Replies

1. 
   Sgian_Dubh | Mar 13, 2002 09:34am | #1

   *
   Create your ellipse using a piece of 9mm or 12 mm MDF. Cut it to suit with bandsaw or jigsaw and smooth with hand tools. Attach by screwing this worked MDF to a timber blank, trace round it, remove it, and cut close to the shape. Attach the pattern again and cut the exact shape with a router and pattern cutting bit. If you need to work a moulding like a bead and quirk on both edges you might consider working up a piece of MDF as described above to be used with a guide bush used in conjunction with something like a router mounted engraving cutter first. Then use a large diameter guide bush and a small cutter to make your MDF blank profiling pattern to finally shape your timber blank. By mixing pattern cutting bits and patterns, and non-bearing bits with guide bushes with patterns, I suspect you might be able to get pretty much all the difficult shapes and profiles you need. Slainte, RJ.

1. 
   Craig_Moellenhoff | Mar 16, 2002 06:48am | #2

   *I am in the process of building an elliptical staircase where the back and front of every tread is an ellipse. I built a jig to cut 1/4" masonite / hardboard elliptical templates for each tread with my router. The jig was based on a design I have seen in a few woodworking magazines including FWW (#82-pg 88, #86-pg 89, #88-pg 46). I routed perpendicular dovetail grooves in a 4X8 sheet of MDF, and then ripped short maple blocks at the same angle to fit the grooves. Since the axes of my router varied from 1' - 10' I had to build the jig this large. I then put a threaded insert into each maple block and mounted my router on a long strip of hardboard. I drilled holes through the hardboard strip at various distances to match the parameters of each unique ellipse. By inserting a thumb screw through the appropriate holes in the hardboard strip and threading them into the inserts, I was able to cut numerous ellipses with decent accuracy. Let me know if you have any questions. If it would help I could try to take a couple pictures and post them. Good Luck.

1. 
   Craig_Moellenhoff | Mar 16, 2002 06:51am | #3

   *I meant to say, "Since the axes of my ELLIPSES varied from 1' - 10' I had to build the jig this large."

2. 
   ScottInMadtown | Apr 02, 2002 10:54pm | #4

   Mark,

   Sgian's suggestion for the template is the way I would do it to.  As for the bead and quirk perhaps a shopmade scratch stock would work?

   Scott