I’m not sure we’re that certain about that. It’s in the ‘study’ phase, yes? An interesting idea, but yet to be tried.
Is there a “twist” in your chain? I find my right chain has a greater propensity of getting fed back on itself and it has a slight twist in … starting a few inches from the end of the chain to about 2 feet later. This is the area that seems to want to ride back up into the sprocket during the calibration routine (it did get wrapped around the sprocket twice very early on). It doesn’t cause me issues because it never really feeds back that far back into the sprocket.
Try using the other end of the chain and see if that part might perform better.
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This might explain why I’m only seeing this on the left side of the Maslow… I’ll give it a shot tomorrow and see if it fixes it.
‘study’ phase, as in @bar built it and we are talking about ways to improve it. I think it’s almost certain to be in the final design for the next set that’s shipped. It’s just that big an improvement (and simplification of the build)
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Thanks for the video! That makes it way easier to see what is going on. I think the chain is just new and a little bit stiff. When it is extending like that without any weight pulling down on it it doesn’t have enough downwards force to pull it off the sprocket. I would expect the issue to go away once the sled is attached.
Would providing gentle tension on the chain while it is unwinding during that calibration step be an option?
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I hook the ‘stretchy string’ to the end with a paper clip after it gets free of the sprocket…
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I once had an issue similar to this on my bicycle. I was told by an old guy that it was because my chain was stiff. He instructed me to apply a light bending force on the chain, by hand, perpendicular to the direction that the chain bends. This is a bending force outward and inward from the face of the Maslow. This will loosen the chain up slightly, so that it is less stiff, and bends more easily. It worked on my bike.
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The gentle tension wasn’t helping but I’m thinking to add a bicycle derailer after the motor . First I’m gonna try some of the tips in this forum to see if it relaxes the chain a bit and see if that helps
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Update on what fixed the chain grabbing to the sprocket issue:
I found a pocket of sawdust trapped behind the sprocket on the motor. I just took an old toothbrush and brushed down all the sprockets and the chains to remove any sawdust that caught during the initial cuts. I’ll probably add a mod to my Maslow down the line where the chains rub up again a brush prior to reaching the motor to reduce this from happening
Thanks all for the great help and feedback!
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During calibration I found that new chain can be a little stiff. Mine was delivered and had a fairly heavy greasy oil on it, which after a day of calibration had mostly worn off on me and my clothing, but was still in the links. I thought about hitting it with WD40 (Rust-eze) to free things up a bit, but once the chains have been around the sprockets a few times they seem to move more freely.
I would suggest that if you’ve had a situation whereby your chain gets all tangled around the sprocket, it’s a good idea to inspect the chain for damage and kinks. I used to cycle 35 miles a day and as such got through chains at a fair old rate. If I’d had a chain slip under pressure it would usually render it screwed. It’d still work, but had a greater tendancy to skip. As such I have a box load of old chain, but all stretched and worn, so useless for the Maslow.
I noticed the other day that if I look at my chains parallel to the workpiece there is catenary sag not only in the direction of the bend in the chain, but also in the ‘non-bendy’ direction, albeit more slight, I also noticed that this was not consistent along the entire length, and it had a couple of very slight kinks. Having not had any sprocket disasters yet I think my chains are good, but may just need a bit of bedding in.
Loving the delrin attached to the motor housing, it’s solved an issue I was saving for tomorrow, thank you MrFugu.
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Just remember that WD40 is not lubrication, it just removes dirt, rust, old oil,… to get things going again, you need to lubricate again afterwards.
The WD stands for water displacement, and the 40 just means it was their 40th attempt at making it 
Must have some kinda lube in it because it contains fish oil!
WD-40 is mostly kerosene, the rest is unicorn oil and pixie dust. Buy it and PB by the gallon, when those fail it’s torch time unless it’s on warts or pythons. It’d probably speed up GC if sprayed in the right place.
Actually 50-50 ATF and acetone is reportedly much better than either, but will it attract fish?
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What should the counter weigh? Does it make sense to use the same weight as the sled?
Thanks
I’ve been using about 2 pounds on each chain because I had them on hand. That seems like plenty, less might work. If you use water-filled bottles it would be adjustable… in part it depends on the friction of the turning point where the cord hangs.
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you do not want the counter weights to be anywhere close to the sled weight.
the tension on the chain towards the sled MUST ALWAYS be higher than the tension
on the slack side, otherwise you can get into ‘interesting’ backlash issues.
Just don’t go there.
the only thing you are doing on the slack side is keeping the chain out of the
way and untangled. The minimal weight needed to do that is what you want.
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Thanks for the info.
How are your counter weights attached?