Cutting Circles in Thick Card

[Fishcarver]

My "circles" tutorial was originally written by Don Boose.

JR

[SJPONeill]

I came across this problem last night when I started to cut all the circles for the wheels of my TSR.2. They are on 1mm card and the sheet I bought recently is very hard. My little compass cutter was really struggling to get through it and the effort required wasn't doing my hands much good either. Then the penny dropped when I noticed the centre needle had penetrated the card and I was able to flip it over and, using the same centre, cut the second half of the thickness from the reverse side: much quicker and cleaner...

Reading through this thread just now, Dave's post about using scissors also reminded me that was what I did when I first started modelling in paper, separating the parts from the larger sheet first to reduce the resistance of the sheet to the scissors...

[Thomas Meek]

I have had excellent results in cutting circles and all sorts of curved lines using freehand cutting aided by a turntable of my own devising which facilitates the holding and turning of the work by one hand while the tool is held securely in a comfortable position by the other. This requires no center hole, no set up, no special blades, but some practice.
For huge circles (larger than 3"(5cm) diameter I use just a knife or scisors, and for small circles less than 1/8"(4mm) diameter I use small punches.

[SJPONeill]

Do you have a picture of your turntable, Thomas? I also found that it is often easier to turn the part than the cutter but have had to rely on the centre pin to keep the blade centred - probably my technique or lack thereof being the problem...

[Thomas Meek]

SJPONeill;

Here are some pictures of the second-latest version of the turntable cutting board. The latest ones use a softer self-healing mat of a light blue color, but are otherwise identical. I have a few of these which I will put up on eBay if anyone expresses interest.
I have been using mine for several years now, and no longer have any trouble cutting circles or any other sort of curved pieces.

[Don Boose]

I can vouch for the value of Thomas's turntable cutting board. I use an earlier (harder surface) version regularly.

Don