Cutting holes

[Al Sherred]

I would like some ideas for the easiest way to cut multiple,rectangular holes in 1/4 inch plywood actually it's .190 thick. The cutouts are for windows in a doll house. My brain takes me to drilling a hole and using my jig saw, just wondering if there is a better way. I have about 30 to cut out. Thanks for any replies.

[Mark Bolton]

Router and a template? Then square up the corners?

[Michael Kellough]

This would be a good application for the Rockwell BladeRunner.

Rockwell-BladeRunner-Saw-Cutting-Machine.jpg

After drilling holes...

[Rick Potter]

I agree with Michael, but if you don't happen to have a Blade Runner around.....

Take a piece of Melamine or MDF, drill a blade size hole in it for your jigsaw, start at the hole and cut a kerf about an inch long, screw the saw to the board. You now have a quickie, zero clearance, table mounted jig saw.

Be sure to use a really good blade made for plywood and you should get decent cuts with the zero clearance table. I have good blades from DeWalt and Bosch, they both say 'Made in Switzerland'.

Rick Potter

[Floyd Mah]

Get a multi-tool (HarborFreight = best value, variable speed is best) and a wood cutting blade. HarborFreight has a nice woodcutting blade that has teeth similar to Japanese saws. Make a template, or at least a right angle corner. It will cut through 0.190 inch wood like butter. I made numerous cutouts for electrical outlet boxes in hard baseboard with this setup. Also Highland Woodworking sells sets of files (Iwasaki) that will plane a nice edge on the wood afterwards. Much faster and more accurate than almost any other setup. Also, prescore the cross-grain edges with a razor after taping with masking tape to control tearing the fibers.

[Jon McElwain]

I recently cut windows for a doll house in 1/4" plywood. I spent some time thinking about an alternate to the jig saw, but in the end, I only had 10 windows and a door, so i just went ahead and cut them with the jig saw. I put tape down over the cuts, marked the cuts, pre-drilled, and used a zero clearance insert in my jig saw. I didn't need absolutely perfect cuts because I trimmed the windows out with molding/casing, but even so, the cuts went pretty quick and they turned out well.

I tried the multi-tool (I've got a Fein), but the jig saw was faster for this application.

[Charles Lent]

I built a horse barn for my grand daughter's toy plastic horses. I was loaned one of the horses and had to make a barn to fit that size horse. To cut the windows (all the same size) I made a template and used a router with a bushing and a 1/4" down spiral bit to cut the openings with a sheet of foam insulation to act as a backer and prevent splintering. I then used my scroll saw to square up the corners. Cutting the holes with the router went very quickly, probably about 10 minutes.. It took me just over an hour to square the corners of window holes with the scroll saw.

Charley

[Al Sherred]

Thank You for the replies, I ended up, doing basically what Jon said, put tape over the cutout spots and marked them then just used the jig saw. I was fretting about the cut being clean and I really didn't need it to be perfectly clean and things worked out very well. So Thank you all for the replies.