control panel curve

[clickhea]

whats a good thing to use to trace a control panel curve so its 100% symmetrical, i cant come up with any ideas?

also what are u using as  a "jig" to trace out this curve with the router?

iam just looking for a slight curve like this, nothing crazy

[fixedpigs]

i freehanded mine...

cut with a jigsaw...then sanded out smooth with a sanding block...

it turned out amazingly well...but it took a lot of time...

i'd be interested in an easier/better way if their is one...

[clickhea]

i was gonna go the freehand route but i really want it to be perfect

[sstorkel]

Typically, you'd use something like a Drawing Bow to draw the curve. Draw it on a piece of wood, then use a jigsaw to cut almost to the drawn line. Sand the cut piece until you're right at the line and the piece is perfect. If you'll need to make multiple copies, you can then use this piece as template and duplicate it with your router.

FYI, you don't have to pay money for a fancy drawing bow to get nice curves. I generally use a piece of 1/16th-inch thick TIG welding filler wire and some nails to layout curves.

[clickhea]

interesting

[fixedpigs]

heh...that's exactly what i ended up doing sstorkel...

[clickhea]

so the actual cut with the router is all done free hand?

[fixedpigs]

nope...no router involved for the first one...

jigsaw then sand to perfection with a sanding block...

i used the then completed panel as a template when i cut my plexiglass top...that is when i used a router with a flush trim bit...

[sstorkel]

so the actual cut with the router is all done free hand?

There are really very few circumstances where you want to route anything completely freehand. In this case, you'll use either a flush trim bit or a template bit to make the router follow the piece you cut using the jigsaw... assuming you needed more than one (e.g. multiple control panels, wood CP + plexi overlay, etc).

[Teknique]

i freehanded mine...

cut with a jigsaw...then sanded out smooth with a sanding block...

it turned out amazingly well...but it took a lot of time...

i'd be interested in an easier/better way if their is one...

ditto

[clickhea]

gotcha, thanks guys will get started on it today

[Jdurg]

There is one more option, but it will require a bit of space and some scrap wood.  What you'll need to do is think of the curve as an outer part of a full circle.  Then, using some scrap wood, butt it up against your CP top and find out where the "center" of the circle would be.  (A screw into the scrap and some string will work well here).  Once you find out where the center is, put a screw at that spot as a pivot point. 

Now, using a thin piece of scrap wood (Or even spare Lexan if you have it), create an "attachment" that you can attach to the base of your router securely, but can also attach losely to the screw at your center point.  Make sure it's set up so that the cutting bit of your router is right where you want the curve to be.

With the hard "arm" connecting the router to your pivot point, you can just allow the arm to move around and you'll cut out a perfect circle. 

Even better is that you can drill holes at various intervals in your "arm" to set up various pivot points to cut out various sized circles.

[javeryh]

i freehanded mine...

cut with a jigsaw...then sanded out smooth with a sanding block...

it turned out amazingly well...but it took a lot of time...

i'd be interested in an easier/better way if their is one...

This is what I did - I toyed with the idea of making a jig for my router but the radius of the circle would have been HUGE.  I just don't have the room in my shop or the necessary tables and stuff to set it all up.

[shardian]

There is one more option, but it will require a bit of space and some scrap wood.  What you'll need to do is think of the curve as an outer part of a full circle.  Then, using some scrap wood, butt it up against your CP top and find out where the "center" of the circle would be.  (A screw into the scrap and some string will work well here).  Once you find out where the center is, put a screw at that spot as a pivot point. 

Now, using a thin piece of scrap wood (Or even spare Lexan if you have it), create an "attachment" that you can attach to the base of your router securely, but can also attach losely to the screw at your center point.  Make sure it's set up so that the cutting bit of your router is right where you want the curve to be.

With the hard "arm" connecting the router to your pivot point, you can just allow the arm to move around and you'll cut out a perfect circle. 

Even better is that you can drill holes at various intervals in your "arm" to set up various pivot points to cut out various sized circles.

The string and pencil is what I recommend. Set your CP on the ground , but a 2x4 up against the rear of the cp, centered of course. Put a nail in the 2x4  as far back as you need, and attach a pencil to the end. Trace out the curve and then cut it with a jig saw.

[jcoplin]

I do this all the time when I making curves for mission furniture.  There are a couple of ways to go.

First, to get the curve, the easiest thing to do involves two clamps, a metal yardstick, and a couple small scraps of wood.  Clamp to small scraps down on your surface on the ends where the curve starts and stops.  Position these so that the edge of the scrap is exactly where you want the curve to begin.  Now take the metal yardstick and turn in on edge (perpendicular to you panel) between the scrap blocks.  Now, from the center of the curve, push the yardstick until you have the curve you want.  Use a pencil to mark it and you have your perfect curve.

Now you have a couple of options.  You can freecut this with a jigsaw and then sand it smooth.  If you have a spindle sander, this is relatively painless and the results should be close.  If you are anal (like me) and hate sanding (like me) you can trace 1/2 the curve on a piece of 1/4 hardboard.  Jigsaw and sand this line smooth.  IT will take nearly no cleaning up as the 1/4 hardboard is soft and easier to get even than the whole curve on MDF.  Now use double sided carpet tape to tape this template to your MDF.  Use a template bit and route half then flip it over to complete the other half.  This will make a perfectly symmetric curve.