how to make a hole
 

how would i make a perfect hole in a table. it's 48W x 35H x 3/4Thick.
hole needs to be about 18inch in diameter. but it has to be perfect, what tools or methods would you recommend for doing such a job?

ps: it's for an animation table. :confused:

Find your center.
Nail a board/line/ruler at the center such that it pivots 360.
Mark 1/2 your circle diameter on whatever you nailed.
Hold a marker at that location and rotate around the nail.

Lots of way to cut it. One of the roto-zip tools would be easy. Manual saws take a while but are easy on the budget.

If easy is better and you have the money there are circle-cutting jigs that can be clamped to the target surface. Visit your local tool shop. Home depot _might_ have one. I've seen attachments for the roto-zips that simplify rotating around a center.

Some of the RotoZip style tools have a hole cutter attachment for them. Really pretty simple. or you can freehand it.

If you have a router, making a trammel for it is just about the only way to get a perfect circle.

http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/etip030201wb.html

I've tried to use a rotozip with a circle cutting attatchment in wood, and I didn't have very much luck. You can't control the depth of the cut, so you have to cut the entire thickness in one pass... the bit had a tendency to wobble in the collet, and the circle came off imperfect. I've made a trammel for my router, and cut the circle 1/4" deep at a time, until I got all the way through. It made a perfect, smooth circle.

Good luck.