One of the reasons we have shops is so we can build the toys we couldn't afford when we were kids. As soon as I got some tools capable of working metal I set out to build a pantograph as a good way to teach me how to use those tools.
Nice write up, pics and build.

and enjoyed the last paragraph...so true.

All in all, it was a good learning project for a young metalworker and, once done, was actually used in anger on a few occasions to rescale drawings. Of course, today it's as outmoded as a drafting machine but I still hang on to it just to confuse my heirs when they encounter it while throwing out all the rest of the stuff in the shop.
Told my son awhile back, in the end take what you want and sell or toss the rest and finished with; "When the ship lifts, all debts are paid, No Regrets"...Robert Heinlein.

Thanks Marv.