- > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG. >Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.1/1464 - Release Date: >5/24/2008 8:56 AM > >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG. >Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 269.24.1/1464 - Release Date: >5/24/2008 8:56 AM John [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ---------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.1/1464 - Release Date: 5/24/2008 8:56 AM [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
