you don’t need a skirt on the top (the CG is below the bit so it will be stable
above the workpiece)
below the workpiece you can make an L-shape that attaches to the bottom
crossmember and slides in and out to be at the right level
the sides are harder to do, but it’s also not clear how much it’s needed. When
the CG of the sled goes off the edge, will it start rotating? or will the chain
to the other motor keep it flat (if the chain is above the CG, it should keep it
flat for a little distance)
so I think having the chain out a little further than required will mean you
don’t need a skirt on the side.
Hello, I haven’t received my Maslow yet but I wanted to share my folding design and ask for thoughts and suggestions. goals were to fit through a doorway and keep as true to the stock dimensions as possible. I was thinking of using two 1/4" plywood front and back to add rigidity without substantial weight. I have a used piece of 2 x 2 box tube and plan to use it to mount the motors. Anyway here it is. assuming the picture uploads…
that looks like it would work. how high up is the box tube from the bottom of
the workpiece? and how high up is the bottom of the workpiece from the floor?
most doors are 80" tall, so it looks like you coudl fit it through doors without
needing to fold it.
also, see the discussion on the ‘bottom feed’ whwer the chains go the othe
direction around the motors so that the slack is all in the center between the
motors, along the top beam
that means you don’t need the support on the bottom to go out past your
workpiece.
Thanks dlang. I’ll check out bottom feed.
the bracket holding the 2x2 is a little undefined as i wasn’t sure what the distance is. I figured I’d make those pieces after the parts arrive and i decide on a waste board material/thickness.
I don’t know how tall the motors are but I assume they would put it past 80" tall.
you want the shaft of the motors to be about 18" above the top of the work area, and you need to give room below the work area for the sled/bricks/dust collection hose before they hit the floor.
Some older interior doors are 78" tall, so be mindful of that. Also, depending on where you want to move your frame, door height may be the least of your worries. Having if fold as low as the design will help a lot for carrying it up or down stairs or putting in the back of a truck or van. Sure it’s overkill for merely going through a door, but being able to pick it up and move it is a lot easier than trying to shuffle it through the doorway.
The stairway to my basement is easy to walk down with headroom for a person 6ft tall, but a 4x8 sheet of anything barely makes it down there. Once you’re down there, the ceiling is ~7’6" and the ceiling in the entry way is an easy 10’. But those stairs are a pinch point for sure.
I would like to get mine ‘off the floor’ when not in use. I don’t have much room, but do like the idea of a full size machine. If I could ‘swing it to the ceiling’, it might help.
Seems like a bunch of people have trouble finding Unistrut (brand name, like calling facial tissue ‘Kleenex’). I don’t find that unusual if you’re looking at Lowe’s or HD. But electricians use that stuff by the ton (literally, as it weighs a lot) for hanging conduit, panels, fixtures, etc. Check your local electrical supply house, and ask for “thick” (1" nominal) or “thin” (1/2" nominal) strut. They will also have a mind boggling array of parts and pieces to fixture your strut. Most of what they have will be galvanized steel, have the elongated (oval) holes in the back, it will be a uniform size regardless of the brand they sell. Sometimes they will have double strut, essentially two 1" pieces welded together back to back. All the parts and pieces should be fairly consistent and work across the board.
I’ve been thinking of this very thing for when my kit arrives (tomorrow, I hope, yea!)
I’m thinking of the two vertical legs going to pinned hinges at the ceiling, legs cut to the appropriate length to get the setback angle, with an angled foot (with rubber pad?) to match the floor. I would attach steel cables near the feet, route the cable through two pulleys at the ceiling, then through one pulley at the top of the wall, down to a boat winch mounted on the wall. I would frame out a recess in the ceiling above the center of the spoil board, and set the sled in that location. Winch up the Maslow, and viola, disappearing Maslow!
You can get unistrut at menards stores in their electrical conduit section, if you’re located in the upper midwest area of the usa. They do keep it in stock at most stores.
At HD they call it Super Strut… they sell it in light and heavy duty, with the heavy duty selling fo about $20 / 10’ section. They do not have a lot of add-on stuff, unless you need 1/2” or larger bits and bolts.
Main issue with pulling it up to the ceiling is the weight. the 2x4’s alone weight around 75 lbs.
Here is an aluminum design weighing about 35 lbs. the 3 longest pieces in blue are 1.5" x1.5" channel and the rest is 1.25" sq tube 1/16" wall thickness.
Just insert tube into channel and drill a hole and bolt it together.
the shorter vertical cross braces can be the same square tube with tube nuts or you can use wood like 2x4’s. with dry wall screws. www.easternmetal.com is a good wholesale place. they sell aluminum sticks that are 24’ long so make sure you bring a saw to cut it down if you pick up in person.
A lot of people think you need to know how to weld to put a metal frame together, but it is fairly easy once you know a few tricks to bolt metal together and it is almost as strong.
My kit was delivered as expected on Saturday, I just need to retreive it. I have to wait until we get moved into our new house before I can insulate, drywall and a/c the garage, configure my workshop, set up Maslow, etc (the list is growing, for sure). I definitely want to work on a plan for pulling the machine to the ceiling, but I need to know dimensions for the space first. All in good time, of course. Perhaps it will be the first Maslow project I share. I’m not too worried about the weight, heavy duty lag bolts and eye screws, appropriately sized cables and pulleys will be my friends.
