Current recommendations

The question is where to pin it? I’m struggling with the options.
The “No Judement” category does not seem the right place, nor does “Globally”.
Should I change the category to Wiki and pin it there?
Suggestion are most welcome. :man_shrugging:

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Wherever you think it’ll get the most views and contributions, I’ll defer to your recommendation.

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I pinned it at the top of ‘Hardware’ as I guess that it fits there best.
For the wiki it does not qualify, as we have many variations that would needed to be compared with each other to receive ‘facts’. I think this post will be more of users sharing opinions and observations.

One example:
With the same motor distance over the sheet, a 12ft top beam has an advantage over the 10ft, as you get better results in the lower corners. The con is that you need longer chains (not sure if the new suppliers have addressed this). So if you have your kit already, you need to buy extra chain. Is this something that be should recommended then?

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These are good points and questions. I’ve recently moved my frame where 12ft (unfortunately) won’t fit. Great “recommendation” but “not recommended” for my situation! However (for example) mine could use the recommendation of temporary bungees hooked, monitored, and released from bottom corners if cuts are expected to be in the danger zone.
Everyone has different needs but menu style like the default frame and it’s counterparts would be cool. It could then be “default” and not “current recommendations”.
I’m kinda thinking out loud here but it’s difficult to articulate. For instance the default frame has a 10’ top beam even though some would recommend 12’ due to the real problems it solves. The question (in development) is “What does the evolution of default look like?”
The default frame, as a perfect example, has changed in the past! :wink:

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I haven’t even gotten my machine up and running yet, but I think the bungees for taking up chain slack should be abandoned in favor of a couple more (half?) bricks and maybe another couple pulleys to use a (constant) weight to pull the chain slack. I’ve also seen designs that drop the weight off the back. Maybe I gave up too soon, but I spent about 30 minutes futzing with the thin bungees in the kit and concluded it was not ever going to work well.

As I’m getting my machine going, I’d also like to see a pinned list of other “highly recommended” modifications to the default setup. If 12’ top board (and longer chains) is necessary for accurate cuts across a full 4x8 sheet then that should be in the default plans (and the chains in the kit). Similarly for a “skirt” around the board.

I guess I’d much rather see the default be a bit larger and more complex to build with notes on where you can take shortcuts (e.g. 10’ top board is fine for working area 3’x6’) than to build a basic machine and find out that it only works “ok” and have to go digging here to make really work.

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I have no problems with the top bugees just to let you know.:grinning: Also I’ve never had an issue ( lower corners inaccuracy) but more weight just pulls down and the reports (from those with problems) sounded like it needs more tensioning in the downward diagonal direction. I personally hope I never have to go through the corner bungy rigamarole! :rofl:

@SuperCharger619, this is great discussion. As a fellow newb I quickly started asking the same thing (need to compile latest best practices). What I’m realising is that, as others have said above, there are so many variations since this is such a diy project (not much “default” about my set up, which doesn’t work very well yet!).

@madgrizzle has done an excellent job curating wiki content. I feel like that is the place to capture facts and best practices. Funny I was just chatting with him about starting a sled wiki.

What I think might be helpful is to create a topic about a specific part of the machine, communicate that you are trying to get community consensus on the subject and involve those that are knowledgeable (search the forums for that subject and you’ll start to see who the senior members are). Once there is agreement, the content could be moved to a wiki.

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I really wish I had watched this video before starting. I wound up buying a Dewalt router that doesn’t have the screw adjustable height. Maybe I can still return it.

You may also want to look at a c-beam z-axis before you return it. There are a bunch of examples in the forums, and I for one, can say that the headaches I had with trying to get the rigid router base to work consistently were completely overcome by using a c-beam axis.

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@Dean_Putney , I highly suggest that you consider @Keith 's suggestion. I’m in the Ridged z club. Haven’t taken the leap but need rid of some headaches. :grin:

I have both a Dewalt on a C beam and the stock Ridgid router that they suggest, both cut great. However, I will say that it takes a little more time and know how to get the C Beam to work. But once you do, I think it is a much better option. I have been able to get another motor and my C Beam is now probably 3-4 times as fast on the Z axis as my Ridgid. It is also more reliable, there are a couple of flaws with the Ridgid router that many people have found fixes for here on the forums. (here is a link) In the end I suggest you do what you are most comfortable with, if you can get the ridgid you can always turn that into a C Beam later, whatever you think is best for you. Hope this helps.

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You can also get huge speed boost with the c-beam just using the stock motor since most of the lead screws have an 8mm lead as opposed to the 2.3mm lead of the rigid base. You can see my set-up and video of the speed here

That thread also contains links to all the parts I bought to make it.

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This is great information, thanks all! I think I may try to keep the Dewalt and go with the C Beam approach. Especially if I can get/make a mount that allows me to easily remove the router from the sled and use it as a hand router again, this sounds promising.

Here is a link to a post I did awhile back about my long trek with a Dewalt and C-Beam. It might be helpful just to see, I thought I had the mounts somewhere on there but I may not have. I can share those on there too if you think they would be useful.

What is the significance of the gear reduction belt here? Is that relationship/speed something programmable into the CAM software?

are you asking about my setup? If so, I did choose the gears so as to increase the speed of the axis. The relationship is set up in GC as the lead of the z-axis. The lead is the distance traveled by the z-axis for each rotation of the motor, so by using a 2:1 ratio I effectively double to speed of the axis by that gearing alone. You could also try a 3:1 ratio and make it that much faster, which I think someone has tried.

I’ll just add this link here to this post, as it sort of matches:

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I think it does. Is it not possible to pin this post to the top of the topic (I know you pinned it to the top of the hardware category)? This is what I see:
image

I need to read more about pinning in discourse :frowning:
Edit: Quote from how-can-i-fix-or-pin-posts-inside-a-topic “There is no way to pin replies. I suggest adding a first reply and editing it to taste, or editing the bottom of the first post.” Edited the first post…

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