Finally! Starting my build (wall mounted and hinged)

I finally started my wall mounted build of my Maslow this weekend. I haven’t made it that far in yet, but figured I’d post some pics in case anyone has some advice or warnings with anything that I have already done…

The plan is to have the Maslow stored in a vertical orientation when not in use and rotate it out to 10 degrees (or 15 if 10 is not enough). I have mounted the structural components of the frame, which consists of 2x4s screwed together to provide a backing for the spoil board. The spoil board will consist of a 4x8 piece of 1/2" MDF screwed onto the frame. The frame, as it stands now, is 6’-6" from the bottom of the vertical supports to the top, and 7’-4" wide to provide for a 4" overhang of the MDF on either side to accommodate clamps should I choose to use them. a 1/" piece of rigid foam will overlay the MDF (I’m still debating how the foam will be attached, but may just go with double sided tape.

There will be a 6" rim around the spoil board formed by a double thickness (the back portion of which will likely be routed out to save weight) of MDF. These rim pieces will be attached with bolts that can be loosened to allow shims to be placed on the bolts in order to allow the rim to match the thickness of the workpiece (assuming that a full 4x8 sheet is being used). In this way, the sled should be able to cut all the way to the edge of the workpiece without tipping.

The frame is mounted to the wall on a piece of 1/2" EMT conduit that spans the frame and is held up at three places by 5" pieces of 2x4 pocket screwed into the top plates of the wall. There is a small notch cut into these pieces to accommodate the conduit.

The motors will be supported by the 10’ piece of unistrut which is bolted to the frame with 1/2" bolts. I plan to attach my motors in a similar way to @mrfugu, including his brilliant relocation of the delrin roller. I will, however, be mounting my motor brackets to pieces of angle iron that are bolted to the unistrut, which will also allow for forward to back movement of the motors utilizing the slots in the motor brackets (M6 bolts fit very tightly in those slots and will hopefully work as desired).

I think that is more than enough talking for now. Here are some pics:

Here the frame is temporarily braced with a scrap piece of 2x4
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<https://photos.app.goo.gl/dwNOgjOqjnmqqt4f2>
East wall of the newly built/still in progress workshop, the table saw will not live there for good
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https://photos.app.goo.gl/IHLQO7wWa0pxqYA12
Similar view
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https://photos.app.goo.gl/voXs1VOEi1GONQa13
closeup of the notch in the pocket screwed wall blocks


https://photos.app.goo.gl/26PeR8H2rzol7JHe2
closeup of the conduit hinge

https://photos.app.goo.gl/atKyqORJxiGbLorA2

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you will need to be able to space that unistrut out quite a bit more to keep the chains parallel to the workpiece and attaching near the balance of the sled.

Yeah, that distance is accounted for with the angle iron I will be attaching to the unistrut in a similar way as @mrfugu’s implementation here UniStrut Frame designs
In my case, there will be angle iron attached to the front face of the unistrut, onto which the bracket will be mounted.

This is likely easier drawn, unfortunately I am not at home with access to Autocad at the moment. Maybe this will suffice:

Where the yellow is the framing, the black is the unistrut, the maroon is the angle iron, the green is the motor bracket, and the purple is the motor.

That said, I suppose it does depend on where the balance point of the sled winds up, but since I am planning a steel sled, I am hopeful that the balance point will end up being not more than a couple inches from the work surface, in which case that setup should work fine.

Out of curiosity, what kinds of balance distances in the z-axis are people finding?

I am anxious to get it put together, unfortunately full time work and commute coupled with small kids and all their activities doesn’t leave a lot of time to tinker in the workshop.

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Made some progress this week in mounting my motors and getting the 1/2" MDF (which will support a 1/8" MDF spoil board that will be double sided taped on) in place, as well as setting the angle of the frame to about 13.5 degrees.


I’m a little concerned about using 1/8" thickness angle, but I was all out of 1/4" thickness. If it flexes too much, I can replace it


with the 1/2" backer board and 1/8" spoil board, the placement of the sprocket ends up being 4-1/2" above the work surface with about another inch available in adjustment if I slide the motor mounts out.


The sprockets are right out at the ends of the 10’ unistrut, and can be moved out a little more (though the ceiling will start to interfere, so I’d have to move them down. Right now the motors are about 15" above the top of the 4x8’ work area. This image shows the frame in the vertical stowed position


In the working position.

20171217_145418
Supports to maintain angle. There is an 8 foot 2x4 connecting all three supports so they move as one.

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I managed to steal away to the mancave for a while during the festivities and got the frame built. I’m as yet undecided on how to ‘stand’ it, and may go for a version that hangs from the garage roof once I’ve worked out my ‘sweet’ angle. Like many, I have to get mine to fold away or else the garage door won’t open.
Having read the comments on many of the posts regarding frame warp, I decided to build a frame that is mortise and tenoned and use pocket screws to hold the joints fast. I don’t wish to glue it as I’d like the opportunity to take it apart if I need to move house! I hacked my design out of sketch-up:


I measures 3333mm x 2060mm (golden ratio - it just seemed right!) using 4"x2" and some 68mm x 38mm studwork I put the frame together leaving a lip upon which to sit sheet materials. I’ve used a 19mm sheet of OSB as a backing board and may layer this with something a little more router bit friendly. Then the workpiece will sit in front of that so that it just overhangs the lip, allowing sled to work the bottom of the piece.
I cut all joints to engineering stylee tolerance and they needed a mallet to drift them all together. Pocket screws have been used to ensure joints stay snug. The frame is very rigid and attempts to flex it have largely failed. The areas on which the motors can mount is about 450mm out and up from the top corners of an 8x4 sheet, so I have scope for wide and high motors.
At the moment it is free standing against the garage wall so that I can play with the angles, but ultimately I’ll likely hang it from the rafters as per Keith’s, with a means of tying it back to the wall so I can get the garage door open and take delivery of more of that lovely sheet material. If anyone would like more sketchup detail, let me know.

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@mcmiley

Nice work!

I really like this design. This is similar to what I have in mind. Would you mind dimensioning it and making a bill of materials? That way we could ballpark local cost.

Thank you

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Nice and well thought trough design! Mabrook! (oh sorry, that is congrats in arabic :slight_smile: )

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very nice.

are you planning to attach the motors to the angled pieces? or to the top beam?

you want to be able to space the motors out from the frame, so it would be nice
to have a 2x4 or piece of unistrut that you support out from the frame and have
the motors anchored directly to that instead of on the plywood mounts.

Okay, might take a day, I’m a bit hectic right now, but I’ll put together a materials list and dims. Regarding motor mounts, I’ve found a couple of large stainless 90deg brackets, that (providing I can drill them) will stick out from the diagonals, giving me adjustment for thickness of workpiece. These I figured would be more rigid and adaptable for a sliding adjustment in the future. I anticipate connecting to the diagonals, but if chain length permits I’ll probably attempt mounting to the frame, espcially if I need to work an oversized piece.
Triangles in your frame build will add significant rigidity, and help mitigate frame warp. Half lap joints and mortise and tenon, when cut well will also give you a sturdy frame.
For those not versed in lumber purchase, watch a few vids on the matter. There is some good advise on timber slection. I purchased my timber from Wickes (UK hardware store), a place I’d normally avoid for lumber, due to rubbish selection of warped, bowed, cupped firewood! But after an hour of rifling through the piles I eventually managed to pull just enough stright pieces to perform the build.
Spend some time on timber selection (even studwork) to ensure a split free, straight, untwisted, unbowed material, it’ll make your frame much truer, and the build experience will be less maddening.
I think my lumber came in at about £100 (UK), and that includes the two 6’x2"x4" I have remaining for securing it to the wall/ceiling. (I’ll endeavour to provide further detail tmrw). Hand full of pocket screws - pennies. Oh, that cost also included a 19mm and a 9mm 8x4 sheet of OSB, one as backing board, the other for testing and fun.
Thanks Gero, always nice to learn appraising terms in another language ;¬)

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Okay, apologies for the delay, here is the bill of lumber (all in mm):
3 @ 3600 x 38 x 63 - these form the three long horizontals.

2 @ 2400 x 46 x 99 - these are the two frame ends.
8 @ 2400 x 46 x 98 - these form the 5 verticals within the frame, the two diagonals and the top bar that supports the top of an 2440x1220 (8’x4’) sheet when placed on the lip of the panel ledge.

It’s difficult to get the dimensions to all show well, so it’s probably easier if I can make the sketchup file available, that way it can be closely examined and measured. It’s about 300Kb, so can I upload here?

1 @ 1220 x 2440 x 18 - The OSB backboard

1 @ 1220 x 2440 x 9 - a thin sheet of OSB for test and calibration and fun.

All up the list above cost about £80. I have a couple of other bit of lumber, not included above, that will be used to hang/support the frame, these were a pair of 2400 x 46 x 99 - I could have got away with the thinner studwork for this purpose possibly.
I’d had a good read around on here before starting, and decided this design would hopefully mitigate the warping issues. I’m awaiting my motors (UK customs won’t release until tax paid!) so haven’t yet got anything on which to report. Once running, I’ll report back.
I didn’t draw this up in Sketch-up, until I’d sourced the lumber. Then, knowing what I had to work with I put the Sketchup together.
I would urge people to follow a similar route as opposed to designing and then trying to machine the lumber to size - so much extra work. Don’t try and copy my design if you can’t get the lumber to match, you’ll spend ages, planing, and waste a load of lumber. To keep costs and time down, work out what you can get lumber wise, then put a design together based on that.

Let me know how best to make the SketchUp file available and I’ll happily provide.
Cheers,
Miles

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@mcmiley

Great write up. I appreciate you doing this for our community.

Thank you

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T’was a pleasure to be able to contribute.

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Hi,
I need to build my “Wall” thingy - you’rs looks great, have you made any “working” experience since you build it?

What would you change / improve?

Thanks for any update – I’ll add my revision of your’s as soon as mine is finished in the next weeks.

thanks for the idea/updates

peb

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Are you asking about how I hinged my frame?

„Wall Thingy“ - sorry for being a Little „flappsig“. i was Talking about the base you Build for operating the Maslow at the wall.

A lot of the Info is already in your descriptions, but at the Time of writing you perhaps did not forsee some of the things you would be changing / do different / improve now.

so i was asking about These …

peb

ah, ok. Unfortunately I haven’t had time to do much beyond getting the frame built and testing out the z-axis. I haven’t even made my first cuts or attached the skirt around the outside. So far, though, it seems like it will meet my needs.

One thing that I have been pretty interested in is the new horizontal slack chain take up that is being discussed in the 🌞 New Stock Frame Design 🌞 thread, though I don’t think I will implement it since I’ve already set up my chains.

I’ll keep your question in mind, though, as I proceed.

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I would like to see the sketchup file if you don’t mind.

If you are asking for a sketchup file of my frame, I did not make one. I think I have AutoCAD sketches, but I did not bother to completely model it, owing mainly to a lack of time.

I suspect, though, that you are looking for the impressive frame designed by @mcmiley

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Yes, i was refering to @mcmiley design, apologies for not being specific about that; i am still in the “which kind of frame” i’m going to build phase, while i get my machine and i am looking at all possibilities. Thanks @Keith.

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To kwith, I wanted to introduce myself. Im down rt 234 not ooo far from you. Name is Mike and I just got my kit. Didn’t see a way to contact you directly.

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