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Circle cutting tool

mobobuff

mobobuff

Lifer
Any recommendations or ideas for tools that can cut large even circles in plastic and thin case metal? I have an old drill bit attachment that uses thin circular blades but the largest blade for it is still too small, not to mention it tears the hell out of the surrounding material. I'll probably take a trip to the hardware store this week and see what there is.

Wish I had one of those huge industrial routers.

EDIT: Oh and this is primarily for 80mm fan mounts, so that gives you an idea of the size of circle I need.
 
They have hole saws of all kinds of sizes. I've used them for 120mm fan holes so I know they're out there. But they don't leave a nice finish as other tools. Personally I like drawing a circle on whatever I need it cut on and drilling a starting hole and using my trusty jigsaw with a fine metal bit. I've done it so much that they turn out perfect now and it doesn't leave the metal all jaggy if you do it right. Just my 2 cents.
 
Dremel rotary tool would work too, but jig saws work fine too. It all depends on how much you want to spend on the tools and how much finish work you want to do.

If this is a one time thing call machine shops and just ask about the price of cutting a finished 80 mm hole and describe what you want.

With almost anything you will need to sand/grind a smoother edge though.
 
Try a 70mm hole cutter and see if you can smooth the edges down after that.
I think there are 76mm cutters, which might be a bit too big if you want to be able to finish it.
 
Thanks, that should help. I might try my hand at using a jigsaw on some scrap metal to see if I can do it correctly, I'm not sure if I have any real fine bits for it though. I'm also gonna look at the hardware store for any 3" hole saw bits, which would still give me some material to finish down with some dry and wet sand paper.

Thanks again 🙂
 
i've been using a dremel with a kevlar cutting disc for my holes. but the problem is that it takes FOREVER to get a nice round hole. cut, trim, sand, polish... processes like this that makes me lag on finish my case. heh.
 
Get Greenlee punches at your local contractors tool rental place. After you've used a Greenlee punch you wouldn't walk across the street to do it any other way.
 
A hole saw for a drill works good. You have to keep it at low rpm's so that the friction doesn't melt the plastic or warp it...
 
Originally posted by: dkozloski
Get Greenlee punches at your local contractors tool rental place. After you've used a Greenlee punch you wouldn't walk across the street to do it any other way.
Click to expand...

But won't they distort thin metal like on a computer case? They may work well on breaker boxes, but I would be a little leery of using one on thin sheet.
 
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