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Newbie, working on 1st project, a tenor ukulele. Got the top glued and down to about .086" and now to the sound hole and rosette troughs. What do y'all do? by hand? StewMac dremel gear? or...?

Thanks for the help!

The stew mac unit will do the job

I made a pivot bar for my DeWalt compact router. I clamp down the top to a piece of plywood that serves as a bench and drill a 1/8" hole in the center of what will be the sound hole down through the top and the plywood, which gives more solidarity to the hole. I use a 1/8" dia. dowel pin in that hole as the pivot point to rout the rings for the rosette, then as the final step use it to cut out the sound hole.

Note: don't be in a big rush to cut out the sound hole. Once you do, you lose your center point! It can be recovered, if need be, but it's easier to wait until you're sure you won't need it again before cutting the hole.

I normally use a router with a base that allows me to make circles. I have used an lmi circle cutter and a chisel, it is easier than it looks. One best practise I have is that I do not thickness the top until after I have installed the rosette. It just gives me a bit of wood to deal with tearout or other minor accidents.

Thank you all! I found while researching this that a good number of folks have turned from whatever method they were using to the StewMac Dremel base and circle cutter. I could think of a lot of ways to spend the money but decided I'd just jump in. I did try messing around with a chisel and might again sometime but like the security of a tool that is slip-proof.

look at the exacto brand stuff
https://www.amazon.com/OLFA-9911-Compas ... cle+cutter
I never used this but this may be what your looking for. It has a blade to score the rosette lines and you clear the rest with a chisel

To set the radius I want to cut, I drill two 1/8" dia. holes in a strip of acrylic or aluminum that are spaced at the radius I want. I can do that very accurately on my milling machine. Then I slip that strip over the center pin of the radius arm on the router and over the toolbit, which guarantees the radius setting is what I want.

Lacking a milling machine to locate the holes, I'm not sure that technique would get you anything though.

Hi. I've got the Stewmac base and I'm no longer using it if you want it. I sent you a pm.

Diane what are you using now for your rosettes?

Kevin Sjostrand wrote:Diane what are you using now for your rosettes?

I'm using my Ridgid compact router and a JS Bogdanovich attachment I found online. It's plastic, but made to work like the stewmac rosette attachment. Unlike the stewmac, it's made for a compact router, which I prefer.