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16th June 2013, 12:45 AM #1
Router Pantograph build - work in progress
Years ago I bought a commercially made router pantograph. It was useless! I disassembled it and put it back in its box along with all the templates that came with it and haven't touched it since. The concept was always good, but the one I bought certainly did not live up to expectations, but good ideas do not die, they just hang around and come to the surface when their time comes.
Many of you would know that I lost most of my workshop space about 6 months ago when we had to rescue my stepdaughter from a domestic violence situation, moving her and her daughter and all their worldly goods into our house and garage, filling up my workspace.
So looking for something to do that doesn't need a lot of space, about a week ago, I thought I would revisit the router pantograph idea.
I have been visiting Matthias Wandall's site, woodgears.ca, for quite a few years and the first time I saw his router pantograph I had wished that the one I bought was half as good. Anyway, I went on his website and checked it out again and watched the videos, all that stuff and decided that I could design and build one like that.
Then I thought - hang on - why go out and design one of my own when all the hard work has already been done? He only wants US$12.00 for the plans. So I bought and downloaded them. Very happy with them - so far at least. Full-scale drawings of EVERYTHING. He does this so that you can stick the printout onto the plywood and cut the pieces out on the bandsaw. I am doing exactly that for the router mount pieces which are curved, but the rest are straight-sided so I am using the written measurements on the drawings to cut the straight pieces out on the tablesaw. Once the piece is cut out I place it on top of the corresponding drawing so that I can see at a glance which pieces are done and which are still required.
I think that buying the plans instead of spending hours fiddling around finetuning things was probably a good investment, but of course, that depends on how happy I am with the final product and how much fiddling and fine-tuning I have to do to get it to the stage that I am happy with it. I will let you know at the end.
Anyway, progress so far:
Yesterday -
I bought and printed out the plans. I own four routers and they are all too big for this application, so I bought the router to fit yesterday as well. It is a Makita rt0700c. Matthias designed the router pantograph for the Bosch Colt router which is a little bit larger in diameter in the body and is only 550 watts as opposed to the makita being 710 watts. The plans as they come include a circle to cut out for the same size as the Makita router so no modifications are necessary. bought a 1/4 sheet of 18mm plywood and a 3m length of metal rod for the pins. I know I will only need about half a metre but it only cost $8 for the length so now I have some spare for another project, like the pantorouter from the same source.
Today -
I glued the sheets of the plan, printed on A4 paper into the bigger sheets, which was easy to do because of the thought that went in to compiling them. I glued the sheet of the curved bits onto a piece of plywood cut to shape. I then cut out the basic outline of the straight sided bits.
I only got about an hour of shed-time today due to other commitments so thats all I got to do. If you want to look into what this jig can do check in to it here 3-D router pantograph
Here's some photos of what I did today:
All the templates together. The router mount ones are glued to the piece of plywood in this shot.
IMG062.jpg
Full scale drawings of assembled components are supplied to assist with assembly. Great idea
IMG063.jpg
You also get a plan for a mount for a rotary tool such as a dremel. I have a Triton rotary tool so I will probably modify this to fit the triton at some stage, maybe as I am working on the rest of it. Either way it is a great inclusion
IMG064.jpg
All the pieces siting on the full-scale drawing - cut to size but all the "cutouts" still need to be done and the bandsaw cutting as well
IMG065.jpg
The router:
IMG066.jpg
Some of you may have noticed that the piece of plywood that I have been placing the pieces on to photograph has been getting narrower and narrower as the night goes on. It is turning into the components now sitting on top of the plan.
Next step is to cut out the curved bits on the bandsaw, do the cutouts in the straight piece,s mark and drill the holes and cut the metal rod to length. If I had not bought the plans and went ahead designing my own, I would be still working out range of movement, space and time sizes of viable work area. Instead, the damn thing is only hours away from completion (shed-hours that is - a rare commodity these days but a precious one).
I do not know if I will get any shed-time tomorrow but whenever I do I will post an update on the progress.
Cheers
DougI got sick of sitting around doing nothing - so I took up meditation.
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16th June 2013, 01:27 PM #2GOLD MEMBER
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Thanks for posting this WIP Doug, It'll be interesting reading and viewing. I like your choice of router and might buy the same as well. Well done on the progress so far.
-Scott
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16th June 2013, 03:28 PM #3
I was just in "Full Price R Us" (cash convertors) and they had your makita router there for 95 bucks. Thought of your build at that point.
Its moving along quickly.
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16th June 2013, 03:36 PM #4
That will be a nice pickup for someone. I paid $165 for it new, but I am happy with that. Wouldn't be much difference when you add in fuel and toll and time to drive across town to get the one you saw and then you don't know what the previous owner did to it.
I won't be getting any time in the shed today so probably won't be any progress to report for a few days.
Cheers
DougI got sick of sitting around doing nothing - so I took up meditation.
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16th June 2013, 03:52 PM #5
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16th June 2013, 10:48 PM #6SENIOR MEMBER
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I will be watching this one
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17th June 2013, 12:05 AM #7GOLD MEMBER
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This is really good. Thanks for the thread.
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17th June 2013, 12:24 AM #8
I'm in
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17th June 2013, 04:04 AM #9SENIOR MEMBER
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The Makita RT0700C
Just finished posting in the thread that has recently started on the pantorouter, but I thought it was appropriate to post here as well. Going through old videos of the pantorouter (not the pantograph), this video making double mortise and tenon on hybrid pantorouter - YouTube demonstrates the Makita RT0700C, a little router that I also recently purchased (well Christmas), had limited use of, but love. Admittedly in the demonstration he is cutting into pine, but it seems to be doing a good job of it. This is the same router Doug will be using in his pantograph build.
Cheers,
Camo
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17th June 2013, 09:43 PM #10
Camo, it is a bit hard to be sure with the router mounted the way it is, but I do not think it is quite the same router as mine. Very similar and the same diameter body but doesn't look quite right, but it is close enough to show that the makita I bought will do the job. The one in the video may be a slightly older version. Thanks for posting the video.
DougI got sick of sitting around doing nothing - so I took up meditation.
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18th June 2013, 01:47 AM #11Member
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Makita palm router
Hi Dough!! your makita router is much powerful than mine.mine has just 440 watt but your pne 710watt and i guess it come with variable speed as well.so your makita palm router will be much better than what i have own.you are right i have older version which is for japanese market only and one more thing your makita seems like much longer body.outerdiameter is same as mine one.mine one is exact 64.8mm, i m sure your one should be close enough.mine one come with only 6mm collet.i m attching the pictures so please have a look.
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18th June 2013, 02:16 AM #12Member
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18th June 2013, 09:31 AM #13
Hillpanther,
Thanks for posting the photos above comparing the two routers. You are correct, mine is variable speed and 710 watt.
Although I bought the RT0700c primarily for the router pantograph it is good to know that it will also be useful in the pantorouter. I wonder if it can be persuaded to take a half inch collett?
Cheers
DougI got sick of sitting around doing nothing - so I took up meditation.
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18th June 2013, 12:15 PM #14Member
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i m strongly against to use adpater or 1/2 inch collet for the router who design for 6 or 8mm.but you can always buy 1/2 inch router bit with 8mm shank and they will work perfectly.
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19th June 2013, 12:14 AM #15
So am I Hillpanther. That was a joke. I probably should have attached a suitable smiley before someone gets hurt . However I am just as strongly against using 1/4" router bits for big jobs. I can see my router pantograph being used for some very fine (as in fine-detail) jobs, with the 1/4" collet and even finer work being done with the rotary tool, but the Pantorouter is more a heavy-duty machine and I am hoping that we, as a woodworking community can find a suitable, more powerful router that takes a 1/2" collet, that can be used in the pantorouter.
Cheers
DougI got sick of sitting around doing nothing - so I took up meditation.
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