How to make the tweed cutout for controls?

[PRNDL]

I'm wondering if there's a better way to make the square cutout on the top of a tweed cabinet for the controls.

In the past, I used a jig saw with a metal blade, but it didn't come out square. I'm not sure what this problem was (hence this post).

These are possible: The blade may have bent because I didn't drill holes for the corners (and did some round cuts). It's an inexpensive jigsaw.

How is this done right?

Thanks!!

[tubeswell]

Hi PRNDL

I use a 2" diam hole saw (and a muthafokker of a power drill) to drill two pilot holes, which form the 'inside' corners of the cutaway. Then I jigsaw (or fret saw if I am feeling particularly disposed to take my time that day) the straight cuts to intersect with the appropriate tangents of these pilot holes. I then use a woodplane/spokeshave and/or orbital sander (again depending on how leisurely I feel about the job on the day) to take the sawmarks out and get a nice smooth edge. Then I rip into the edges with a 1/2" rounding bit on my handrouter, and follow up with orbital sander for touch-ups

[Zephyr]

Hi,

Am building my first 5E3 cab and had good luck cutting out the top with a router.
First, cut out a 1/4" plywood router template using the hole saw method Tubeswell used and then clamping a straight piece of MDF to guide the router to cut the straight tangent between the 2 holes.
Got the correct spacing for the guide by first clamping the MDF to a scrap piece of wood and doing
a test cut. Measured the distance from the guide and the router cut to get correct guide offset.

Used a cheap router bushing set and the template to do the controls cutout with a 1/4" straight router bit.
The template was clamped to the top and making 3 or 4 passes progressively deeper with the plunge router until it was cut through, then a round over bit and palm sander to finish.

Was a bit of work, but the the results made it worth the effort...
and I now have a router template if I want to build another cab.

[WMThompson]

Tweed Control Cutout

I have had luck with making a template out of plexiglass or mdf and using my router to do the rest after I cut out most of it with a sabre saw.

[Alby]

If you have limited resources you do what you can with what you've got.

I use a jigsaw and cut about 1/8" inside my cut line. Once that is done I mount a 2" diameter sanding drum into my small drill press. Now I just sand off what is left up to my original cut out pencil line and it's good. The base of the drill press work surface and the drum are square to each other so it squares and cleans up the cut all at the same time.

I did one yesterday and it takes about 15 minutes from start to finish.

Alby.

[PRNDL]

Thanks everyone.

Alby, your suggestion may have covered the main issue, which is keeping everything square.

[pila]

I did the first cab the hard way, like above with the hole saw and hand saw.
After that I made the cut-outs on the cab top on the the band saw before assembly.

[VictoryNVH]

Do you have a drill press? When I built mine, I was feeling kind of lazy so I used a forstner bit in the drill press. If you clamp a board to the drill press table to use as a fence, you can drill the first hole and then slide your workpiece across the fence and then drill your second hole. This way they are guaranteed to be square. Then you can cut the rest with the jigsaw and you'll have nice looking curves.

[pila]

Yeah, the drill press is the way to get a decent radius for the corner of the cut-out.
Drill presses, like a cheap bench-top type from Harbor Freight, can be OK for those simple jobs too.