So I readed were using a large bit and drilling a hole can cause the router frame to lift away from the actual wood. What if you covered the back side of the frame base with one or two sheets of light sheet metal. Then put some high strength magnets on the router base. If you get some really good magnets it would created a tension between the router base and the surface of the board. In my work I use magnets to hold equipment in place I have some that have a 700 lb pull and they are the size of a domino. They will support 20 lbs of weight through a 2x4. The main issue would be the thickness of the base and the material you are cutting. As far as sliding magnets wonât have any effect on that. On another note really excited about finding this group!
i donât know how much a 16 sq foot sheet of iron would cost, but i imagine it wouldnât be cheap. I thought about that too with magnets. Waiting for my Maslow to arrive, but guessing i can see a few problems with that approach, too much pull and the sled would not drop under its own weight, i could see it âstickingâ. too little and there would not be any effect. Also if anyone used screws to hold their work piece in place, would these magnets make the sled more inclined to stick or jump to those?
To be honest i donât know enough yet to know if these would be issues, but thatâs my 2 cents.
Not IRON sheet metal two 4x8 foot sheets would be less the 40 bucks
So they donât add any additional friction? Cool trick 
Wow, is that a standard item? And where would you get that there? Seems everything soo much cheaper in the states. The absolute cheapest sheet i can find here is 50 bucks for a 2â by 4â sheet. Well baring aluminium.
Magnets would increase the pressure between the base and the workpiece, and so
would increase the friction. That is probably less than ideal
rather than cutting a hole with a large bit, drill a small hole first (possibly
with a 1/4" twist drill) and then bore the hole with the large bit. Getting the
material out of the center where the router bit is going to struggle the most
with the cut will help a lot
also make sure you have a plunge version of the router bit if possible
please tell me where you get your 4âx8â sheets of metal!
Continuing with the magnets idea and having a sheet of ferrous metal behind the spoil board, you could put an electro magnet on the sled that only activates (magnetizes) during the lowering of the Z-axis. It would hold the sled tight to the work surface in all axisâ while penetrating the bit, and when de-energized can still slide smooth without added friction when traversing X and Y.
please tell me where you get your 4âx8â sheets of metal!
home depot, lowes, metal supply houses
Continuing with the magnets idea and having a sheet of ferrous metal behind
the spoil board, you could put an electro magnet on the sled that only
activates (magnetizes) during the lowering of the Z-axis. It would hold the
sled tight to the work surface in all axisâ while penetrating the bit, and
when de-energized can still slide smooth without added friction when
traversing X and Y.
that could work better, but you would want to have it only come on when the sled
is stopped and you are lowering the Z axis.
David Lang
You must have a cape with a giant âOâ on right now lol. Iâm disappointed david. You usually seem to try and provide solid contributions, but I fail to see why you felt this specific reply was necessary. @Brendon and I are clearly interested in the price @jpadgett claims to get his sheet metal for and where he gets it. So if or when he responds, then we will have the answer. If paying retail makes someone feel special, by all means knock themselves out, but Im going to guess that most Maslownians are trying to keep things on the lower end of their budget. So @jpadgett, your answer will still be greatly appreciated.
Then you took the cape off, or put another one on. not sure yet
Iâm pretty sure I just said that.
I understand the idea of lowering the Z during a XY movement is being discussed in other threads, if thatâs what your thinking of that made you click reply. But that seems like a level that these soon to be Maslow owners, arenât quite ready for judging by this thread alone, or might rather wait til the rest figure it out in the next day or 2.
âHeld tight in all axis while penetratingâ implies that the sled is stopped, and that you wouldnât be silly enough to pull on the sled while the magnet is activated and the Z is being lowered. The purpose is to be held tight and not move. You did just point out that the added friction of magnetism during traversing would be âless then idealâ, and I totally agree, hence my awesome addition of switching that undesired effect off when not needed, to an already awesome idea of utilizing magnetism in the first place. I love me some magnetism!
Please bear in mind that @dlang responds via email, and as such may not have seen your post yet. And in any case, reiterating, restating, or otherwise reinforcing your position is not a bad thing.
We are all trying to help in any way we can, so answers are generally not meant to be taken as snarky (at least without a smiley attached) and are intended to be helpful. David may have missed your intention to find out where to buy inexpensive sheet metal, but that does not mean that he is being obvious. Some people may not know that HD and lowes sell sheet metal.
Letâs try to keep it civil and remember that in an open forum there are a lot of people looking, so just because a response seems obvious to you, that may not be the case for someone else for whom the information may be very valuable.
Thanks!
I just saw this thread, and thought I would mention this. The idea of the âhover maslowâ is very relevant here. Here is one thread Vacuum Sled Experiment. I think there is one more thread, but I couldnât find it.
The hover-sled is good for several reasons:
- The blowing air reduces friction
- If designed correctly, the air flowing between the sled and the surface will actually create a venturi-effect and resist the sled lifting from the surface. This is one of those counterintuitive things that everyone will question.
- Most shop-vacs have an out port (my Ridgid does), so you can leverage the shop-vac to supply air for the hover mechanism. The shop-vac is already in place for dust-collection anyways. Re-route the air coming out of the shop-vac, to supply the air for the hover-sled.