Which Circle Cutter

[Stephen Edwards]

I will be watching for the pictures and more info, if you don't have to turn the blade that would be nice, I sure do like the adjuster on it. Let use know just how well it works.

Thanks...

Sorry Folks, I didn't get to spend much time in the shop yesterday with the new circle cutter and a camera. And, I'll be working away from home for the next two days. I'll get these pics up as soon as possible!

I did learn one thing on one practice cut. The blade is going to have be modified to get a clean cut on both sides all the way through a 3/4 board. That's an inconvenience. The problem is that the blade has a "shoulder" on it that bottoms out on the work piece at about 11/16".

But, I've found a guy that can fix that for me. I ordered two extra blades with this thing and am shipping them today to the sharpening guy. He's going to increase the blade cutting length. This guy also has solid carbide 1/4" mill ends and is going to make some custom blades for my new circle cutter. The cutter itself appears to be an excellent design and well built. The minor problem is the blade. By the way, it's made in India, which surprised me. I was figuring it would be made in China.

Pics as soon as possible. Sorry for the delay!

[Robert Chapman]

I have one of these from Griz - it works fine and costs less that $20. Buy one - if you don't like it buy a different one - they are not expensive tools.

[Stephen Edwards]

I have one of these from Griz - it works fine and costs less that $20. Buy one - if you don't like it buy a different one - they are not expensive tools.

Agreed, 100%! It's a great accessory. In fact, I'm going to buy a spare in case they quit selling it. The issue isn't about the quality of the circle cutter. The issue, to me and a few others, is depth of cut and whether or not either/both the round hole and/or the inner circle can be cut such that both have sides that are 90 degrees to the face surface of the board.

Admittedly, I don't have a lot of experience with circle cutters. I do have an old one with a 1/4 shank. I've seen a few others that are similar. The cutting blade on the Grizzly is different than the others that I've seen. I really like the way it cuts. I do wish that they had made the cutting edge just a wee bit longer. I've worked out a solution for that. The advantages of this cutter outweigh that one disadvantage.

To others following this thread, the promised pics of the cutting blade and close ups of the cutter itself will be posted tomorrow. Again, I apologize for the delay. I'll be in the shop tomorrow and get that done!!

Kind Regards,

[Rod Sheridan]

I have a General circle cutter.

The blade is reversible so that you obtain either a hole with square sides, or a wheel with square sides. (As opposed to the taper left on the scrap piece).

It works well, I've used it in wood and HDPE.........Regards, Rod.

[Jerome Hanby]

+1 on the General. I bought the wrong version at Woodcraft and when I called General's support about how to cut disks with it, they sent me the correct one free of charge!

I have a General circle cutter.

The blade is reversible so that you obtain either a hole with square sides, or a wheel with square sides. (As opposed to the taper left on the scrap piece).

It works well, I've used it in wood and HDPE.........Regards, Rod.

[Bill Blackburn]

Here's mine in it's super sophisticated, combination setup and storage facility.

slick clever s/u jig
I am copying it

Thanks for sharing this little bugger

[Louis Rucci]

I'm stealing that idea for mine.

Thanks,

Louis

[Dave Loebach]

I have a 40 year old Craftsman version of this cutter and I have been happy with it. Te cutter can be positioned two ways. One gives you a smooth cut out. The other gives you a smooth hole. You can't have both. The smoothness is roughly equivalent to what you get with a hole saw. The diameter is infinitley variable and it cuts out the biggest hole of anything I have. For the cost I have found it to be valuable.

[Stephen Edwards]

I finally got some pics of the Grizzly Circle Cutter and the blade. Sorry, the picture quality ain't great. I need to replace my ancient digital camera.

I like the cutter just fine. I don't like the blades. The cutting length isn't long enough to cut a clean cut through 3/4 material. It's also designed such that the blade can't be reversed, if I understand this thing correctly. It came with no instructions. The cutter itself is a good design but the blade is poorly designed, IMO.

I'm getting the blades modified so that they will do what I want them to do. I'm also having some solid carbide blades made for it. Suggestions and advice for the shape of the cutting edge on the modifications and new blades is welcomed and sought from those of you with experience with circle cutters.

This pic is of the whole circle cutter:

grizzly circle cutter.jpg

This pic is a close up of the cutter as if it were in the cutting position:

grizzly circle cutter in cutting position.jpg

These two pics show details of the blade with the too short cutting length and the annoying "shoulders":

grizzly circle cutter blade detail.jpggrizzly circle cutter blade detail 2.jpg

Finally, this pic shows a bottom view of the blade:

grizzly circle cutter blade bottom view.jpg


On the blade that came with it and the two extras that I ordered I'm going to have the cutting length extended. The carbide blades that I'm having made will be long enough to cut a circle through 1 1/2" material.

Hopefully, you can see in the pics that the bottom of the blade has a double bevel. The leading edge of the blade, the longest portion of the cutting edge, is made such that you can cut a clean hole but if you reverse it to cut a clean "wheel", it won't work well.

How should I have these blades modified? Should the cutting edge be 90 degrees to the shank of the blade? Or, should I have separate blades for inside and outside cuts? I do like the way it cuts with the leading edge "point" biting into the wood. But, if I'm understanding this thing correctly and my test cuts indicate that I do, it doesn't work well if you reverse the blade.

Any, thoughts, suggestions and advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Steve