Well I started building this frame four days ago and just completed the machine calibration. I like the unistrut idea (obviously). Thanks for the alternative!
I found that I had to use a piece of 2" (?) unistrut to stiffen up support for the sacrificial layer (which was warped). I placed it diagonally from top left to lower right and it helped make the whole frame more rigid - no side to side wobble.
11â6â x 8â3â framed with 2x4s and sheeted with 1/2â particle board. There is a 9â sled support top and bottom and the sides is about 20â due to me not wanting to screw with the table saw anymore. Iâm going to start with the motors as high and wide as possible. I bought an additional 10â of chain but not sure if thatâs enough or not because I havenât finished setup yet. Iâll work on the sled with metal kit from @dlang this week.
Plywood is best for moisture. Pressure treated plywood is available too. Be mindful of pressure treated lumber though. Itâs not usually kiln dried and tends to warp and twist more than regular lumber over time.
I donât think youâll need pressure treated if itâs inside a shed though.
make the top beam out of LVL or layered plywood, that is the part you have to
worry about warping in terms of accuracy, the rest of the fram just needs to be
close enough to straight that the sled doesnât have problems riding the high
spots and not cutting deep enough.
Wood is just a material. All material has defects. Itâs learning to work with them. When they build a house with those materials around you they push them into âstraight enoughâ.
I was thinking of a kind of torsion-box frame with lighter materials. Although thatâs not a very practical way. I like the wall-frame designs but for some reason the stock design wants more attention.
I already view the maslow as a panel saw substitute and it was a major part of my decision to purchase one, although a GC straight horizontal and vertical cut wizard (plug for a wizard add-on architectural mode or quicky gcode generator appâŚ) would be nice.
With the 1m/sec speed limit a spinning blade doesnât really add a lot other than a small reduction in kerf width. You can build a panel saw from electrical conduit and maslow cut parts, or a low budget version from a straight board and a couple clamps. Couple 2x4s on a 4x8 trailer makes a good base in the non-frigid months
Until that spinning blade gets pulled more from one side then the other, the blade either gets stuck and gets launched through the room at high speed, then it also adds excitement, running, shouting and blood everywhere, or in a vest case scenario, your workpiece is ruined. Look up circular saw kickback videos.
If you use a circular saw vertically, there is nothing holding it down, if you donât hold it.
If you use a normal handheld circular saw, itâs pulling the saw to the workpiece
(and unless you spend a lot of money, theyâre pretty heavy)
Itâs really unlikely to throw the saw any distance, especially if itâs hanging
from some sort of bracket (not the normal maslow style sled, because that can
rotate, which is not good for a circular saw)
kickback on a table saw is a real danger, that that normall results from the
wood getting pinched between the saw blade and the fence, and it shoots the wood
in the direction the blade is rotating.
for a panel cutter, the blade is rotating down, the pieces of wood are very
heavy, and so arenât going to go very far, the saw is very low power
compared to a table saw, and there is no fence to pinch the wood against.
Iâve never heard of a blade flying across the room from a circular saw or table
saw, let alone a panel cutter (unless someone has butchered them to remove all
blade guards)
Itâs probably been suggested before, but I was thinking about the possibility of using a series of pipes and rollers that would âentrapâ the sled so thereâs no way it can escape and at the same time, to solve a problem I currently have, eliminate the tilting of the sled due to CG issues. Something like as shown below (roughly). Blue rectangles represent a set of dual rollers. You could make a âuniversalâ sled that used some type of triangular kinematic linkage that you mount another sled to with either a router or a saw (as the job requires). The sled could also be designed to rotate and lock so you can go from horizontal to vertical cuts when using a saw.