Customer Reviews

General Tools 55 Heavy Duty Circle Cutter

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Made in USA by General Tools this well made cutter is designed for use in a drill press. Generally designed to cut wood and like materials we use it (at slower speeds) to cut aluminum sheet. The cutter may be resharpened or replaced (your choice when necessary). A good value that you only have to purchase once.

Does the job. Makes nice, smooth cuts. Note that it must be used in a drill press.

Very well built. Have cut numerous laminated boards with no problems whatsoever. Good price too...best I found on the internet.

Update (November 10, 2011):

It has been 9 months since I purchased this item and it just now started smoking and burning (I've cut about 20 large holes in walnut, maple and pine) - so I'm sure the problem is that the blade is getting dull. Not a problem with the product, just a problem with the user not keeping it sharp. I stick to my original review, for the price, this is a good product.

Original review:

I needed to cut several circular holes in a weather station project - read all the reviews and decided, for the price, that I would give this Circle Cutter a try. Here is the good and the not so good:

Pro:

1. Right Price.

2. Quick Delivery.

3. Well made (sturdy), should last for years and years (may have to sharpen).

4. Holes were perfectly circular, smooth and easily cut through 3/4" walnut veneered plywood - no chipping at all.

5. Easy to adjust.

Con:

1. No instructions to speak of - didn't even mention what speed to run my drill press. Had I not noticed, in the Amazon description, that max speed was 500 RPM, I might have let it run a bit faster. As it was, I did notice the limitation and set up my drill press to run at 450 RPM - cut smoothly with no burning.

2. The scale is inaccurate - you will have to use a ruler/tape measure to adjust the size (diameter) you want to cut.

All in all, for the price, this is a great product and I'm pleased with my purchase. I would have given it 5 stars but for the inaccurate scale - this is something that should have been right.

Note: I read the other reviews and noted at least one that mentioned burning - I'll bet this was because he didn't note the 500 RPM limitation. I had zero burning.

This really helped me out when I wanted to cut various sized holes to make a rack for my collection of song bird drinking glasses. Saved me from having to buy a bunch of hole saws of different sizes! This adjusts for every size I will ever need. It was easy to use, although the measuring gauge was a bit confusing. I ended up just measuring with a tape. Be sure to use a vise clamp to hold your wood in the drill press! I hadn't used a drill press before, and I learned this the hard way! Duh!

The product worked just like i needed it to. the measuring part was a bit off, but with careful measurements I was able to get it to close tolerances.

Nice tool, but I thought that I was getting a wheel cutter and instead this is a "hole" cutter....it makes a difference whether the tip is on the outside of the cutting path or the inside

I recently purchased this circle cutter as my current one only goes to a 6 1/2" Diameter. I needed one that went to at least 7 1/2". I was making spacers for an existing hole to make it smaller. I only needed a spacer 1/4". I cut the outside circle first. Cut was very nice and clean (MDF material). I simply adjusted the cutter to a 1/4" smaller plus the width of the blade, mounted my piece to a scrap piece and started cutting the inside piece. Again, another clean cut. I used the slowest setting on my drill press and this cutter worked excellent. I would recommend this tool to anyone that needs to cut large holes, up to 8". It works very well and seems to be well made. Very easy to adjust, stays accurate and looks very durable.

While using this tool on 1/8" aluminum, the arm kept getting loose. After it threw arm out twice I discontinued using it. Maybe it would be ok for much thinner material.

This was my first experience using a circle/hole cutter and I can say it went better than expected. I used the cutter to make a 3-1/2 inch hole in 1/2" birch plywood and the results were very good. I am giving the item only 4 stars due to the fact that there was some wobble when using the cutter. I mounted the cutter in a full sized drill press set for 430 RPM and there was definit wobble when running. There was not enough wobble to make it unusable, but it was noticable. Cut about 3/4 through the piece then turned it over to finish the cut and had a perfect circle that was smooth with the exception of some very, very, slight tearout. I would recommend this tool to a friend.