# I`d like a tiny Pantograph?!



## phlegmatic (Dec 15, 2009)

Are there any plans or ready built tiny, benchtop, 3D pantograph machines avaible for hobby use?


----------



## MikeR C (Dec 15, 2009)

Are you looking for one to scale drawings or for duplicating?


----------



## phlegmatic (Dec 15, 2009)

A duplicator.


----------



## MikeR C (Dec 15, 2009)

I know I should wait till I have it in my hands before I say anything, but, I believe I have an article in Popular Mechanics or a similar magazine with a duplicator that uses a "dremmel" size tool. As I remember it was all hardwood, but you could substitute metal and small ball bearings. I will look tonite and see if I can find it...


----------



## bearcar1 (Dec 15, 2009)

Yes, please do that Mike. I'd like to have look see t those plans if you can find them. A buddy of mine was 'dinging' me to make him one of these so that he could make some ID bracelets to sell.

BC1
Jim


----------



## joeby (Dec 15, 2009)

One of the Machinist Bedside Reader books has a writeup about a pantograph that uses commercially made fonts.

 IIRC it was TMBR 2.

Kevin


----------



## hammers-n-nails (Dec 15, 2009)

this is a 3D pantograph this fellow has made using a router motor [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMhbTsq6YVk[/ame] it doesnt look to me like there would really be much to building one like this.


----------



## vlmarshall (Dec 15, 2009)

joeby  said:
			
		

> One of the Machinist Bedside Reader books has a writeup about a pantograph that uses commercially made fonts.
> 
> IIRC it was TMBR 2.
> 
> Kevin



Good memory! :bow: Yep, it's in TMBR2, on pages 24-36 in the 2003 printing of the book. He also mentions an upcoming book, _The Secrets of Lettering on Metal_.


----------



## MikeR C (Dec 16, 2009)

I found the plans, they are in an August 1961, "Science and Mechanics" magazine. It uses either a spindle\motor or a "Dremel". Unfortunately it is not a pantograph it only does 1 to 1 copies. Wood construction with metal pins for pivots.
Is this what you were looking for?

Thx
Mike


----------



## phlegmatic (Dec 16, 2009)

thanks guys! What I want is a machine to make, mostly, gunparts smaller. Ive been looking in all the books I have, including TMBR, but all I get are engraving machines that do 2D.


----------



## rickharris (Dec 16, 2009)

The engraving world has what you require but I suspect not at a price that you might want to pay.

Accuracy and rigidity I think in a DIY version would be difficult to achieve at a reasonable cost, a bi like building your own lathe, not impossible and many have but not all that cheap or easy to get a commercial level of accuracy (or we would all follow the Gingery route and doit)

Perhaps you could look at a kind of CNC machine tool - drawings are easy to scale in CAD or even have a CNC driven tool that is controlled by the movement of a mouse to sopy an existing part or drawing.

try searching on engraving pantagraph.


----------



## hammers-n-nails (Dec 16, 2009)

are we talking about wood or metal?


----------



## phlegmatic (Dec 17, 2009)

metal including stainless steel!


----------



## askoman (Feb 22, 2010)

MikeR C  said:
			
		

> I found the plans, they are in an August 1961, "Science and Mechanics" magazine. It uses either a spindle\motor or a "Dremel". Unfortunately it is not a pantograph it only does 1 to 1 copies. Wood construction with metal pins for pivots.
> Is this what you were looking for?
> 
> Thx
> Mike



Hi Mike, 

have you still the plans of the science mechanics? I wold be very plesed if you could share them :bow:

thanx!


----------



## RonGinger (Feb 22, 2010)

Rudy Kohoupt did one in HOME SHOP MACHINIST about 10-12 years ago. It used aluminum box tube, and he designed it to use the plastic drafting templates to do lettering.

I built one, still have it in a drawer. It was not to good, maybe it was my joints, They do need to be near perfect, any slop leads to magnified errors.

The article may be in one of Rudys SHOP WISDOM books, but Im not sure of that.


----------



## kf2qd (Feb 22, 2010)

What with the cost of small bearings these days it wouldn/t be very difficult to build a pantogragraph that is fairly rigid but with very smooth movement. Bearings in all joints with 1/2" to 3/4" spacing (wider spacing, more rigid) would work well.

For working in metal a CNC might give better results and better finishes. For wood and plastic a pantograph would work well - 2 spindles and you would have a gunstock lathe...


----------

