The Conetenna - a wi-fi antenna

Step 3 More Holes!

To mount the can into two of the cutting boards, I used a dremel with a router attachment and followed a cutting line drawn with a compass.

Comments

[saysay]

can you explain more about the dremel with router attachment.. ho w you attach the router inside??? a compass?

[Shadetree Engineer]

The drafting compass I used is very visible in the pic on step 2...

[Shadetree Engineer]

Good question, as it turns out that what I used is not a router attachment! That's just what I keep calling it when it's actually a 'Multi-purpose cutting kit'

The cutting kit attaches to my Dremel by unscrewing the accessory collar which is right behind the bit holding part of the Dremel, first chucking the spiral-cutting bit onto the Dremel, and then screwing on the accessory - which acts to control the cutting depth and also keeps the cutting bit aligned perpendicular to the plastic panel that I'm cutting here. The cutting bit will drill it's way through the plastic, and then cut sideways any which way you want it to by pushing on the accessory base.

By compass, I mean a drafting compass to first draw a circle. The circle will be the guide-line I follow with the Dremel to cut a circular hole. You could instead try using the can to trace a circle onto the plastic. (place one end of the can at the center of the plastic disk, trace around edge of can to leave a line on the plastic just slightly bigger than the can...) But I would recommend using a compass because you can find the exact center of the disk and then put the steel pointed end of the drafting compass on that point, this way the circle you draw will also be exactly centered on the disk. The hard part is following the line with the Dremel!

If I were to trace a cutting line without a compass, I would place the can where the hole should go, then use a ruler to adjust the position of the can from side to side, and then from up to down so the distance measured on the ruler is the same from the edge of the can to the edge of the disk in every direction.

I could do this without a ruler, if necessary, by using a strip of paper as an improvised ruler and make a mark at the edge of the disk in one direction, then see where that mark winds up at in the exact opposite direction - eg other side of the can.