In a sign-making machine, a stylus is mounted within the free end portion of an arm carrying a router to follow a template for cutting grooves in a workpiece to produce a sign. The stylus includes a body slidably mounted in the arm for movement between extended and retracted positions with respect to the arm and a spring acts between the stylus body and the arm to urge the stylus into its extended position for engagement with the template before the router bit cuts into the workpiece as the arm is lowered from a raised position into a working position. An adjustable stop connected to the stylus abuts the arm to support the arm against sliding downwardly on the stylus below a selected distance from the tip of the stylus and is movable vertically relative to the lower end to vary the selected distance while cutting a groove in the workpiece so as to move the arm vertically and thereby adjust the position of the router to follow the surface of the workpiece.
The present invention provides a device to be used in machines which mark workpieces with characters or other symbols and have marking tools for applying the symbols to the workpiece, and elements for selecting the symbols and controlling the movements of the tools to obtain a desired shape and size of the symbols. In the device of the present invention, a lower frame part (1) receives a workpiece (7), and an upper frame part (2) is arranged on the lower frame part. The upper frame is capable of being raised and lowered and supporting the marking tool (43) and the symbol selection and control elements (36-42, 47-52, 69-74) of the machine. During a marking operation, the upper frame part (2) is arranged to rest on the workpiece (7) and clamp it against the lower frame part (1). A marking tool can work on the workpiece through an opening (44) in the upper frame part (2) of the device.
An accessory (10) for a professional quilting machine (12) includes a fence unit (85) which is mounted in an adjustable manner onto a platform (30). The platform (30) has a plurality of grooved rim wheels (34) that ride on lower rails (14) of the quilting machine (12). A brake assembly (38) is on one side (40) of the platform (30), to retain the platform (30) in a stationary position on the lower rails (14). The fence unit (85) will allow an operator to guide the quilting machine (12) to make diagonal quilting sewing lines through layers of fabric with little effort. The fence unit (85) can be substituted with a circle transfer unit (101), so that the operator using the quilting machine (12) can now make circular quilting sewing lines of varying sizes through the layers of the fabric with little effort.
A hobbyist pantograph is provided that includes a base, and an arm assembly substantially in the shape of a parallelogram that rotates about a vertical and horizontal axis of rotation such that movement of a stylus around a template causes proportionate and precise movement of a tool on a workpiece. A main beam of the arm assembly remains substantially horizontal. The stylus and the tool are received in free ends of the arm assembly. The stylus is spring-loaded and adapted to receive a variety of inserts. The free end of the arm assembly that receives the tool includes a tool holder adapter clamp into which an adapter may be fitted to accept a wide variety of tools which the hobbyist may already own. The tool may be motorized or manual. A method of using the pantograph is also provided.
A carving assembly 10 for use in duplicating a blank or form. The carving assembly 10 includes stylus 112 and a tool holder 120 which are coupled together using a slidable carriage 14 to allow any movement of the stylus to cause a cutting tool 121 mounted in the tool holder 120 to move in the exact same manner. Carriage 14 is mounted upon a frame, assembly which permits sliding motion in two orthogonal directions 101, 102.
A hand drawing machine which includes two spring-loaded spools. Each spool includes a length of flexible material, and each length of material is attached to a rigid stick or rod. The stick, which may be adjustable, includes a pair of stylus holders. The stylus holders can hold a marker or a tracing pin. Each of the spools has a gear portion that meshes with the other gear portion of the other spool. When a marker or tracing pin is moved a corresponding movement is made by the marker in the other stylus holder. The machine allows for the tracing of an image or for simultaneously drawing two copies of an image.
