I bought an engraver, it turned in to a project

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RCWorks
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 12:22 pm
Location: Anadarko, OK.

I bought an engraver, it turned in to a project

Post by RCWorks »

I bought an old pantograph style engraver in the hopes to use it for labeling panels on my electronics projects.

It an old Green model 106 which is a good machine, it was built in the 1930s.

Image

I bought it on eBay, it seemed like a good deal as the ad placement was bad and it saw little action compared with 3 others I made plays for. I got it for about half the going rate.

I unboxed it and aside from it needing a new bit it looked OK.

Then I tried to use it...

I could not locate a bit to fit the spindle anywhere...

The bit required is an 1/8 inch bit with a #1 Brown and Sharp taper... 1/8 inch is easy, the taper part was impossible.

So I chilled on the project for a month or so while still looking online for bits...

Then it hit me I have a machine shop in my back yard, modify the engraver to use current readily available bits.

I don't have a lot of tooling such as a slitting saw and arbor yet. but I got an idea. I have an old Bluepoint Die Grinder, it has a 1/4 inch collet. So I started to work with that.
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RCWorks
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 12:22 pm
Location: Anadarko, OK.

Re: I bought an engraver, it turned in to a project

Post by RCWorks »

The collet from my dead die grinder and the original spindle, bit and retaining screw from the engraver.

Image

I turned the air motor shaft to a #1 Brown and Sharp taper only to find the slotting for the vanes went too deep for me to bore and thread for the original retaining screw.

Back to the drawing board...

So I made a new spindle complete with the threads to mate it to the collet.
The lower is the old spindle with the air motor shaft I turned the taper on.

Image

This lets me run the 1/4 bits but not the 1/8 inch bits. But eBay comes to the rescue with a collet adapter.

I have used both the 1/4 and 1/8 bits only to discover that the font included does not fit the machine.

Sooooo... I will be making my own fonts when I finish up my CNC mill
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GlennW
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Location: Florida

Re: I bought an engraver, it turned in to a project

Post by GlennW »

RCWorks wrote:Sooooo... I will be making my own fonts when I finish up my CNC mill
When you finish your CNC mill you won't need the pantograph engraving machine!
Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
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RCWorks
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 12:22 pm
Location: Anadarko, OK.

Re: I bought an engraver, it turned in to a project

Post by RCWorks »

GlennW wrote:
RCWorks wrote:Sooooo... I will be making my own fonts when I finish up my CNC mill
When you finish your CNC mill you won't need the pantograph engraving machine!
Yes, but I plan on selling it with a couple of fonts. Since my mill will turn them out for the price of materials and power the add to the selling price will be worth it. It will be turn key and ready to go for the next guy.
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kd4pbs
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Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2015 12:40 am

Re: I bought an engraver, it turned in to a project

Post by kd4pbs »

A google search for my engraver brought me to this post and this forum, so I guess this is my first post :)
How did this work for you? I actually have one that I got for $75 10 years ago, and am just now getting back to use again. I've got about 15-20 new carbide cutters, a belt, a few copy sets that I'll likely never use, and an actual 1/8" collet that the company sold to adapt if anyone needs me to take measurements or pictures.
This has been a great machine for that one-off labeling or engraving project around the home, and I don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon.
Good find, and thanks for this forum; I'm persuing it now, and am glad to have stumbled upon it!
-Matt
JackF
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Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:56 pm
Location: Caldwell, Idaho

Re: I bought an engraver, it turned in to a project

Post by JackF »

Welcome Matt. :D Enjoy your stay. Most of us here include our approximate land location, helps sometimes to make new friends and get hands on help in your local area. You can add it to your profile section. :D

Jack
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