Pantorouter made from steel

A few days ago, Kuldeep Singh, from India, posted this picture on the woodgearsc.a facebook page with the caption:

"pantorouter made from steel"

I thought this was an interesting machine, asked a question, and Kuldeep posted more pictures. I figured my non-facebook audience would be interested in seeing this machine as well, so I asked if I could post it on the site.

From that first picture, it looks like the frame is welded straight to the router. That didn't make much sense - routers are usually made from aluminium, so I asked how he attached the router:

I turn pipe from scrap and put it on router body. Weld on 4 pieces of 12 mm thick and 22 mm wide steel strip. Just use two screws (you can see black mark) use your router for daily use, or put your router inside pipe again and tighten 2 screws and use it for the pantorouter.

"This welding jig my friend made for me on his Japanese CNC milling machine to make sure no error in drilling and to keep it 90 degrees."

I put the pipe on this solid piece and put it inside the jig. Then I weld on 4 steel pieces 12 mm thick and 22 mm wide. After welding I drill the holes in the steel pieces.

This way distortion from welding will not matter and I can have perfectly aligned holes.

Inside the pipe you can see a solid steel piece which has same outer diameter as the router. I made a 6mm hole to keep it centered.

For the template, I use the idea from the Leigh FMT jigs. I use 6mm bushing for the operating lever where I can insert a 6mm shaft for mortise...

...and for the other side I use bearings. Same as your idea for tenons.

This way i don't need to change template -- one template can make the mortise and tenon.

I use two spring to keep pantorouter light to operate.
For the plunge direction slide I used 4 12 mm linear bearings which cost me, including linear shaft and side support, $60. On the table you can see 4 slots which I will use for toggle clamps, but in the video I didn't use them.

I still need to improve the look of my pantorouter.
Sorry for my poor english so please correct the spell.
Once again thanks for this great idea.

Matthias comments:

I like the way the guide bearing slides, and the template slides up and down. It's tempting to integrate those features into my design, but it would make the machine more difficult to construct.

This pantorouter was built in 2012. Kuldeep has since made a business out of making pantorouters for people out of metal.

Assembling the 2018 pantorouter

You can buy a pantorouter at:
pantorouter.com