What can I use a Pantograph for?

[Jo]

Hi Guys,

Over the week end I knocked up a adapter for a collet chuck to fit my Taylor Hobson Pantograph. The collet chuck came with my little Proxxon pillar drill which I fitted with a Std Rohm chuck. Nothing exciting just a little adapter with a 1/2" * 32 thread to fit the Taylor Hobson and a 3/8" * 24 to fit the collet chuck:





Works a treat with my dental burrs and 1/8  tooling like John's cutters.



Jo

[arnoldb]

Nice one Jo 

Kind regards, Arnold

[John Hill]

By the way, if you adjust your pantograph to reduce in the ratio of 2.54:1 you can make your stencils using inch measurements and the result will be metric (1" becomes 1cm).

I made a simple pantograph like that to cut plastic panels for some airport equipment, it worked very well for such a simple machine.

[swilliams]

With regard to 3D

3D pantographs used to be commonly found in toolrooms  to make electrodes for EDM machines which were then used to sink shapes in moulding dies. These had a pin or such that you pulled out and then the whole head tilted allowing for a 3D duplication of a wooden pattern or such. I can't remember how it all went in detail now. Running them was hard work and if the electrodes were to be made of carbon it was very dirty, even with dust extractors. They invariably had a D-bit grinder near by that looked somewhat similar to a Quorn tool and cutter grinder. 

I've seen literature on Deckel pantographs where they had an attachment that pulled a cylindrical or conical piece of work around in such a way that you could engrave a flat 2D pattern onto the conical surface. 

Not that any of this helps with what to do with a 2D pantograph.

The book "Wheel and Pinnion Cutting in Horology" by J. Malcolm Wild tells you how to cross out wheels on a pantograph. He makes oversize masters, either by cutting out pieces of plastic sheet and sticking them on a base or by cutting groves in a piece of wood. Either way the master is made larger so that the errors are scaled down.

Steve

[Jo]

Thanks John/Steve,

I will look out Malcolm Wild's book. (I suspect it is published by Rite Time publishing who are based about 1 mile from where I live.)

Jo

[swilliams]

Jo - the copy I have is Crowood Press

Steve

[Jo]

Thanks Steve,

I have tracked it down on Amazon and Malcolm's own site....

I wish I hadn't because I have just been drooling over Malcolm's Aciera F1 Universal Precision Milling Machine  . I have even found one forsale, my only saving grace is the cost and I can't afford it  .

Jo

[steamer]

F1's are nice aren't they Jo....

Dave

[Jo]

That F1 looks even sexier than my BCA .  I will even let one come and live with me in the (spare) bedroom, alongside my Cowells and between them they can make little engines  .

Jo

[steamer]

I tried to get Malcolm to sell just the castings for that quil upgrade...but he declined.

Says it was "tough build" and although happy with it wasn't keen on doing it again and didn't have the time to answer the inevitable build questions....but I had to ask anyway!

Dave

[swilliams]

Here's another little one for ya Jo. If you're going to cut out clock wheels you can use the panto to cut out the blanks from plates of engraving brass. Make a simple gadget along these lines



You have a pin attached to the table where the type is usually attached. Then this gadget sits on it and spins about it. You can adjust the radius the stylus spins around via the slot. Then you put a small slot drill in the panto and cut out a disk from the plate of engraving brass. I'd suggest you take several cuts, increasing the depth. I'm sure you're across it.

P.S. hope the copyright owner of this terrible software isn't gonna ask for royalties. What a scammer    

 
Steve

[Jo]

Ooooh I like that, thanks Steve.

I have just found the first job for my Pantograph: the name plates for the two engines that make up my Double Tandem Compound engine. I have decided on their names: no I'm not going to tell you .  Now I need to design the name plates to go on the end of the tail rod supports.

Jo

[steamer]

Can't wait for the unveiling!.....

Dave

[Maryak]

When I was a kid I was given a pencil pantograph. It's use IIRC, was to make small letters bigger for Placards and signs etc. I never did get on with it and the arms ended up being used in some meccano experiments I was undertaking 

It seems that a proper one makes big things smaller . Enquiring minds like to know 

Perhaps this is why may Dad brought us to Australia so I could get things the right way up.

Best Regards
Bob

[steamer]

Bob and Jo,

there is a Yahoo group that is focused on Gorton Pantographs.   My Dad had a J1...IIRC.

The Lords prayer engraved in microscopic form that held the worlds record for a while...on the POINT of a pin


http://gorton-machine.org/links/gorton_lords_prayer/index.html