So I'm planning on buying a lathe.

Actually, he speaks the truth. With the right templates and jigs a router can do a lot of cool stuff.

Heheh!

Well, I have made most of an electric guitar thus far with a router… I don’t think a few circles with a rounded profile is particularly intimidating to me. :wink:

I would be tempted to cut discs with a drill press and a hole saw, then simply add a rounded profile with the right router bit. But that’s just me. This is essentially two wooden discs attached by a dowel. Not saying I’d have a TMBR-quality throw right off the top, but it’s not rocket surgery!

You could also create a “copy carver” which is just a router and mirroring stylus. For something simple like a yoyo, a copy carver would be overkill, but it would do the job, that’s for sure. Think of it as low-tech CNC, where instead of a program file, you use a physical object as your template.

frodoslair posted a link to a yoyo cutter tool for a drill press awhile back. You might contact him for the details.

Thanks to that name and description, I Googled and turned up this:

The more important thing is that on the right you can see there are many kits to be had.

It makes it almost TOO easy! It certainly goes to show that a lathe isn’t the be-all end-all for wooden yoyo making.

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