Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I have a load of lovely resin bases I bought ages ago for an army, but it annoys me that they're not beveled in the same way GW standard ones are. Most GW ones are 25mm on top and about 27mm one bottom. Mine are 27mm top and bottom.

Is there a handy tool I can use to bevel the edges??

Your best bet would be to build a jig that holds the base to a frame. Then mount a dremel at the appropriate angle and give it a go. It will not be an easy thing to do, I would imagine. To get a clean smooth bevel all the way around, that is. I would strongly recommend using a scrap base to test it out

Dremel makes a plunge router attachment and a chamfer routing bit that you could use. You'll need something to hold the base steady though, which might prove to be a problem since they are so small.

Disk or belt sander with a tilting table would be my weapon of choice. Best tool for the job that you or someone you know is likely to actually have, at least. You'll need to watch what you're doing, still, as the table keeps your angle consistent but you still need to manually control how much material you're actually removing. Shouldn't be too hard to rig up some sort of jig to assist with that, if you'll be doing a ton of them.

[edit:] Derp. Didn't even think you might have access to a router. If you can find a bit with the right angle, that would definitely make the job easier.

Oh god, this is going to end so badly as you attempt to get it perfectly round, lol. I'd do about 3 then give up after whittling them down to nothing. Some sort of jig and a dremel, I just don't know what. I could do it perfectly, but not with the kind of machinery you'll have around the house.

Expertise to the rescue:

www.tootstoday.com/c-371-miniature-router-bits.aspx

You will need to search them site for a "Chamfered Router Bit with top bearing or guide".

I hope that my ASCII art is up to snuff, because the interface for posting on my iPad is broken.

You will get a bit that looks like this:

...... _
..... |_|
...../__\
...... ||
...... ||


The top "square" part will either be a bearing (on a higher quality mini-router bit). Or it will just be a an un-toothed bushing/bar on a lower quality router-bit.

The bearing/bushing/bar is meant to push up against a guide, on which you have your bases mounted.

Then, with the Dremel, or router table (Dremel makes an inexpensive router table, make specifically for these bits) you just fix your "guide" to the top of them bases to be chamfered, and then run the Dremel bit around them (or the part around the router-bit if on a router table), and you will produce a perfectly chamfered base-edge.

I do this to 20mm square styrene sheets in order to make old-style Epic 40K bases for 6mm figures, and for 30mm square pieces of play wood for 15mm miniature Striker bases.... Of for making my own FOW Styled bases for 10mm or 15mm figures.

I struggled with whether to do this with my 30mm Fantasy figures, based according to a DBx Standard (I used an 80mm frontage, which is basically 2x the frontage of a 15mm DBA/DBM(M) base - or 4x the area, with 2x the depth as well), but decided against it, as I wanted to make some of my units look like they are an integral, single unit base for the entire 8 to 12 element unit, and having beveled/chamfered bases would interrupt the terrain on the bases.

Hmm.... Since I have the equipment to do it, I wonder if I should offer to contract out to Litko to make Plastic bases that are chamfered, or which have interlocking sides, so that units can be moved as a whole unit a base is removed???

In any event.... This makes things a LOT easier than many of the other suggestions, as there are (is) tools (a tool) made specifically for beveling, or creating chamfers on small model parts.

They also make beaded or bearing stopped router bits with other profiles, or for doing insets within a base (such as creating a beveled hole, or a twist-key-hole type socket in a base.

MB


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
Dremel makes a plunge router attachment and a chamfer routing bit that you could use. You'll need something to hold the base steady though, which might prove to be a problem since they are so small.

As I mentioned, Dremel also make a router table that costs about $50, last I checked (When I lose access to the machine shop I currently have access to, I will be buying one).

AND... Aside from Dremel, there are machinist tool makers that are a bit more expensive than Dremel (but still not stupidly expensive. Roughly 25% to 50% more expensive than Dremel) that have a much broader and higher precision set of tools.

For anyone who is SERIOUS about miniatures and modeling, these are tools you really cannot do without.

Most people tend to focus upon the painting and pure sculpting aspects, and thus focus on airbrushed, and basic Dremel Tools.

But things like Route, Mill, and Lathe tables are a must as much as is an airbrush and compressor.

MB

Drill the center of the base, run a pin/nail through it. Then you need to make a jig that you can insert the pin into at the right distance from the router/sander. It can be as simple as a piece of wood with a hole in it that doesnt let you get any coser to the router then you need. Rotate the base slowly as you cut it. Repeat as many times as your OCD allows.

An alternative is to use the mandrel that most Dremels use for their cutoff wheels. (the little black discs) This has a pin with a threaded end and a matching screw. Once again, drill a hole in the base, and screw it into the mandrel. Put this into your dremel or cordless drill. Use a block of wood on your router/belt sander/grinder to find the correct angle, and put a notch in the block, stopping you from getting too close to the sander and cutting too much off. Spin the drill with the base attached and feed it into the sander. I use this method to make easy circles out of whatever I need.