Tool gloat / project

[Chuck Stone]

Picked up an old pin router. Do I NEED one?
Well, no ..
Can I USE one? Heck, yeah. Especially for the price.
But it had some rust problems. So I took it apart and
sandblasted everything then put some primer on it.
This is the first coat of paint, should look pretty decent.

I can even engrave with "V" bits for signs, but do I do signs?
I could..
Already had offers from 2 luthiers on it. Everyone else seems to
have moved on to CNC. But the speed factor and repeatability
bring several projects to mind.. some that I've had on the back
burner for years..

The yellow spots are from the rain .. it got a few drops on it when
I carried it from the truck into the shop. It started turning color
before the raindrops even dried..
Gonna be a fun project, but I'm torn between selling it or keeping it.
pin router.jpgDSCF1806.jpgDSCF1813.jpg

[Scott Shepherd]

Chuck, I'd say "Great find", but I have no idea what it is or does Never heard of or seen one before, so off to Google I go!

[David Somers]

Scott, I am guessing, but I think it is for routing pins. But other than people with powerful magnifying glasses, the only folks who would ever enjoy the results are the angels who dance on the heads so I am not sure why you would do that? Though if rumor is true there would be a veritable slug o' angels who would enjoy your efforts!

<grin>

Dave

[Dan Hintz]

Steve, think of it as a very accurate router where the material moves, not the router. The "pin" is your template follower.

[Dee Gallo]

So do you make your templates with the laser? hahaha!

[Chuck Stone]

So do you make your templates with the laser? hahaha!

Absolutely! MDF .. scrap acrylic .. even the 3mm birch. They'll all work as templates.

Pin routers have mostly been replaced by CNC now that it's inexpensive. But for production
shops the pin router was king. glue or screw your template to the work piece and the pin
follows the template. Great for repeatability and mass production. Furniture manufacturers
still use them, but the really big ones.

[Mannetjie Botha]

Hi just like to add on the pin router, great to work with. I made my own and use it to cut gears with from a laser cut template I can cut a 200 mm gear in two passes in 10 minutes with a 2 mm router bit with no edge burn using 6 mm baltic birch how many lasers can match that. Regards to all Mannetjie

[Keith Colson]

Would a pin router cut stainless sheet or would that be asking too much? I would like to be able to cut metals and use my laser to make the templates. If yes I should look out for one.

Cheers
Keith

[Chuck Stone]

Would a pin router cut stainless sheet or would that be asking too much? I would like to be able to cut metals and use my laser to make the templates. If yes I should look out for one.

I haven't cut metal with a router.. and there's nothing special about the router itself.
It's a Bosch router, but you can use whatever router you want, just get a collar to fit it.
So .. if you could use a plunge router on sheet metal freehand, no reason you couldn't
do it here.. I would think that an end mill might be better than a carbide router bit, and
you need a pin to match the bit/mill. This is theory only for me, I've never done it.

I'd probably sandwich the sheet metal in sacrificial plywood, too.
I've seen some videos of pin routers in action and they're pretty cool.
I'm still in the cleanup stage and just getting ready to put it back
together to test it.. we'll see how cool it is