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Comment by carverman on November 23, 2010 at 11:12am

Spent part of the day, looking at pulleys/bearings/steel rods
locally. Found a source. Now I need to find a cheap drill chuck
or take an old electric drill apart..dang..I threw a good Makita
battery drill in the garbage pail a few weeks ago when I found
out the replacement nicad battery pack was 2/3 the cost of the
drill..it was an old 9.6v.
So slowly, I'm rounding up the parts locally..it will probably run me
around $250 to $300 with local taxes as long as I can use my B+D
router. Too bad the garage sale season is over, I could have
got some barbells for free.

Comment by carverman on November 23, 2010 at 1:52am

One thing that I found unusual in the plans is a 15lb counterweight
(barbell) suspended on a 3/4 black gas pipe (12" long). This
counterweight idea balances the weight of the router and chuck
(from an old drill) that holds the stylus. Apparently, if you set
up the weight just right, the swing box and router will stay by
itself in any position you leave it..on the Z axis. This reduces
arm fatigue, if you are planning on doing a lot of carvings
in the same day.

Comment by carverman on November 23, 2010 at 1:47am

Building this one (although affordable to the average hobbyist) is
not as cheap to build these days as indicated in the plans.
Any metal parts (solid rod for axle/6 inch pulleys/pillow blocks for
bushings have doubled or tripled the price that is indicated
in the plans . He mentions $150-$200 to build (including a H-D
laminate router)...based on the prices I've researched, the pulleys/
bearing blocks/locking collars alone will run $142 in my area.

And this doesn't includer the cost of the 1/4 inch pipe runners
($30) or the 3/4 birch plywood, which is fairly expensive $45-$50
a sheet.

I did order a router bit and matching stylus to start off from
then and that"s about $30 with shipping.

However, I realize that most things (except asian manufactured products), are going to cost more. Once you invest in the parts
and time to build it (4hrs claimed), it will last many years.

Comment by carverman on November 22, 2010 at 6:39am

I've got the plans now for the Ed Walicki carving duplicator.
Right now, I'm trying to round up some of the metal parts and
found a source in town. Not as cheap as what he is indicating,
but I didn't expect to be able to build one using US prices..
everything here is more expensive.

Comment by carverman on November 20, 2010 at 3:49am

Thanks Bob. I've ordered the plans (still need to download them
and build it), and one of his Saburr tooth carving burrs and the
matching stylus. Apparently the matched set allows you to do
the rough carving of any 3 -D object and finish it off by hand,
which I like to do, burn in the feather detail or fish scale detail.
So it seems like the plans will fit my requirements..and I can
always add my own modifications if need be. Why re-invent the
wheel they say.

Now I need to find a source of tupelo..as my supply has run out
and basswood just doesn't have the same fine detail definition power
of tupelo.

Comment by carverman on November 20, 2010 at 1:48am

Looks like a good plan. I'm a woodworker/carver not a welder, so
anything I can make out of wood with a minimum of metal fabrication
is a plus for me. I would like to make one to duplicate my fish/animal/
bird carvings as it takes a lot of houras to do the original, nevermind
even thinking about duplicating the second one by hand even with
power carvers. If I can rough out the duplicate carving with a machine as shown, I can save a lot of time and just do the finish
details and painting. The carving in the avatar is one of my
originals. Now it is a 3 piece, as the amp, cat and guitar are
3 separate pieces of wood, but the cat is the most difficult carving.

Besides, I enjoy building new projects out of wood. I do have a good
spare 3/4 hp router (B&D) that I can remove from it's base and devise
a clamping method to secure it.
This is a great website for exchanging ideas..because no one individual can find all the answers...
carry on then.

Comment by carverman on November 19, 2010 at 7:40am

Very industrial looking, I might add. I was hoping for something
in between the FB inlay dremel tool router and the big multi
carving machines that the factories use..but I do like heavy
duty construction though.

Comment by carverman on November 18, 2010 at 3:07pm

Here is an industrial version of the home copy duplicator,
to give you an idea of the pivot arms you need to support the router
and give you complete control..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDsijb56GaE&feature=related

Comment by carverman on November 18, 2010 at 2:58pm

Bob,
I think what you want is a carving duplicator, where the router
bit faithfully follows your hand and sensing tip at all 3 axis/
This may be the plans you need..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAosYoUDlts&feature=related

Comment by carverman on November 18, 2010 at 2:26pm

Ok, I see the parallelogram you are referring to. The two pivot
points that the router is mounted to form a parallellogram.
Since there is two pivot points, the router bit will move with
the arc that the parallelogram provides.

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