How Does
How Does a Wood Carving Duplicator Work?
The Duplicator
-
A wood carving duplicator might be considered a cheat sheet for woodcarvers. Instead of creating something by free form or pattern, the word carving duplicator allows the artisan to replicate an object's shape in the form of a wooden carving. This is done by three-dimensionally tracing of the original object with a mechanical stylus, whose movement triggers the exact same movement of a router. If the stylus moves up the original object at a 45-degree angle, so does the router on the wood.
The Concept
-
One way to illustrate how this works is to attach two equal-length pencils at opposing ends of a ruler, with each pencil perpendicular to the ruler. Take a large sheet of paper and draw a small picture on one half of the paper, and leave the second half blank. Place the paper, picture side up, on a tabletop. Hold the ruler over the paper, keeping the ruler parallel to the tabletop. Trace the picture with one pencil. If you keep the ruler parallel to the table, the second pencil will duplicate the picture you are tracing. The wood carving duplicator is a similar concept, yet instead of a one-dimensional drawing, it traces a three-dimensional object. Instead of a pencil, it uses a carving tool, such as a mechanical router.
Uses
-
Wood carving duplicators can be used to make sculptures and items such as wooden guitars. As the stylus traces the original guitar, the duplicator's corresponding carving tool replicates the motion and cuts away wood, revealing a new shape that matches the item traced. If the carving and the original object are rotated simultaneously during the process, at 360 degrees, all sides of the original can be duplicated.
eHow Article: How Does a Wood Carving Duplicator Work?
