Playing with my pantograph!

[Jim Sackett]

Using an artwork size 5.5 x 5.5 I put it on my machine and carefully traced it. A little rough in spots but not bad for first try. Larger art work would have shown less wiggly spots.

Jim Sackett

 

[Keith]

Hi Jim,
I take the artwork and enlarge it to twice the size on a copier. Then I put it under clear plexiglass and use a round graver and cut into the plexi.
Then I use my newly made template in the pantograph. By reducing, it gets rid of the jaggie lines and I find it easier to follow. Give it a try.
Hope all is well. Keith

 

[Jim Sackett]

Thanks Keith

I'm trying to get the engraving on the piece not a templit. I'll go over this with my gravers and see what I get.

Jim

 

[Keith]

If you make a template first, the transfer on the piece will be much better quality.

 

[Francis Kisner]

Jim,
I used to copy pictures on my pantograph. Generally, I started by making a sketch or tracing of the design so all I had was lines. The most important thing was to make sure the picture was as large as possible and engrave at the maximum magnification. This minimizes the shake that comes from hand held tracing. I would remove the type tray from the machine and replace it with a flat table. Tape the image in place. Of course, for very large images, the geometry of the machine would sometimes get in the way of making the copy. I got around that either by using a smaller magnification or by carefully doing the engraving in several parts. Matching the parts was critical.

Mostly, I tried to confine my work to designs that did not require a secondary table but could be taped to the machine's table once the type tray was removed. Over the years, I did many copies of a cross with wheat and grapes. The paper design would just nicely fit on the machine and I oriented the item across the bed of the engraver.

I look forward to seeing more of your work.

 

[Jim Sackett]

Thank you for the information Francis. My thinking on this pantograph work is that it opens the door for teaching some one else the trade. I know thats how I started.

The green key tag was done with a templit the white one by traceing 6 x 6 inch art work without templit. I used 3 different sized diamond points very the size of line. I used a templit for the border.

Jim