Pantogragh style tracing torch project

[Frank S]

Currently I am building a cutting table for it which will have a gantry for the torch to mount on this way an entire 4x8 sheet can be cut up without having to move the sheet of steel

[NortonDommi]

Did you figure out how to make the stylus?

[Skun Knuckles]

I have been following this build with great interest, as I am keen to build something similar so I can quickly cut multiple parts “in house”.
Good job!

[Frank S]

Did you figure out how to make the stylus?

funny you should mention that.
I bought 100 round magnets with a 1/2" hole in them. I was hoping to stack several together and use a 1/2" steel rod turned down at one ends and knurled but even with a 3" high stack of them there was not sufeincent magnetism concentrated into the bar to cause enough traction.
Then I found a small round neodymium magnet without a center hole when a 1/4" bolt was stuck to the end the bolt seemed to have quite a lot of magnetic attraction to the side of the bolt. This prompted me to order a 1" diameter 1" long Neo 52 magnet when I stuck a bolt on the end of it I could pick up a 10" crescent wrench with the side of the bolt. So I am thinking that pressing that magnet into an aluminum housing that I can push a turned down knurled cylinder of iron bar into the end will do the trick. The only problem is I put the magnet up somewhere and haven't laid eyes on it in a few months
I get a lot of these projects started only to have them tabled by something else that comes up then it takes me a while to ever get back to them.
Even now I an seriously considering adding another 30 by 35 ft. addition to my shop building for steel storage. and a sepperated 40xy 50 tented area to vehicle storage between a couple of van trailers. because I have to get someplace covered for the CT electric my 49 chevy pickup Ed's 59 Ford and a couple of my Mack trucks so we can work on them without having to bring them into the shop

[Saltfever]

In the 70’s I had a similar pantograph with the knurled magnetic stylist you have mentioned. In fact, the stylus was easily removable so you could add a bigger diameter stylus to create the same pattern shape but larger. I think I had 3 of them. 1/8, 1/4, 1/2. They are great for making circles (or washers) of different diameters using only one pattern.

Anyway, I got tired of making metal templates so the magnet would stick to the pattern. One day I was in a terrible hurry and I cut a pattern out of particle board with a coping saw, sanded and cleaned up the edge. I just held the magnetic stylus against the wood pattern with my finger. As the stylus revolved I simply held slight pressure against the stylus and rolled my finger with it as it revolved. Voila! A perfect part! From that point on I rarely needed the magnet feature of the stylus. All of my stuff was prototype, usually one piece or rarely two. After that the only time I made a metal pattern and used the magnet feature was for producing a lot greater than 5-10 pieces. It also depended on the complexity of the pattern and how much time I wanted to spend on it in wood or metal. I say don't get hung up on the magnet. Try it with a dowel pin and see how you like it. YMMV! :-)

Edit . . . I forgot to mention my parts were small. My cutting table was maybe 2-1/2 ft x 3 ft so I could stand right next to the stylus and reach over to press against it. Probably wouldn't work on a 4 x 8 ft table. All the best

Edit, again . . .! If you put one of those rubberized sleeves over the stylus (like used on some tubing, or vacuum covers on carburetors) the dowel pin might have good traction against the pattern with slight finger pressure.

[Sleykin]

Did you ever get it to work? I see you building a table for it but can't find a shot of the finished setup.

[Frank S]

Did you ever get it to work? I see you building a table for it but can't find a shot of the finished setup.

I have used it manually without a drive on it but getting around to finishing the drive motor seems to be one of those round to its

[Frank S]

At long last I finally got fed up with having the Pantagraph torch taking up space and not being reliably useable. I started building this thing back in 2015 a couple years ago a built a burn table for it last year I made the drive motor this week I really needed to finish it. I made the controller for it complete with on off Sw forward reverse Jog and speed control. Thinking everything was good to go the stylist shaft with the neo magnet in it turned out not to be straight and it didn't have a good grip on the magnet between the bottom of the shaft and the top of the shaft so it slipped half the time I made a new shaft to fix that then having bought a machine torch a long time ago, from who knows where, turned out not to have either of the 2 US standard oxy fuel hose fittings Every welding supply I talked to said the same thing it either has the A size or small one or the B size larger one those are the only 2 sizes there are. Ha-ha-ha, fat lot any of those guys know. The threads on this torch were larger than the A actually they were of all things 12 mm but 20 threads per imperial inch What the heck kind of fitting is that? Sounded like something a very confused person would come up with, I filed the threads of to as round as reasonable then cut off 1 end of the standard hose splice couplings drilled them out and silver brazed them to the torch Problem solved Take that MR confused person.





It works just fine you can see the controller at the top under the pattern

[DIYer]

Thanks Frank S! We've added your Pantograph Cutter to our Cutting Torches category,
as well as to your builder page: Frank S's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Pantograph Cutter by Frank S

tags: pantograph, cutter

[Philip Davies]

Out of idle curiosity, I spent 10 minutes looking at pipe thread tables. Both ISO & BSP have 19 tpi at that size, but I think the latter would be over13mm