Smaller peices can be surrounded by peices of sheet of the same thickness.
Larger pieces could be a bit tricky once you start working the entire surface as in the picture.
Im thinking of tensioned cables, allthough that would be the same as the jig in the instrucktable link…
Or somekind of ring around the sled… Though you then will need to have a very big maslow even for small workpieces.
I was thinking about drilling a grid of holes, putting in T nuts (1/4"/6mm), and making some side and top pieces that would screw through them for side and top guards. Assuming standard thicknesses you could stack 1/8, 1/4, and 1/2 inch (or the metric versions) to make up standard sheet thicknesses. The sides could be the same height as the frame (plus some overrun) so only the horizontal pieces would need to have different sizes. Wouldn’t need tight fits since the sled will span a decent sized gap. I planned to use different thickness backer boards so the bottom of the frame could have a fixed stick-out.
My first mini CNC router had a t-nutted table that worked well. They might have been the only things I didn’t hit and snap bits on.
I should have mentioned that I used nylon thumbscrews (and wood holddowns), got a bag of 100 cheap. They’re easy to cut through, although if you set your safe height lower than the head they’ll still break small bits
i don’t think there will be any original material to ride on, i want all of the surface curved, so it all has to be trimmed even a little.
i think i’d take the ‘walk on the wild side’ approach. i have no idea what wood is used there, maybe (on the really wild side) i could laminate my own plywood with even more contrasting colors.
If this setup works, stuff like this becomes possible
harbor freight has nailers for $20. I need to load the nails in it and test it
tonight
Remember, this isn’t going to be something you are using like a production shop
would a regular nailer, this is just going to hold things in place, so a handful
of nails per thing that you mount (as opposed to many dozens of nails to asseble
a cabinet)
Hey @dag83, I like the idea. This is the first time I’ve seen the thread.
I was considering something similar, except more like a box cut into the face of the Maslow. Rather than having a box protruding up, the box would be set back from the face of the Maslow. The sled would be tall enough to contact both above and below the box at the same time. This would effectively enable 3D milling within the box. The only modification would be the box cutout; there could potentially be use for a larger sled to span a bigger box.
remember that you don’t need a full box, just something to hold the material being cut (consider leaving out the bottom so that sawdust will fall away for example)