what to use when cutting a soundhole?

Matt Clara

Matt Clara

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I bought an inexpensive circle cutter to go with my dremel, and I've yet to cut anything that resembles a perfect circle with it. I don't trust it for the real deal. For my first cigar box uke, I bought a 1 inch spade bit, which worked great for the first hole, but on the second it snagged and tore out a half inch close to the edge. Fortunately it glued back in smoothly, and then I used the dremel hole cutting tool to make the hole bigger, albeit, still not round, and then I used the dremel and a sanding drum to make it better--actually looks pretty good. I was considering the stewmac Soundhole/Rosette Routing Jig, but you also have to buy the routing base, bringing the cost to $100+. I googled the subject and found a page that said to use a small circular saw. That made me laugh--not that it isn't possible, but it certainly wouldn't be the first route I'd choose.
 
Just a guess, but the "circular saw" reference was probably really meant to be "hole saw", which would be an inelegant but effective approach if you were careful.
 
i got a hole cutter bit for the drill...the spades suck for the reason you mentioned. You need something with alot of small teeth. You can even run it backwards for a little bit to get the groove started if you want, but that depends on how sturdy you think the box is.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Diamond-Hole-Sa...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4837e15520

Mine's not near this fancy...mines black with regular looking teeth, 2 inches.
 
I'll chip in with the most primitive method. I just drill holes along the perimeter and shape the hole as can be seen here:

http://argapa.blogspot.com/2009/05/making-soundhole.html

It works a lot better than it looks. Doesn't work at all if you need a ring around the soundhole.

Sven
 
dave g said:
Use a Forstner bit.
Click to expand...

I know forstners are the bomb, and I could be wrong about this...but it was suggested that forstners might be too studly for a "who knows what kind of wood and how sturdy it is" cigar box.
 

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I don't remember adjusting the speed, unfortunately. I can ask my building buddy on Saturday...

Some other things:

Don't try to cut the whole depth in one pass. I took two passes.
I'm guessing that the bit I was using was some fancy down-cutting bit from stewmac or LMI, but that shouldn't make too much of a difference.
Make sure you're going in the right direction around the circle.

What kind of problems are you seeing? Is the hole more oval shaped than round, or is the edge wavy, or rough, or?
 
I use a 1/16" bit, and chain drill the perimeter - just inside the circle, of course. Then it is a simple matter to cut the centre out, and finish by sanding.

Long-hand, time consuming, but satisfying - and you can do irregular shapes. They don't HAVE to be circular.

Ukantor.
 
I "Mill" mine out on a turntable along with the Rosette groove( Never had any problems) here is a test piece being done.
IMG_1594.jpg

IMG_1595.jpg

IMG_1580.jpg
 
I use an adjustable fly cutter. I filed the cutting blade to the width of my rosette channel and will also cut the sound hole out with it. I don't go all the way through on the soundhole but leave just a hair and finish it with a knife.
 

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I've made a set of fly cutter with depth stops when I got my micro lathe. Though I have toggle clamps to hold the work to the board - that masking tape look positively scary...
 
One thing you need to understand is that generally, a better tool, especially one that is designed for a specific job, will give you better results. You use a cheap tool expect it to have it's limitations. That's why quality builders who have quality tools are capable of building quality instruments. Don't expect cheap tools or poor techniques to give you a superior result. The suggestions mentioned above will all you adequate results but all have their shortcomings. I've tried them all at some point including free hand cutting, hole saw and flycutter. Amongst the tools mentioned I've had best results cutting both sound holes and rosettes with the Dremel hole cutting attachment, provided that it is set up correctly. But even it is limited with it's small collet size, requiring a couple of passes at least for the necessary width and depth.
The best tool for the job, and the one I use, is similar to the StewMac jig that uses a laminate trimmer.
One good tip when cutting either sound holes or rosettes especially in soft woods is to treat the area to a couple of coats of finish beforehand to reduce tear out.
Again, don't expect superior results using inferior tools. You are finding out that to do this well, consistently and relatively easily may cost you a few bucks in the way of tools and equipment.
 
I used to use a router but I found upmilling always a problem. I got over this by having the cutter undersize and the pivot hole very slightly oversize. I could then cut the sides of the channel in quarter segments according to the direction of the grain, then revewerse the dirwection to take the ramining quarters with the grain. It was efficient but laborious. Then I looked again at some production videos and Jeff Traugott's set-up and went back to the fly cutter. If you keep it sharp it works really well. All of mine are guaged for various rosette styles and it takes just 10 secs to do...
 
Personally, I flood the sound hole area with thin CA before cutting a soundhole or rosette. It totally stabilizes the wood and eliminates any tear out. This may not work well on light woods such as spruce because it could discolor the wood. Also, down cut spiral carbide bits have rocked my ukulele building world. There are none better IMO.
 
dont downplay "technique"...tools are the focus of this thread I know, but you only mentioned technique in passing and I wanna stress that technique is equally if not more important than superior tools (and I think more). I only say that for those of us that might get discouraged not having fancy tools or the ability to get them, and think that we cant produce something nice w/o lots of cash.

I think better tools weigh heavier in allowing you to do a job more efficiently than necessarily better. Of course it will open the door for "better", but for us that dont make a living off what we are doing, I think some of us need to focus on our technique and skillset. Like Chuck said before in another post...you gotta do it over and over 1000x to develop the technique in order to produce consistent quality. Once your technique and understanding of what it is you're doing develops, you'll then realize the limitations of your current tools and methods, and evaluate the need for a new setup or not.

I dont know if that is right, but its the way I'm thinking at the moment. If you can learn to do the job well with a crap tool, you can learn to do it better with nice ones...and then convince your wife that its worth the money:)
 
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