How Would You Make This?

[John LoDico]

I need to make about 20 3-inch diameter domed pieces with a "shoulder" of about 1/2" high.
Seems too small to balance a router on. Do I have to turn them? (I don't have a lathe!) I can't figure it out. Thanks in advance.
IMG_0271.jpg

[George Yetka]

CNC would be my go to.

Drill press?
I would buy a 3" dowel slice it up find a way to chuck it up and sand to domed shape. Make a profile on a piece of 1/2" and sand till you match it.

[John TenEyck]

I see no easy way w/o a lathe at your disposal, but it's fast work on a CNC. If you need 20, identical ones, find a local CNC shop.

John

[John LoDico]

Looks like I'll be "forced" to buy a benchtop lathe -- at least that's the excuse I'll use to buy another tool!

[Steve Demuth]

You don't tell us what tools other than a router you do have. I have a couple of questions:

- Do you have disc or belt sander?

- How uniform do the 20 pieces have to be?

- Are you allowed a hole on the "down" face?

Assuming you don't have a CNC, but do have a sander appropriate for freehand shaping, then my next approach would be to cut blanks as nearly round as possible (maybe using a hole saw, or on a band saw), place them on spindle (probably a 1/4" lag screw in the center of the "down" face, chuck them in a hand drill, and then shape the dome on the sander. If you make a template of the dome shape to check your progress, on it'll take very little time and effort to get a good result.

[John LoDico]

Thanks Steve. The pieces have to be uniform and yes I can drill a hole on the down/bottom to hold it for whatever purpose. I've already cut some test pieces using a hole saw/drill press and yes I have a belt sander. So I'll give that a try.

[George Yetka]

do you have a palm router?20231204_114118.jpg

[John LoDico]

Interesting, George. That could work, I think.

[Daniel O'Neill]

I feel like there should be something like this external chamfer bit. I can't seem to find any with "curved" blades. They would make short work of something like this in a drill press jig. Not a solution I know just posting in case points someone towards the actual solution.

[George Yetka]

Interesting, George. That could work, I think.

You would have to make stops for the carriage and spin the blank alot but it should work