Hi all, I finally got a free day and have built the frame for my maslow, yay!
Looking at the frame at this stage is quiet impressive and has been a great experience.
I will be adding a support to the back of the waste board as it has a sight curve (waste board is 18mm mdf). I plan to use pulleys and weights for chain slack
I have a couple of questions i sure this awesome community can help with.
What are the crucial aspects of the frame that affect accuracy the most?
From the picture can anyone see anything of concern before i attach motors ect?
Again thanks for everyone who has posted to this forum as this has been the basis for all my info
Thank you. I have placed the top beam in the same location as detailed in bars bolt together frame. It is 100x50x2mm that i had handy and felt it would be quiet ridgid. The beams top edge is at the same height as the long leg and is 114mm away. Is that what you mean @savadious?
That looks like a nice build. The most important item is to assure an unchanging distance between your motors. The metal stud will be good for that. Second is avoiding flex in other directions. How much do those metal L-brackets supporting your top bar flex?
Thank you @jwolter i appreciate your advice😁. That is a great point, i had considered putting spacers on the top of L bracket to support top beam. It does feel quiet ridgid but I will recheck how much downward flex there is and maybe add a brace?
3 biggest factors IMHO #1 distance between motors was originally 10 ft but some have reported 12 ft gives better lower corner performance #2 distance motors are from the top of the plywood. Original distance was 18" but raising it to 30" will give better top center performance. #3 weight of sled, using heavy metal sled will keep center of gravity lower and give more stability to the sled.
good luck.
Are you sure that the L-brackets sticking out so far out will not interfere with the chains when cutting up toward the top of the work piece in the corners?
Thanks @aluminumwelder for the info. Starting to get a clearer picture of things to look at for possible tweaking in the future. Luck would have it the the top beam is long enough to try both those distances between motors but i only have stock chain at this stage.
Thank you @DakotaJim for your reply. Yep i think you are right about the brackets having to much over hang. We cut them back today. I read somewhere on the forum it would be handy to have top beam adjustable for different thickness material. Would that be reffering to moving beam backwards not forwards?
I was thinking if you are dealing with switching between like 1/4 inch stock to 1 1/2 inch stock it might be easier to set the top beam to the thickest material and just use different thickness styrofoam insulation sheets to move the stock you are cutting out to get it parallel with the motor and chains. Of course you would need to have the space to keep the unused thicknesses when you are cutting the thickest stock. Possibly behind the frame. Just a thought.
how rigid the motor positions are relative to each other
what the min and max tension on the chains are (see the spreadsheet at
) This is affected by the dimensions of the machine relative to the workpiece. a
small workpiece in the center of a stock maslow will have far better accuracy
than the same workpiece off to the side.
making sure the chains are hooked at or just above the balance point of the sled
(in the Z direction)
making sure the chains are parallel to the workpiece so they don’t try to climb
the sprockets.
Thank you for all the input guys much appreciated. I have modified my frame alittle since post and have been able to cut some simple signs with very resonable accuracy. So so happy with my decision to get a maslow
I plan to make a post regarding my setup to date and the hurdles i incouted along the way.
Again many thanks to those who offered advice and the maslow community
