Routing translam birch plywood end grain

Paul's point is a good one. Your circle jig requires that there be something under the piece you are routing to hold it together (a sacrificial substrate). I'm not sure that's possible in this instance. The alternative to that is to use the circle jig to cut a template that you would clamp to the box and then use an appropriate bit to rout with. I would jigsaw or use a hole cutter to get close to the finished size before routing because when the loose center falls in while routing it can hit the bit and cause it to wobble which will leave a mark on the rim of the hole.

There are two ways to use a template like I described. One is to use a bearing guided bit directly against the edge of the template. The second is to use a template guide installed in the base of the router and the template guide follows the edge of the template. In this method you have to account for the difference between the diameter of the guide bushing compared to the diameter of the bit you are using but the advantage of this method is that you can use straight bits or spirals that don't have a guide bearing.

A down shear spiral will give you the cleanest top edge but I wouldn't try to cut the hole out with it. When the spiral makes contact with the wood it wants to force the router up off the surface so the more wood you cut, the stronger the upward forces. I would just want to clean up an edge with one because of that. Buy a good bit to do this with. Whiteside, Freud, CMT, or Amana. Amana has some Chinese made ones that aren't great quality, but the Israeli made ones are good. I hear that Freud does too but their Italian made bits are good. Not sure about CMT. I believe that Whiteside is strictly US made in North Carolina and may be your best bet.

Welcome. If I'm reading this right, you're needing to cut a rabbet, which is something like a mini shelf. A rabbeting bit, preferable with a changeable bearing is a good way to start. Cut the 1cm depth of the larger opening using your circle cutting jig. You might have to make two passes to get the width of the rabbet with your trim router. For the second pass, you will cut the full smaller circle using the same jig, but this time you will route down through the entire thickness of the material. With a trim router's limited power, you will not want to cut more than 3-4 mm at a time.

I'm assuming the pieces are not yet assembled, at least I hope they aren't. This should also produce a nice finished opening.

The other alternative is to make a template of MDF the size of the larger opening. Cut the smaller opening through with your circle jig. Then tape the template in place and use a rabbeting bit with a bearing to cut the width of the rabbet. Go very slow because your router isn't very powerful and that's a heavy bit. I like the first method better.

The comment about cutting the circle, you can use several pieces of double sided (carpet) tape to keep everything stable while you make your cuts. Make the final cut through slowly and in small increments to limit lateral forces.

Very interesting looking speaker enclosures.

Thanks for all the kind replies.

ive glued up the cabinets in sections, with the central parts glued in stacks, and the wider elements separate for now. this is to allow sanding of the recessed areas.. ive almost finished that phase of the sanding. after that i will glue them up completely, apart from the top panel, to allow continued access, and sand the whole speaker, probably with the top clamped on temporarily.

regarding the circle jig, my idea was to rout the outer circle down to the depth of the lip (circa 1cm) then rout the inner circle through, apart from a few tabs around the circumference which i would leave a couple of mm of wood, to hold the centre in place. after routing i would cut out the tabs using a hand saw or stanley knife.

i wasnt sure wether to rout the clean outer edge first (mm depth by mm depth) using the downcut bit, then do the rest with a decent straight cut bit, or, rout out the outer edge a few mm inside the final edge using the straight cut, then use the downcut to slowly enlarge the hole out to the final dimension.

i have been advised the second option, but to my (inexperienced) mind, the first cut with the straight edge risks weakening/damaging the end-grain of the ply for a good few mm either side of the cut, which could compromise the cleanliness of the finishing cuts with the downcut spiral...

what do we think here?


the carpenter (yes im using the term loosely, im translating from the italian "falegname".. these guys do everything from window frames to furniture restoration... there is also an "ebanista" in town, which i believe translates to "cabinet maker" but ive no idea of his skills) suggested cutting inner circle with a hole saw, and then use one of those bits with the bearing on ( im not sure of the name) to run around the edge of that to get the lip.. however a) the roughness of the inner circle would cause imperfections in the edge i am following it to produce,and b) ive only seen those types of bit with a straight edge, which i know is inferior for producing a clean edge..

finally, if i buy a decent straight bit and a spiral downcut bit, and use them with my circle jig, they will be useful for basically any other project.. useful given the cost of decent bits.. if i buy a specific bit for "following" a hole, it will only be useful for other projects where i need that exact size lip again..


thanks for the pointers re. bits.. for the spiral bit i was stuck deciding between a whiteside standard downcut spiral, or a freud o-flute downcut, which have basically the same price. One guy on the diyaudio forums swore by the o-flute as he said it makes a cleaner cut on plywood.. ive read conflicting stuff after which says the more flutes, the cleaner the cut, so im confused...!

my main fear is the unusual nature of the wood to cut.. its all basically end grain, with a change of direction every 2mm, and any number of potentially weak laminations or areas of thicker glue... it will be finished with a transparent coating, so anything more than small single lamination damage will look very ugly.

Well i received my whiteside downcut router bits, glued up a test piece of translaminated plywood, and gave my speaker cut a test run! im quite happy with the result. with the new bits, my little router cuts this beech plywood like butter, and it needed exactly *no* finishing after.

thanks for all the advice, im now excited to do the final cuts, rather than terrified.