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This is an easy to make little project that will really come in handy around the shop. The design for this compact compass is simple and uses common parts, but has a wide operating range – approximately 1/2″ to 7″ circles can be drawn using it.
I made a short video of how I made it:

I made a single page PDF that includes the template, and this can be downloaded here:

Compact Compass

Most browsers will open this directly and you can print it from there (set to “actual size” or “no scaling”). You can also right click the link above and select “save link as…” – this will save the PDF to your computer.

UPDATE: I’ve been using this for the past 5 years and it has proven to be a solid performer. And although the wood version is still working just fine, I thought I’d make a new one, but this time using aluminum: