Question on New-Hermes Pantograph Engraver

Hi,

I have a New-Hermes IRX-III engraveograph, not sure if anyone here is familiar with these or could point me in the right direction.

I am giving it to the local school's shop class for the students to use. I need some information on the proper setting of the adjustments.

There are three sliding scales on the pantograph, I have figured out that the two scales on the swing arms represent the size ratio and (I assume) should be set the same.

I can't figure out the correct use of the rack and pinion slide and scale at the back. It obviously moves the entire pantograph arm fore and aft, but there must be some formula or chart to arrive at the correct setting to keep everything centered and lined up?

Sorry for the long winded post.

Thanks,

Mark

Might this help? It seems to go into setting the arms, assembly and such. The times I've played with one, I tended to just grab a character with a straight back and use that to set the ratios to what I wanted.

http://shorinternational.com/EngravoInstr.htm

Alan

All three scales should be set to the same number, which is the ratio between the stylus movement and the cutter movement.

Larry

Vanice,I have a Hermes,and never knew that even the back scale needs to be set the same as the 2 scales on the arm. I'm certainly going to follow your advice,but cannot see how that back scale affects the reducing action since it is not part of the arms,if you see what I mean. P.S.,I just spoke to our engraving shop,and they verified your statement,L.V..

The back scale does not affect the ratio. It affects the position of the cutter and stylus, which is then optimized for the ratio that is selected on the other two scales.

In other words, the engraver will still operate at the correct ratio if the back scale is set to a different ratio. The letters will be true to the shape of the master type. But it will operate better if the back scale agrees with the ratio settings. If the front two ratio scales are set to different numbers, the shape of the engraved letters will be distorted.

Larry

I concur with the other guys. What you're calling the back scale doesn't seem to change the scale or proportion of the engraving. It appears to move the center of the engraving in proportion to the scale change, to keep the bottom edge of the text constant. This way, you can change the scale of the text in the middle of a line, and it will all line up at the bottom edge. At least, that's how it appears to work on mine.

My New Hermes is an unusual one. I haven't found a model number on it, and I haven't seen another like it. It's on a full metal cabinet base, with a large cast iron T-slotted table. The entire head and template table assembly cranks up vertically on a 3" steel column. Items up to 12" thick can be bolted to the table and engraved upon. The "back scale" is up over the top of the two pantograph arms. The whole thing weighs about 500 lbs. The template table is 10" x 24". The scales indicate that it will actually reduce to 100:1 (!) although I've never tried it that setting. I usually use it in the range of 8:1 to 12:1.

It was in an aerospace plant sometime in the past, and I'm guessing was made in the '50's or '60's. I picked it up here in Los Angeles area about 6 years ago for $500. It took some learning and tweaking, but it's been a very useful machine. I use it to engrave text and logos on brass nameplates for my musical instruments.

A tip for New Hermes owners: For the drive belts, I've found that silicone O-rings work very well. I found some 1/8" dia (cross section) x 14" dia O-rings at the surplus store which fit. The silicone (blue) rings seem to last indefinitely. I've had one set on there for several years with no problems. Buna or Viton rings will fail quickly.

Bruce Johnson