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Step 5Make the Pantograph
This is the 'printer' part of the project. A pantograph lets you copy something without requiring much skill (other than a steady hand). It will enlarge or shrink from the original, so very tiny or very large projects (and ordinary ones) are easy to copy.
See a pantograph demo here.
You can buy a pantograph at woodworking shops and artist supply stores for around $20, or even less on eBay or through Froogle.com. If you're on a budget (or just feeling ambitious) you can make one for about $5 out of yardsticks (pick out some flat ones). If your budget is serious, get 4 paint stirrers used for 5-gallon paint buckets ($0) or get one long, thin, stiff strip of wood (father-in-law's garage, $0) and cut it into four equal-length pieces. You'll practice with a marker before you do any laser cutting, so you'll know if your choice of materials will be acceptable, too heavy, too bendy, too jerky or ???.
You can stack and clamp them to drill holes in them every three inches. If you're doing it by hand without clamps like me, I found I got much cleaner, better accuracy doing them one at a time and slowly. It's more important that the holes be perfectly round, vertical and clean than it is for them to be perfectly spaced apart or away from the edge. If the holes are sloppy, your results will be sloppy.
Drill a 3/8" hole in the middle every three inches (a hole at the 3" mark, the 6", 9", etc.) If you decide later that a hole every three inches doesn't work for you for some reason, just drill more holes.
Get the screws, washers and nuts you got while you were picking up the yardsticks or scavenging the paint stirrers. Later, you can ream a snug fit by just working the assembled pieces back and forth, or swap bolts to find one that's slightly smaller.
The bolts have a head, a flat length, and a threaded length. The bolt head rides on your work surface. The threaded end sticks up with two yardsticks between two nuts and washers. If necessary, you can substitute different length bolts to raise and lower the pantograph above your work surface. Lower is more accurate.
When you finish putting the hardware and yardsticks together, put a tiny dab of nail polish (Ask. Don't just go through her purse. That's just tacky) or Wite-Out (co-worker's desk, $0) on the threads to lock the nut right where you left it on the bolt, yet you can still take it apart later.
Play with the pantograph for a few days with a pencil or a ballpoint or felt tip pen where the laser goes to get the feel of it. Learn to use it to enlarge or shrink your original. Practicing here will give you better results later.
Get an original of any image you want to engrave or cut later or practice with. Use something simple and get the hang of enlarging or reducing it. Print some words on a computer printer in large font, copy something from a magazine, etc. and test your results. Practice. You've still got a couple of days before the electronics stuff arrives.
See a pantograph demo here.
You can buy a pantograph at woodworking shops and artist supply stores for around $20, or even less on eBay or through Froogle.com. If you're on a budget (or just feeling ambitious) you can make one for about $5 out of yardsticks (pick out some flat ones). If your budget is serious, get 4 paint stirrers used for 5-gallon paint buckets ($0) or get one long, thin, stiff strip of wood (father-in-law's garage, $0) and cut it into four equal-length pieces. You'll practice with a marker before you do any laser cutting, so you'll know if your choice of materials will be acceptable, too heavy, too bendy, too jerky or ???.
You can stack and clamp them to drill holes in them every three inches. If you're doing it by hand without clamps like me, I found I got much cleaner, better accuracy doing them one at a time and slowly. It's more important that the holes be perfectly round, vertical and clean than it is for them to be perfectly spaced apart or away from the edge. If the holes are sloppy, your results will be sloppy.
Drill a 3/8" hole in the middle every three inches (a hole at the 3" mark, the 6", 9", etc.) If you decide later that a hole every three inches doesn't work for you for some reason, just drill more holes.
Get the screws, washers and nuts you got while you were picking up the yardsticks or scavenging the paint stirrers. Later, you can ream a snug fit by just working the assembled pieces back and forth, or swap bolts to find one that's slightly smaller.
The bolts have a head, a flat length, and a threaded length. The bolt head rides on your work surface. The threaded end sticks up with two yardsticks between two nuts and washers. If necessary, you can substitute different length bolts to raise and lower the pantograph above your work surface. Lower is more accurate.
When you finish putting the hardware and yardsticks together, put a tiny dab of nail polish (Ask. Don't just go through her purse. That's just tacky) or Wite-Out (co-worker's desk, $0) on the threads to lock the nut right where you left it on the bolt, yet you can still take it apart later.
Play with the pantograph for a few days with a pencil or a ballpoint or felt tip pen where the laser goes to get the feel of it. Learn to use it to enlarge or shrink your original. Practicing here will give you better results later.
Get an original of any image you want to engrave or cut later or practice with. Use something simple and get the hang of enlarging or reducing it. Print some words on a computer printer in large font, copy something from a magazine, etc. and test your results. Practice. You've still got a couple of days before the electronics stuff arrives.
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Oct 16, 2009. 8:35 AMrrp9
says:
This is an excellent instructable. I just have one comment: If you place a stylus or laser in the lower middle joint as shown, the only motion possible at this point is to swing back and forth in an arc. Because one of the segments is pinned at the other end, swinging (rotating around the pin) is all it can do....
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Oct 16, 2009. 8:48 AMrrp9
says:
Oops! After looking at this a little further, I must qualify my previous comment. This IS a good instructable in the level of detail, instructions, etc. However, it is not a functional device as designed. Laser cutting with bolts through yardsticks just will not work. Hence the lack of any photos of the assembled and functional device or any samples of its output....
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