Perhaps my google hand isn’t as strong as it once was but, I cant seem to find a quality Layman’s tutorial on all software/hardware/operations of maslow.
I’m a complete beginner to the world of cnc, maslow, cad, software, etc. bought a maslow and its been sitting in its box for a year+ (which is killing me). with how unbelievably caring and helpful the entire maslow community has been to me in the past, I’m starting to consider that maybe I’m slow or just plain dumb.
I’ve found it difficult to completely understand how/when/why with this endeavors software/setup/operations. In nearly every other field of interest of mine or manual labor I’ve desired to complete, I’ve been able to effortlessly view easy to follow breakdowns of almost anything with; troubleshooting and more via video. Unless my online browsers are fighting against me being able to find such content, I’m completely blown away how no one has posted a complete video/web-series to youtube or other platform with, lessons from “unboxing to paint brushing” of even the simplest of maslow projects (software/hardware).
any suggestions? any true laymans help? I thank any/all in advance, I appreciate your time & consideration!
Hi Bill,
I see you joined the forum in Nov. 2017; early days! Welcome back to the forum. Were you waiting to open the box till you feel comfortable with everything? If you haven’t looked in awhile, the wiki category has a lot of really good content.
Videos. I do believe there are a lot of youtube videos. I could be wrong but I doubt that they are as detailed as you have requested. I have not watched any of these:
Aug. 30th cant come soon enough…sure hope maynard and the boys arent bullshitting!
i reserved my maslow a week after seeing it online…problem is, i have not a single second of anything cnc. self taught woodworker, former touring drummer and thought i could catch on quick.
unfortunately, life happens and family have caused me to lose my way. I was under the impression that; i was fairly “quick/bright”.
but the forms of media ive found (the last time I checked) have left the impression that one would need to spend an incredible amount of time and money to figure it all out. I was told id be producing cnc works for under $1000. instead, ive had a $1000+ paperweight.
im big on self accountability and im sure its mostly my own faults/laziness but, ive never had such issue finding resources nor easy to follow video and understanding such resources. like i said, maybe its me…id like to believe it is not
NOT YOU. I didn’t know anything about cnc or 3D printers or anything like them. This has been a challenge for me. Calibration is difficult but otherwise its a fun diy project. What is also a learning curve is designing your parts digitally (CAD software) and then creating toolpaths and gcode for the maslow (CAM software). Some do more tinkering than cutting, some use it for business.
This is true.
I haven’t been around here for very long but kits are in the $500 range. Did you buy other things with it? Have you thought about building a frame?
3d printing is on my list too, dying to print a “matthias wandel pantorouter”
after the ridgid router, bits, and such id imagine ive spent a 1000+
no clue with cad/cam/gcode, ive always been pc savy but so far… not savy enough
ive read a lot of frame problems and have wanted to build a frame only once…potential laziness again but the past year ive been far from financially stable and kept reading folks pulling their hair out with frame and calibration
No, nothing helpful to see there. Just some captured bugs that have been squashed by now.
Search Youbooze for “maslow cnc”, there are at least 1 or 2 setup videos out there.
Yes, just get started! Learning by doing. If you have any doubts along the way, just ask for opinions here in the Forum. Main thing about the frame is that you make the top-beam rock solid (no flex) and level.
If you would find a 10-12 ft bed-frame, you could even run a Maslow on that
No matter how much info you get beforehand, there is a good chance that you will do modifications anyway.
(my frame 3 mods, running the 4th sled).
It’s not you. I’ve found this frustrating as well and I’ve spent lots of (mostly enjoyable) hours trying to extract the information from the forums. The challenge I’ve found is that the enthusiasm of the active members combined with the desire to advance the design and approach in almost every direction has made this a challenging moving target. And, more often than not, questions end up being answered with “well it’s kind of like this but it’s different for everyone as no one has an identical setup”. It’s not meant to be discouraging but it definitely slows things down when you’re trying to get started. I think the folks that had the best luck largely plowed ahead and got it working and then tweaked it.
Being a big fan of measure twice and cut once, or not wanting to build it and un-do it and do it over again, I’ve struggled to piece together a solid checklist that I can be confident in. Including knowing what I should expect for accuracy. I think I’m suffering from analysis paralysis trying to get to a best/most current approach so I don’t duplicate work - but I have learned a lot along the way and hopefully made a few contributions too.
That being said, the team over at MakerMadeCNC have done some stuff in the direction you’re looking for on their blog. You’ll need to scroll down to the bottom as the latest info on finishing the sled is at the top, but this was the closet thing I’ve found to fairly recent instructions all in one spot: https://www.makermadecnc.com/category/build-and-setup/
Just be aware that their kit is more recent and may not be exactly the same as yours, but I suspect it is a pretty good starting point for documented steps.
-Jeff
PS - Video would be awesome but since most people don’t have a second one, it’s pretty hard to take video during the assembly of the first one as it spans multiple days and multiple trips to the forums and to look things up, I think it’s just been too big a task for a new user to video document. Which is a shame, I think most people do reach for a setup video first these days, YouTube has been a godsend that way for many other things.
You may find this frame guide helpful - it is very thorough and well photographed and should be fast and easy to assemble. I am intending to build this one to start with the exception of probably using my pockethole jig to help assemble it a bit faster:
Nice. The router I inteded for the Maslow is a CanadianTire Maximum unit that others on the forum have used successfully but I also have (and LOVE) my Makita RT0700 and am tempted to us it instead, although I hate to not have it for other uses around the shop. That being said, I have the full plunge base kit for it (ordered it, most places seem to only sell the basic sleeve version) so I may be able to easily remove it and use it in the basic sleeve or other bases and leave the plunge base on the Maslow if I go that way…
One final thought on where I am… I’ve pretty much decided to stop trying to figure it all out before hand. I’m going to finish re-organizing the garage today and made space to build the frame and just go with Bee’s 80/60 frame, more or less.
I’d like to use a 12 foot top beam, but I don’t have an easy way to move such a long one, so I think I’m going to just go with 10 foot for now and be as careful as I can. I don’t weld so I’m going to have to go with wood, I think trying to use metal (for me) will up the complexity and potential for problems. Plus, I don’t have longer chains to use a 12 foot beam yet.
Practically speaking I think my sweet spot is 42" x 78" of cutting surface since a sheet that size fits in my XC90 SUV without leaving the gate open. I did make a gate extender and have an elegant method of putting longer (but not wider) sheets in, leaving the tailgate open, but realistically I think I can get most things done without having to resort to larger material. Also, if I reduce my cutting area to that sweet spot, I believe I will stay away from the most common accuracy constrained areas. TBD.
For everything else I have one of the last run stock kits that has also been sitting for a year (life, career changes, a house move and then struggling to consolidate information as you said).
Haven’t delved too deeply in to g-code and the software side but have gotten more comfortable doing 3D designs in SketchUp (although far less than ideal for CNC since it isn’t scalable vector based). I was largely settled on moving to the free hobby license of Fusion360 but Bar has nudged me towards the free OnShape service that is web hosted, and I need to take a closer look. But I need not worry about my designs yet, I’d like to get the the point of cutting the simple Maslow logo first.
Speaking of that, can someone confirm what sample gcode files are included in the software download? Is that Maslow “M” in there or do I need to get it from the community garden. It might be a nice idea to have that and a few things like a growth chart or some other widely applicable project included as potential first cuts. Keyring holder or phone charging tray or something small and handy perhaps…
This is a fantastic development. Thanks for making this happen.
How do you ensure the assembled piece is the desired length? Is it as simple as there are 12’ and 10’ holes identified on the joining C piece between your two 6’ lengths and you use the appropriate holes and shazam?
i still have original frame and set up and i hsve cut some really neet things dont get caught up in all the extras and stuff till you get going then uprade things here is my latest project almost complete and as i said all original
It would be really cool to cut something like that with the maslow.
No, nothing helpful to see there. Just some captured bugs that have been squashed by now.