I’ve got a Maslow4 on order and I’ve been thinking about the frame, which I want to be angled so it folds up against the wall when not in use. To cut a full 4x8 sheet the anchor points need to be on an 8x12’ rectangle, and a frame that big is going to take up a lot of space and be expensive to build as well. In addition, if it is made of the same materials, a larger frame is going to be less stiff and the belt mounts will flex more under load than a smaller frame.
I was planning to build a torsion box frame for stiffness, but an 8x12 frame would need 6 4x8 sheets of plywood to skin it front and rear, and that will cost nearly $200 for the plywood alone.
So I came up with an idea that might combine the rigidity of the basement floor with the space saving quality of an angled frame.
Suppose you build a wooden frame angled off the wall at 15°, but only build it 4’ x 8’. Then anchor the belts to two points lagged to the concrete wall the frame is mounted on and to two points on the concrete floor. If you locate the mounting points correctly then the belts will be aligned with the surface of the frame at the correct offset. This way, the concrete foundation takes the loads and the frame just sits there. It doesn’t see much of a load at all and so can be built lightly. Plus if you build it 4’ x 8’, on the edge surfaces you can mount adjustable rails that serve as outriggers, allowing the router to run right over the edge of a 4x8 sheet of plywood. A lightly built 4x8 frame might save $200-300+ over an 8x12 frame skinned with plywood front and back.
A 4x8 frame will save a ton of wall space that can be used for other things. Because the frame only has to support the work and not the loads from the belts, I think it can be a simple 2x4 frame with the spoil board providing additional rigidity by being screwed to the frame
The 89" dimension in the sketch below is only approximate since I don’t actually know the offsets for the belts from the work surface. I’m sure they are greater than what I drew so getting 96" should be possible.
The belt mounting points will be tricky because of the angles, and the ones on the floor may be trip-and-fall hazards.
I still think that this is an absolutely fantastic idea.
The tricky (but absolutely solvable) part to me seems to be what the anchor points look like since the belts won’t be joining the surface at 90 degrees.
good idea. use a 3 way laser to get the alignment perfect and maybe a piece of steel cable with a loop at the end, or belt attachement, to minimize the angle difference
Eye bolts in the floor and wall are what I’m thinking at the moment, but I would like to make them adjustable so I can make sure the belts are parallel to the table, to minimize the error caused by a non-parallel belt when the router is close to that corner.
The box frame approach crossed my mind as well. I made a quick sketch for a plywood frame. The one in the image can be cut from a single sheet of 1220x2440 18mm ply. it’s 4 identical frames thatcan be joined(and taken apart) with m8 bolts and nuts. I could not find the time to actually build and test it but I would imagine that this ply rib structure combined with a spoilboard (which you’ll need anyway) should give sufficient strenght and rigidity.
I built something very similar to this for my current Maslow a few years back. Works really well, nice and rigid. Although I covered the whole thing in 18mm / 3/4" framework ply for rigidity / spoil board.
A couple of thought here. I am in the same situation waiting for my M4 that I just purchased, so I am trying to figure out the frame.
When the sled moves to the edge of the 4x8 sheet being cut, does the center of weight of the sled come into play and tend to tip the sled as the router bit reaches (and possibly passes over) the edge of the 4x8 sheet? If so is it advisable to have support level with the top or bottom (where the bricks are) of the sheet (say 1/2 inch deep to match a 1/2 inch thick plywood sheet) to keep the sled level?
Along the same line this layout as shown would another issue as the sled starts to overhang the upper edge of the 4x8 sheet and might run into the supporting upper wall causing it to misalign. This depends upon the depth of the support frame, or the angle of the frame (15 degrees) or if you put those “adjustable rails” at the upper edge. Thoughts?
I am in Canada and 6 4x8 sheets of 1/4 inch plywood or mahogony to just skin the frame would run me $200 easily, so something more substantial for the frame is also not part of my currently planned budget.
I’m thinking of adjustable rails on the outside of the 4x8 frame that will be adjusted level with whatever sheet of plywood I’m cutting at the time, to allow the router to go off the edge of the plywood while cutting. I’m not sure what you mean by ‘bricks’ - the M4 doesn’t use them as weights like the earlier versions.
The distance from the edge to the wall, in the plane of the work surface, is 14.9" as I’ve drawn it, and since the sled is 390mm / 15.35" in diameter, if the sled goes 1/2" past the edge, it extends 0.5*15.35" + 0.5" = 8.18" past the edge, so we’re good. The thickness of the plywood being worked (which I didn’t draw here) increases this distance - 1/2" plywood extends the distance another 0.5/cos15° = 0.77"
As far as skinning it goes, I don’t plan on skinning the 4x8 frame, as all the belt loads will be taken by the concrete foundation. I do intend to screw down the spoil board to the frame in a number of places, and that will add plenty of rigidity.
I have a question that probably only @Bar can answer. You mentioned once that the M4 does correct for changes in Z height in terms of its effect on the distance to the anchors.
What assumption do you make in the software about the Z- height of the attachment points for the ends of the belts? Are they all a certain fixed distance above the plane of the worksurface, or do you assume that at Z=0 (or some other height) the belts are all parallel to the work surface? If the latter, then each belt attachment point would need to be a different height above the plane of the work surface, and I would need to install the sled in the same orientation each time, to maintain maximum accuracy.
Yes, this does happen, but only quite close to the edge. The last 1/2 inch (15mm) or so you start to get a bit of tip and as the router bit leaves the wood entirely it will fall off the edge. A skirt is a good idea, but much less critical than in the previous version.
An adjustable skirt that matches the height of the wood you are cutting sounds like a lot of work. I’ve just been using a finger to keep it stable if I want to cut all the way to the edge which is a hack for sure but also free
As a newbie to Maslow I find myself a bit confused about features and changes between the various earlier versions. For example I read some things about cutting and building a sled for the router which also talked about using bricks to hold the sled down and was corrected in the forums that Maslow 4 does not have bricks.
Is there a place in the forums or elsewhere that I can do some reading and understand the evolution of the current version? It helps that you are now starting to release Maslow 4 documentation, but that doesn’t give me a historical perspective.
Alternatively I could just ignore the past, and try to proceed to understand the latest version.
Sorry to distract you from your work getting the Maslow 4 units out the door.
That’s a great request. I would love to do a video walking through each of the versions that are out there to compare and contrast what’s different and what’s the same and why…unfortunately there’s no way I’m going to be able to make something like that until all of these are shipped out
It’s an excellent suggestion that I will try to get to when I have the chance. I’m sorry there isn’t somewhere that I can point you which has the whole history clearly laid out.
The documentation on our website now should have everything that you need for the current version (let me know if anything is missing), but it doesn’t have the historical context.
A couple of thought here. I am in the same situation waiting for my M4 that I just purchased, so I am trying to figure out the frame.
When the sled moves to the edge of the 4x8 sheet being cut, does the center
of weight of the sled come into play and tend to tip the sled as the router
bit reaches (and possibly passes over) the edge of the 4x8 sheet? If so is it
advisable to have support level with the top or bottom (where the bricks are)
of the sheet (say 1/2 inch deep to match a 1/2 inch thick plywood sheet) to
keep the sled level?
yes, very much so. note there are no bricks on the m4
Along the same line this layout as shown would another issue as the sled
starts to overhang the upper edge of the 4x8 sheet and might run into the
supporting upper wall causing it to misalign. This depends upon the depth of
the support frame, or the angle of the frame (15 degrees) or if you put those
“adjustable rails” at the upper edge. Thoughts?
