Milling machine pantograph on wood with your own drawings. Creating a milling and copying machine at home. Milling and copying equipment: design

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Copy-milling machines for wood are universal units, the purpose of which is to copy products in two- and three-dimensional form. In other words, this equipment can copy flat finished goods, and when using special copiers and three-dimensional models.

Such devices are often used for engraving profiles and various decorative elements. They can also be used for ordinary, not very complex milling work.

What is copy-milling equipment

Such equipment is unique, because with its relatively simple design, it is able to copy complex products, even thin handmade.

In fact, the unit was designed for milling curved elements:

1. This is done by copying templates. They allow you to make the operation as accurate as possible, without the use of manual work. This property of the aggregate guarantees that the manufactured elements will be identical in size and shape.
2. In this case, you can use one sample for all blanks or use ready-made products as a template.
3. When these parameters are not enough, it is possible to significantly improve the accuracy of the machine.

Note! The instruction recommends completing it with a special copying device for this. It is called a "pantograph" and serves to accurately report the movement of the copying unit (head) to the main device that processes the part.

When the template has a lot of fine delicate details, the pantograph machine is indispensable.

Unit design

Copy-milling units make it possible to process reliefs or profiles:

1. Workpieces are processed with a special tool - a milling cutter made of hard alloys.
2. It repeats in full the movement of the copier, which reproduces the outlines of the template.
3. The copier is equipped with an electronic or mechanical connection, which has a tracking system and is responsible for the trajectory of the tool.
4. The copier can be a flat or three-dimensional sample, as well as a contour diagram or a reference model.
5. In this case, a special probe registers the contours of the workpiece. Further, this data is reported to the tool.
6. In the most modern machines, the probe is replaced by a photocell with increased accuracy.

Note! The pantograph in the described units plays a crucial role. It is equipped with a special guide "finger".

It moves along the copier, while determining the geometric parameters of the sample with maximum accuracy. The final size of the resulting copy depends on the proportions of the "shoulders" of the pantograph.

1. Scope of application
2. Functional features
3. Equipment types

Milling machines with the ability to copy are indispensable where it is necessary to produce parts in full accordance with the existing template. At the same time, the equipment will equally cope with the production of a small or impressive batch of wood products. Just like a CNC milling machine, this device is used in large-scale production, so it is popular both in private workshops and in large woodworking plants. Copy-milling units are able to produce a product that completely corresponds to the original sample in shape and size, which is achieved by automatically moving the cutter along a given trajectory. The main advantage that the copy-milling machine has is the high speed of processing parts, regardless of size and configuration.

Scope of application

The copy-milling machine, also known in the professional environment as a duplicarver, is equally used for the manufacture of three-dimensional or flat objects from wood, and its operation is similar to that of equipment equipped with a CNC system. Individual samples make it possible to process wood blanks using a copier, which is a three-dimensional model.

Often used in the carpentry industry, an engraving machine that includes a copy mechanism in its design is usually used to solve the following tasks:

• drawing all kinds of inscriptions, logos and curvilinear contours;
• artistic woodcarving;
• engraving of shaped profiles;
• formation of patterns and faces on different planes.

Considering that copy milling machines easily cope with the creation of decorative parts of complex configuration, such equipment is often found in furniture production.

Functional features

The design and filling of the copy-milling machine allow you to achieve high speed when processing even complex parts. The main element of such units is a cutter. The cutting tool, in addition to the formation of wooden parts, is also used when working with metal products. The cutter cuts out the necessary part along the contour or surface, which is initially set by the copying mechanism. Communication between the cutting element and the control system for the correct execution of the process here takes place using hydraulics and pneumatics. Most often, household woodworking machines of this type are equipped with a mechanical system for feeding the workpiece and controlling the structural units.

A flat template, a pre-created reference model, various contour drawings or photocells are used as a copier, and the sample is selected depending on the production features or at the request of the master. Templates are made from any material, be it plastic, wood or metal. Focusing on the requirements of the modern carpentry industry, many manufacturers complete copy-milling machines with a CNC device, which turns the unit into a universal device. The copy-milling machine operates according to the following principle: a template is set to which the controller is connected, and the specified figure parameters are transmitted to the cutting element through a communication mechanism.

Equipment types

Depending on the type of drive installed on the machine, the equipment is divided into the following types:

• wood milling pantograph showing 2D or 3D work;
• universal pantograph with a swivel arm, which in most cases is installed in a vertical position;
• machine for accelerated processing of workpieces with several spindles;
• device with mechanical, hydraulic or electronic feed;
• machine with a photocopier that sets the trajectory of the cutter.

Also, copy-milling machines are classified according to the degree of automation of the workflow, and the more additional options are present in a particular model, the higher its price tag. It is worth noting that the template method of cutting wood initially implies automatic compliance with the trajectory of the cutter, so the installation of CNC is absolutely not necessary here and, rather, is a tribute to new technologies that have proven to be the most effective.

Is it possible to create a copy-milling device yourself?

Today on the market carpentry equipment there is no shortage of machines, however, their rather high cost does not always allow a home master to purchase such a unit. The device will pay off with its intensive use not earlier than in 5 years, and even then on an industrial scale. Now that you have familiarized yourself with the characteristics of pantographs and know what it is and where it is used, you can try to make a copy-milling machine yourself. Of course, a handicraft device is inferior in terms of performance to factory samples. Also, the masters do not recommend converting an ordinary router into a copy unit, but advise assembling from scratch.

Before making a machine, they select a suitable scheme for its assembly, as a rule, including several mandatory elements:

• work surface;
• table support;
• milling head.

The change of the milling mode is carried out here by adjusting the height of the tabletop. The milling head is driven by an electric drive, while the equipment is often equipped with a speed controller. Pantographs can be made of wood, although this option will not be highly accurate due to the looped connection of individual elements, which is characterized by play. As for metal drawing machines, they can operate on various scales, but they cannot cope with the manufacture of bulk products.

Unfortunately, milling on a home-made copy machine does not always allow you to get perfectly accurate dimensions of the part, moreover, the finished product may have significant flaws. Such negative consequences are primarily due to the vibration of the working surface, which is almost impossible to neutralize. Also, it is not always possible to avoid various flaws at the moment of changing the direction of movement of the cutter. In addition, there is an internal tension wooden blank, which leads to its distortion.

Taking into account the shortcomings of home-made, the only significant advantage of which is the affordable price of components, it is recommended to resort to its help only to create parts of the same type within a narrow-profile production.

Very often in our life there is a need to make a copy of an object, so the availability of copying equipment is a modern need for many enterprises. And we are not talking about copy-printing equipment, but about copy-milling machines.

They serve to create items that replicate the original sample as much as possible. The equipment makes it possible to produce parts in large quantities, providing high processing speed.

1 Features of milling

Milling is one of the methods of mechanical processing. The procedure allows for finishing, roughing and semi-finishing different surface blanks made of wood, plastic, cast iron, metal (ferrous and non-ferrous).

Milling has a high productivity, which makes it possible to create objects of the required geometric shape.

Milling can be organized in two ways:

• passing milling, in which the directions of feed and rotation of the cutter coincide;
• up milling, in which the feed is opposite to the direction of rotation of the cutter.

Using milling cutters equipped with modern cutting materials, it is possible to carry out processing, replacing the grinding procedure.

A woodworking milling machine, including a mini modification, is used for processing surfaces of planks, levers, covers, cases and brackets of a simple configuration, surfaces of case objects.

Allows you to apply 3D or 4D threads. One of the most popular brands domestic origin - Duplikarver.

Milling machines are found in two categories:

• specialized;
• general purpose.

The last group is continuous milling equipment, consoleless, console, longitudinal milling. The first group is copy-milling, key-milling, spline-milling, gear-milling, thread-milling. There are full and mini models.

1.1 Purpose of the machine

Copy milling woodworking machine is used to carry out copy work on the plane and in volume, for engraving patterns, inscriptions, ornaments, shaped profiles, as well as for simple milling tasks.

Despite the simplicity of the machine, it allows you to create incredibly complex patterns. It can be mini or full size.

The equipment allows you to perform various milling work using carbide and high-speed cutting tools. Can carve. Machines are used in small and large-scale production. Can work in 3D mode with appropriate equipment, CNC. Duplicarver models are very popular.

The machine allows you to create:

• blanks and models;
• Press forms;
• various stamps;
• cams;
• forms.

The equipment can also be used for:

• drilling holes for metal hinges, handles, latches, locks;
• production of frames for mirrors;
• channels of different sizes on profiles.

Wood milling machine Duplikarver allows you to mill curved parts copying method according to the template from which the form of the future product is copied. Through the use of templates the influence of the so-called human factor is excluded, therefore, the finished products have an identical shape. In many ways, this provides CNC.

Not only a template sample can be used in the work, subsequent products can be made according to the sample of the first one. To increase accuracy, the machine should be supplemented with a copying device called a pantograph.

It may have a different design, but it has important function– accurate transmission along the movement profile of the copying head to the cutting device. Therefore, a high accuracy of the thread is achieved when it is applied.

2 Machine design

The Duplicarver milling machine uses a cutting carbide tool - a milling cutter. It reproduces the surface or contour of the copier on the product.

This machine master has a hydraulic, mechanical and pneumatic connection with a tracking system responsible for the direction of the cutter. On the one hand, it acts on the amplifying device, on the other hand, it affects the executive body.

The copier is a flat template, contour drawing, reference detail, spatial model. Copier - photocell, finger, roller or probe. Samples can be parts made of wood, plastic or metal. The copier and the workpiece to be processed are placed on a rotating table.

The executive body of the Duplicarver machine is a differential, an electromagnetic clutch, a solenoid, a screw, a spool. In amplifying devices, electro-optical, hydraulic or electromagnetic relays can be used.

The speed of movement of the tracking device determines the accuracy of the profile and the surface roughness of the product. An accuracy of 0.02 mm and a roughness of No. 6 can be achieved. The Duplicarver machine is driven by an electric motor and a power hydraulic cylinder.

The pantograph, which allows you to copy products on a set scale, has a guide pin located on the axis and moving along the copier, as well as a tool spindle and an axis of rotation.

When the finger is moved over the copier, the spindle on the workpiece describes the required geometric shape. The scale is determined by the pantograph by the proportions of the shoulders. Additionally, CNC can be used.

2.1 Types of copy milling machines

Type of drive:

• photocopiers, hydro- and electrified, with mechanical feed;
• multi- and single-spindle units with a round and rectangular table;
• universal devices with a pantograph located vertically on a swivel sleeve;
• with pantograph necessary for functioning in 2 and 3 dimensions.

There are mini and full versions. Such devices can be equipped with CNC.

You can also select more groups of devices that differ in clamping the workpiece and the level of automation:

• desktop or manual homemade machine with mechanical profile clamping allows to drill holes different shapes using a template;
• automatic machine with pneumatic profile clamping - most often used for the manufacture of aluminum structures; may have CNC;
• an automatic machine with a pneumatic profile clamp and a 3-spindle nozzle necessary for drilling triple holes (other devices do not have such an opportunity); may have CNC.

These can be mini or full size machines.

2.2 Making a machine with your own hands

Homemade copy milling machine can be done at home with your own hands. Of course, such mini equipment will not be able to work at the level of industrial designs, but it is quite capable of creating high-quality copies.

A homemade CNC woodworking copy milling machine can be made using a linkage system, an electric motor with a chuck required for a cutter.

A typical design of a do-it-yourself device is:

• Desktop;
• carrier frame;
• milling head.

Desktop copy milling machine for woodcarving with CNC do-it-yourself should be optimized for specific purposes, which must be achieved, for example, for threading. Understanding what parts to be processed, you should perform calculations of dimensions, power, and so on. Then the machine made with your own hands will allow you to implement the necessary tasks.

2.3 Operation of the copy-milling machine Duplikarver (video)

IN modern world, in the community of people who love to do things with their own hands and at the same time do not shy away from technology, such a thing as a desktop CNC machine is extremely popular. Although these devices have become quite affordable, they still remain expensive. The cheapest Chinese version, today, will cost you 700-800 US dollars and it probably won’t work right out of the box, but will require you to make an effort to bring it to mind. Making a CNC machine yourself can be cheaper, but usually requires access to various types of woodworking and metalworking equipment and the ability to produce parts with high precision with their help.

But people are always looking for ways to achieve the goal with affordable means.
In some tasks for CNC machines, namely when you need to repeat the same part many times, the pantograph invented back in 1603 by Christoph Scheiner, a device for copying maps, plans and other vector drawings, can help.

The classic pantograph consists of two vertices, one of which has a pointer handle, with which the copied pattern is traced. In the second, a writing instrument is fixed, which, through a system of levers and hinges, repeats the movements of the first vertex, drawing a copy on the second sheet. Often, pantographs have the function of scaling the original image.

A simple and ingenious idea. Now, how to copy a certain volumetric object? To do this, you need to add a Z-coordinate link to the pantograph and replace the pencil with a drill, or rather a high-speed spindle, and we will get a 3D pantograph.

Copy machines wooden products on this principle, for example, the American company Gemini produces, but only the prices for them are such that for this money you can buy a good CNC machine from China. Therefore, it is more interesting what the DIY community has achieved in this area.

Frank Ford is a manufacturer of acoustic guitars. In doing so, he has to make a lot of identical guitar parts, such as string holders. Tired of doing it by hand, but not wanting to bother with buying and setting up a CNC, he made a duplicator for himself. Because high copying accuracy was important to him, his tool is made entirely of metal. The probe with which the form is removed and the spindle are fixed on a common frame, which moves only along the Z axis. Movement along the X and Y axes is carried out using a table on which the workpieces are fixed. Another original in its design is that it uses a pneumatic drive operating at 40,000 rpm as a spindle.

However, although this is a homemade, it is still an expensive version of the 3D pantograph. There are also cheaper ones.

For example, Adran (Adran), dreaming of his own CNC machine, but having no funds for this. I built myself a duplicator from a Dremel drill, three metal guides and wooden planks. standard sizes from the store. A regular screwdriver is used as a probe. Its design can be easily repeated, because he posted the drawings and all the manufacturing steps on the Instructables website.

However, a manual drill is not the most successful tool for such work, its material removal rate is too small. Here Matthias Wandel (Matthias Wandel) from Canada used a manual milling cutter in his 3D pantograph. Which gave him enough power to quickly copy items in the tree. As an example of working with such a duplicator, here is his video, where he makes a copy of the shape of an old rotary telephone (English).

Its design can also be repeated, because he posted the blueprints and building instructions on his Woodgears.ca website. Even if you are not friendly with English, you can easily understand the whole process from numerous photographs.

If you are interested in the topic of 3D pantographs, then examples of such devices can be found on English-language resources by the tags: carving duplicator, duplicarver, pantorouter.

Copy-type equipment is used in cases where it is necessary to manufacture parts according to a specific template within a small batch. In some cases, a copy-milling machine is used under conditions of large-scale production, like the CNC version. This is due to the fact that the machine in question is capable of creating products, the shape of which is most consistent with the original sample, like CNC machines, the movement of the cutter is set automatically. The main feature that the copy-milling machine has is high processing speed.

purpose

Often a key-cutting machine is used to perform volumetric and flat work, its operation is similar to the options on which the CNC system is installed. At the same time, special models allow wood processing by volume, when a three-dimensional model is used as a copier. In the field of woodworking, processing by volume allows:

1. create ornaments and various inscriptions.
2. engrave shaped profiles.
3. create complex patterns, the faces or planes of which are located in different planes.

The woodworking machine in question is often used in the furniture industry. Many decorative parts that have a complex shape are created using a similar machine.

Principle of operation

Possibility of significantly accelerating the production process complex products is determined by the features of the work that the copy-milling machine has. As with metalworking, woodworking uses a cutting tool called a "milling cutter".

The main points of work can be called:

1. The cutter creates a contour or surface that is specified using a copier.
2. The link between the cutting tool and the tracking device is a mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic system. The woodworking machine most often has mechanical system submission and management.
3. A flat template, a previously created reference model, a spatial model, a photocell, a contour drawing can serve as a copier. In some cases, these machines are equipped with CNC, which makes them widely versatile.
4. Samples serving as a template may be made of metal, wood, plastic or other material.

Copy-milling machine works in the following way: pattern is set various types, a tracking device is supplied to it, which, through a certain type of connection, transmits the necessary force to the cutting tool.

Classification

1. wood pantograph for milling cutter. this option can work in 2 or 3 dimensions;
2. universal type, which is also called as a pantograph, having a swivel sleeve. as a rule, the sleeve is located in a vertical plane;
3. there are execution options that have several spindles to speed up the processing process;
4. with mechanical, electrical, hydraulic feed;
5. photocopying view of the transfer of the contour for the direction of the cutting tool.

Also, woodworking machines differ in the level of automation. production process. CNC in this case is installed quite rarely, since the template method of processing does not require a Numerical Program Control system to indicate the trajectory of the cutting tool.

Making a machine with your own hands

There are a huge number of copy-type woodworking machines, which are known as pantographs, have a CNC system (a universal option that allows processing according to a copier or program). However, not everyone can purchase such equipment, which is associated with its very high cost. The addition of CNC makes the equipment only available to major manufacturers when the payback period of the equipment is less than 5 years. That is why many are wondering - how to make a machine with your own hands?

Before proceeding to work, it is worth remembering that do-it-yourself machine tools are significantly inferior to industrial models. At the same time, it is impossible to make a CNC version on your own. Also, many note that it is also very difficult to convert the usual milling version into a do-it-yourself copy version, and it is often easier to start from scratch. It is not difficult to make a pantograph yourself, but there are still certain difficulties in this process.

There are many schemes according to which you can create a copy-milling machine with your own hands. A typical variant usually consists of the following elements:

1. Desktop;
2. carrier frame;
3. milling head.

To carry out the procedure for changing the cutting mode, the height of the table is changed, the head with the cutter has an electric drive that sets the cutting tool in motion, often a transmission mechanism for changing speeds is included in the system.

The pantograph itself can be made as follows:

1. From a tree. You can create such a pantograph with your own hands, but at the same time it will have low processing accuracy, since the wooden parts are connected using a loop. Fastening with a loop is characterized by backlash.
2. Drawing pantograph made of metal - allows you to create copies at various scales, but cannot be used to create three-dimensional copies.

When creating a machine with your own hands, it should be noted that many parts may have flaws and mismatch in size. This situation is associated with vibration and trembling of the base, which is quite difficult to avoid. When changing the direction of movement of the cutter, errors are also possible. Due to the internal stress of the wood workpiece, the workpiece may warp. Therefore, it is recommended to create such equipment only for narrow-profile production, when the machine will be designed to create one part. It is almost impossible to avoid the problems under consideration, however, if the same part is processed, a gradual improvement in the design is possible.