DREMEL PIN ROUTER

[morsa]

You are right, sholcombe; I agree that it is safer if the router or Dremel are fixed below the table. However, if all safety requirements are met, the "overarm" devices would have the possible advantage that you can see firsthand how the work is developing.
Indeed, it is possible to compare the CNC router with overarm devices, with the huge difference that the control is automated.
Thanks for the offer to cut patterns in your shop, but I guess the great distance should make unaffordable the cost of shipping.

[Paul Alciatore]

That's a neat tool. I made something similar with an actual router some years ago to trim some PC boards to final size. The router was in my shop made router table and the over-arm was a piece of 1x3 or 1x4 that was suspended on both ends on spacer blocks. A 1/4" pin was fixed in the bottom of that board and located directly over the router bit. The router bit I used was carbide to handle the fiberglass PC boards.

I could make up a stack of 5 or 10 PC boards with the aluminum pattern on top. A holes in the boards and pattern easily allowed alignment: two diagonally opposite holes for alignment pins and two more for countersunk screws to hold it together. Set the height of the pin and router bit to handle the stack. Then I made not just one, but a whole bunch of identical parts in one simple step.

The use of a piece of flat wood provided an almost fool proof safety factor. There was almost no way that I could get my fingers to the cutter. The use of a pattern allowed me to make not just rectangular PC boards, but any outline that I needed.

I think for a Dremel I would design around using a variety of cutter diameters. A smaller cutter would allow finer work; 1/8" or perhaps even 1/16" would seem desirable. And a 1/4" or even larger for roughing out.

[morsa]

Thanks for commenting your experience, Paul Alciatore.
That's right, once you have a functional pattern, you can make as many identical copies as you like. It is possible that only CNC router can beat this setting.

[Elizabeth Greene]

If someone is really into this there is a related technology for routers called "Pantograph Routing". It's like a pin router with the router and pin seperated by a four bar linkage. By altering the length of the linkages you can scale designs larger or smaller.

[mklotz]

If someone is really into this there is a related technology for routers called "Pantograph Routing". It's like a pin router with the router and pin seperated by a four bar linkage. By altering the length of the linkages you can scale designs larger or smaller.

More here...

Pantograph

on pantographs as well as the mathematics of setting up the pivot points for a desired copy ratio.

Here...

Engraving pantograph

is a description of a fixed 2:1 ratio pantograph engraving machine for use with Foredom/Dremel tools that I built.