Free weight tension system. Reduce problems due to bungee cords losing tension

How much clearance is there between where the cables and chains cross over each other? I am assuming the cable is behind the chain.

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I had a design of running the cables down at the center but it was a mess. It needed two pulleys per line.
About the weight. I was guessing. For a while I had a 8x8x16 cement block that weight around 30 pounds and it worked great so I went with the same. I’ll give using less weight a try. The reason I do not use the blocks any more is because I dropped and broke one of them. Besides the rounds weights look cooler

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Also, could you take a wider angle picture of your frame so we could see how it looks set up?

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if you go to a auto repair shop you can get the old metal disk drums for dirt cheap maybe free and they are nice and heavy. you can get pullys from china for $1 each


haven’t used them, but look like they will work.

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Gosh darn it, I just recycled mine 5 days ago when I was cleaning garage to make room for the Maslow :laughing::roll_eyes::laughing:

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Thanks, I will second the request for more pictures if not to much of an imposition.

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what is that silver hardware in the center where the two chains cross each other? Looks like a wood screw with a big washer and perhaps the two idler gears behind it??

Yeah, I thought about how cool it would be to incorporate those into the sled design. I used shim plates in place of bricks.

ideally you want to have the weights < 2x the minimum chain tension from the
sled so that the net tension on the motors is towards the sled (so you don’t
have to worry about backlash on the gears)

on the stock frame, the min tension is just over 3 pounds, so 5 pound weights
are about right (assuming that everything works)

David Lang

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I think he stated that those are the rollers that came with the Maslow which are normally used for the bungees. Looks like they are stacked on one screw and the cables ride on the rollers.

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Hi GaryInTulsa,

Can you post some additional pictures so that we can see the entire system?

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I borrowed from @GaryInTulsa and cobbled together what you see here. 5 lb. weights, and paracord. I stacked the bearings that came with the machine on a nail with small lock washers (the size of the inner ring), and fender washers to shim it out from the board, between the bearings and on the end of the stack.

I cut out some letters for my daughter tonight and it worked flawlessly. Right now I can’t reach the upper corners without the slack chain/sprocket interfering with the bearings in the middle of the top bar. I will add extensions near the end of the motors to get the chain up out of the way and shorten the reach of the slack chain. I may add 2-3 lbs. on each side but it is working well with 5 per side. Almost forgot I put eye hooks half way between the pully and the bearings. Hope some find this useful. Thanks Gary.

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you should be able to move the slack ends of the chain out closer to the motors
to avoid them crossing the center of the machine.

David Lang

The reason I finally got around to posting pic is because I had to breakdown the machine to move it to a new location. At the moment not sure when things will settle down enough to be able to set up the Maslow again

I used the bearing that the bungee would normally go on as wire cable guides to keep the cables from touching. It’s not the best picture but they can be seen right in the middle of the top board. the two bungee pulleys and a large washer all on the same nail

Looks great. Glad to hear it’s working for you.

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More changes to the system, yet to be tested out. I moved the chain anchor above the top rail and added guides for the chain. I didn’t have any washers so I used nickles to keep the chains from slipping off the guides. I also recessed the bolts for the top bar to eliminate them interfering with the chain movement.

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Those look like some good modifications. I like how you used nickels. I’ve done similar in the past. Don’t have a washer?, Just drill a coin out. :slight_smile: Tks for posting your mods.

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I like the use of white paint (or whatever it is) to mark the zero link on your chain. I learned Friday how hard it is to find the link with the Sharpie mark on it when looking at a bundle of chain!

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I think I used White-Out, It makes set up so much faster. now when I need to adjust the calibration I can go to exactly the right spot.

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