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It's a lot cheaper to make your own jigs for big holes. DO NOT use an adjustable hole-cuter without a drill press. For that matter you can make a jig from lexan or fiberboard in about five minutes. Just go SLOWLY, especially at first. Every decent router I've ever seen comes with an included edge guide and most good routers come with a circle attachment or have one available. does this thing work. 3.5 inches from center.If higher math like that scares you, go ahead and spend $40 bucks on this thing. As an avid woodworker of several decades who has an abiding interest in loudspeaker design, I have heard about this thing for years.
Yeah. DO NOT wiggle the saw. Bingo. (= 3.75)I was using a quarter-inch bit, so I subtracted another 0.25. My buddy has one and he wanted to show me how well it works. Presumably, it "takes all the guesswork" out of routing holes for speakers.Guesswork. What guesswork. There is no economy in building your own speakers if you must buy a shop-full of gizmos for every cutting or joining operation.
Even then, you must have a SHARP bit, plenty of clamping force and GO SLOWLY.To cut large holes with a router, you halve the hole-diameter and subtract the bit-diameter.Example: Nominal speaker size is 8 inches; But the speaker cut-out is 7.5 inches. Keep the bit perpendicular to the piece, or better yet use a drill press. It worked OK.Meanwhile, I used my old PC router with the stock base in place; Attached the edge guide, measured and cut. Routers are versatile tools and you can economically make all sorts of good woodworking joints with them; But it seems foolish to buy unnecessary plastic plates like this one.
Either that, or you buy pre-cut kits. Small hole-saws are cheap, fast and safe. If you want to save money by building your own speakers, you are going to do a LOT of math FAR more complicated than this simple arithmetic needed for routing holes. Routing a circular hole is easy with stock router guides.
Divide that by 2. I finished three holes to his one.Small holes are MUCH easier to cut with a hole saw. None of my jigs cost more than $2 bucks.Routing large circular holes for large speakers, (6.5 to 18 inches ) is best accomplished with a dedicated homemade jig.Cutting smaller holes for small drivers and tweeters can be done with a drill or drill press and dedicated hole-cutting saws.Believe me; if you must cut twenty small holes for a line-array tower, the drill press or even a handheld drill is much easier and faster.Now. At his shop, I saw him remove the factory base, replace it with this gadget, make sure the holes were aligned, drill pilot holes, re-read the instructions and ( finally) make a hole.
Great tool to have if yuo need the perfect circle cut
Remember to offset for the bit diameter when routing an outside diameter hole. Just drill an 1/8" hole at the center point of the material and set the pin in the appropriate diameter hole and route the circle. A plunge router is a definate bonus when using this jig This jig is extremely easy to use and accurate. Mouting holes and hardware are provided for most routers on the market.
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