# Pantorouter



## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

Have you seen Matthias Wandel's latest invention, the pantorouter?
http://woodgears.ca/pantorouter/index.html

This guy is really something extra :yes:


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## Gene Howe (Feb 28, 2009)

Amazing!


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## H. A. S. (Sep 23, 2010)

That dude makes some nice machines.:yes:


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## jlc791 (Aug 5, 2008)

H. A. S. said:


> That dude makes some nice machines.:yes:


Personally I think that's the understatement of the year!


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## burkhome (Sep 5, 2010)

Hope he makes a nice pile of cash on his designs.


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## tjwoodworking (Oct 3, 2010)

*?*



















Gorton 3z*: 1:1 to 16:1 reduction, cuts MOP inlay & matching recess to put it in, intricate soundhole designs, your brass label to attach to your work, awards plaques for the Lodge, and can engrave the Lord's Prayer on the head of a pin, although I'm not sure exactly why you would need to do that.

Timothy

*motor by Craftsman


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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

Timothy,would think the "micro" side of that Gorton to be one of the cntr pcs of the well equiped scale model shop?Or an RC vehicle shop looking for accurate period work?Dang,BW


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## awoodman (Dec 15, 2010)

I saw a cutting torch which traced patterns a guy made yrs. ago he used for making custom hot rods.


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## tjwoodworking (Oct 3, 2010)

BWSmith said:


> Timothy,would think the "micro" side of that Gorton to be one of the cntr pcs of the well equiped scale model shop?Or an RC vehicle shop looking for accurate period work?


BW,
The Gorton would be useful anywhere miniatures could be made from a template. I use it mostly for dulcimer fretboard inlays and for cutting soundholes, and for making engraved inlaid signature logos on woodturnings.

Timothy


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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

My bad....sorta took it that you just dug up the image and were making comment.....can think of a bazillion things that Gorton can knock out of the park.

To reiterate..........DANG!

Don't have the words that can do justice to describe the wheel's turning in my head.....Dang.Calming down a bit,and having done "several" notable examp. of articulated simple jigs/fixtures here at the ranch..............am I correct in this assumption.The Gorton's "action" is that(a well thought out articulated "arm/arms")?And with slight of hand and a wave of a majic wrench...abbra,ca-dabbra...we change the ratio of articulation thereby changing the scale down or up?BW


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## tjwoodworking (Oct 3, 2010)

BWSmith said:


> ..............am I correct in this assumption.The Gorton's "action" is that(a well thought out articulated "arm/arms")?And with slight of hand and a wave of a majic wrench...abbra,ca-dabbra...we change the ratio of articulation thereby changing the scale down or up?


Yes. 








There are scales engraved on the arms, and two adjustable clamp blocks to adjust the amount of reduction.
When this machine was made, 1935-ish, Gorton called it a Pantograph Engraver and Universal Die-Cutting Machine. Later publications just call it a Pantomill.

It is much easier to do neat miniature work when you can make a larger template, and let the machine handle the reduction.

It is also capable of precise work. Here is the depth of cut scale I made for my Craftsman planer using the Gorton:








Still in the adjustment phase in this pic, it's held on with 2 screws now.

The Gorton was definately an "I need that; what is it?" purchase. It's paid for itself many times over, but then I only paid 100 bucks for it...

Found some pics of the Gorton in action. Cutting inlays:








A positive and a negative template are used for inlay. The positive template is simply traced from the negative that is shown here. The negative template cuts the pocket, the positive template cuts the inlay. The stylus has a router bit bearing on it, as the stylus diameter is a function of the reduction ratio and cutter diameter. A 3/8" stylus with a 3/64" cutter and 8:1 reduction gives a correct fit for the inlay in it's pocket.









3/64" x 3/16" end mill.









Abalone in curly maple.

Cutting soundholes:









Don't have to worry about stylus diameter, and we can use a larger cutter; we're just cutting holes.









Just guide the stylus around the template, and the cutter does the work.









Completed soundholes in curly elm.









Curly elm dulcimer with hickory fretboard. Mother of pearl medalion in pickwell is engraved with owners initials & filled with gold.

Otherwise difficult work made easy with a Pantomill.

Timothy


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

tjwoodworking said:


> Yes.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That a pretty dulcimer Timothy, I made one freehand back in the early 80's, they are fun to make.

I think we high jacked Longknife's thread, I'm sorry Longknife, that is one interesting machine, I hope he make a ton of money off it also.


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