I am currently working on the interior of a boat in the UK and my client has forwarded me your information.
First off, for the sake of honesty, I am sceptical that Maslow is able to produce the accuracy and repeatability that we will need to produce joinery that we require in 18-24mm ply, so with this in mind I need to ask some questions some question about the system (in no particular order) and invite comments.
My initial impression is that the system is not rigid enough to produce repeatable and accurate cuts - most notable the sled is not locked in position (see 6 below)
We will need to carry out various types of joints that require precise depth control is this possible.
The sled base might âcatchâ of the cut edges causing the sled to a little especially if wood splinters
4)Surely the accuracy near the edges or corners is going to be way off
Why arenât the chains in tension ALL around the frame and back to the bottom of the sled - forming rigid triangle thus eliminating the bricks.
The Maslow is âmarketedâ as an open source DIY CNC so why do we need to buy a kit and not just download the plans - thus circumventing horrendous carriage and Duty And Tax charges (UK)
Are your routers British Standard (BS) and EU (CE) compliant?
Are the produced curved smooth - is there a minimum radius you would recommend
What system are you using for your motors DC-Servo, DC-Encoder, Stepper?
Does you system work with Fusion - there is no Post Processor listed?
The firmware in the mega - is it possible to use another CNC control system eh Mach3/4
I am impressed with control system and software you have created - would it be possible to have the option of a conventional X,Y,Z base system instead what you have done for your hanging triangle arrangement? I have an idea based on what you have know but more conventional
Sorry for such a long list - like I said Iâm being âthe bad copâ over this
Hello @Docara, welcome! Without going into your list in depth, I would add:
Each part to be produced must go through a CAD design process.
I think that added work would make doing one-off work like custom boat interiors harder to justify. One could use the Maslow to make templates to produce multiples for production using other tools, but it really is a hobbyist-scale machine.
Some questions and comments for your questions (renumbered)
What level of accuracy do you require? The machine is fairly precise, but maybe not as accurate as you need. The goal is 0.5 mm accuracy, but Iâm not sure we are there (I know my machine is not)
The Ridgid R22002 routerâs Z-Axis has some slop but people have come up with fixes. I donât know what router would be used in the UK, but there are solutions nonetheless.
It happens, but if you use tabs catching gets minimized.
Accuracy is worse at the edges, that is an accurate statement.
Not sure what you are proposing, but if I do, the chain from the motor to the sled gets longer the further away the sled is from the motor⌠the triangle âgrowsâ and âshrinksâ based upon the sled location so I simple loop wonât work.
You donât have to buy a kit. Iâd think youâd be encouraged to piece one together. There is a BOM available.
You supply your own router⌠though some people are about to start offering customized kits with routers, so you have to ask them.
I think thatâs governed by the limitations of the accuracy of the machine. How small do you need?
DC-Encoder
Thereâs a post processor for it⌠I think you have to download it.
I donât believe so.
COREXY is pretty different arrangement⌠you would be better off using a different solution than trying to adapt Maslow to use it.
here is one that is 1.5x1.5m, should be plenty for many folks.
price is $1700 plus what ever import you get charged. Yes it is more expensive than a maslow, but If you are doing it for a business should be easy to justify.
Note this is a hobbiest cnc as well, doesntâ cut very fast, but from reviews it seems to be decent. If you get lead screws instead of belts you need to reinforce them with guides.
OT, Openbuilds has made it, copied by the Chinese megafactories! Hmm, should ask on the OB forum how they feel about that.
The OP is looking for a commercial machine with much higher specs than a Maslow, and a 30x or greater cost, although worrying about taxes/duties on a couple hundred bucks suggests they donât have that budget. Perhaps they can work a deal to rent time at a local CNC cabinet shop (in the states sign builders often have big CNC routers too) until/if their volume warrants a purchase
I thought open builds was open source, which means anyone can freely copy? Anyways my guess is open builds buys the parts from china and just resells. Open builds doesntâ actually make a 1.5x1.5m machine so itâs a slight modification of there design, which uses 8mm floppy lead screws. need to be upgraded to 12 or 16mm ones or support bearings put in. Seems no matter what cnc you buy it needs to be tinkered with.
A lot of open source is no commercial use, although thatâs a hard thing to protect against. The last time I checked OpenBuilds had their aluminum extrusions made locally (for them that means New Joisey; Mark Carewâs come a long ways since the Phlatformer days), not imported. Aluminum extrusion companies are pretty common, thereâs even one close (as in 100 miles, near the big box stores) to the mooseswamp.
One of the consequences, some say problems, with open source hardware is that if itâs successful then the high volume/low cost overseas manufacturing behemoths will take the successful items and crank them out by the container ship full, with nothing contributed back to the original developers. Some developers donât mind, some are trying to support themselves with their ideas and find their efforts making somebody else rich while they eat beans. Worse, the behemoths will often take the money and run, and dump support on the open sourcers.
Like many of the open source extruders OpenBuilds doesnât ship extrusions longer than 1500mm (I actually have some 1500 sitting next to meâŚ). They claim they canât easily ship longer lengths, which is strange since I also have some 2m 20x20 and 20x40 in the same stack (big plans, slow execution), from Misumiâs special a few years back - they gave new customers $150 worth of product free - and while not intended for home gamers they honored it anyway. They must have taken a big hit on that, news spread all over the forums with guys saying they were only going to take what they could get for free. I was contacted by a sales agent afterwards, he was cool with me being a hobbyist and I still get newsletters and ap notes, both e and snail mail. IIRC I got around $250 worth of stuff for $100, figured they should make some money from me. I donât have the original box but it came by one of the standard services (UPS, FedEx, USPS) and not freight, free shipping.
@Bar seems to be OK with no-compensation commercial use but some developers end up eating beans and Mac and Cheese (the perfect food, but I digress again) while somebody else eats steak from their efforts. Of course one could argue that if you donât like beans you shouldnât make things open source, but I think that at least a token amount should flow backwards. More so if you expect somebody else to provide support while you drive your imported luxury car (I was going to throw in a snarky reference to a homemade luxury car, but other than the small volume DS7 couldnât find one). For an example checkout the MKS sbase
Apologies to the OP for going way off in left field; moose have a problem with that. Besides CNCers and babbling moose we have a number of boat builders here, and weâd love to see some pictures of your project.