Shop Tips
Workshop tip: Make a beam compass from common supplies
This drawing tool is easily made from two compasses and a yardstick.
Needing a drawing tool for very large arcs, I figured out a way to make a beam compass from two common compasses and a yardstick. After attaching the drawing compass in rough position, you can adjust its pencil leg to fine-tune the size of the arc. Clamp the compasses to a longer stick, and there is no limit on size.
—WAYNE RALLEY, Phoenix, Ariz.
Illustrations by Dan Thornton
From Fine Woodworking issue #298
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Comments
Your version is fancier than my down and dirty beam compass, but it still did the job. I grabbed 2 sticks of wood, 3 spring clamps, 1 nail, and 1 pencil to draw a 50" radius for a rocking chair rocker.
This is such a simple tool to make.
Why would anyone spend a few hundred dollars to buy one from Woodpeckers?
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