I first saw an early version of the Maslow about eight years ago and thought, “I need one of those someday.” This spring I came across the latest version and finally decided to order one.
For the frame, I joined two heavy tabletops with hinges and used bolts in the corners for the anchors. So far it works surprisingly well and folds away easily for storage.
Assembly was mostly straightforward, but there were a few surprises. My Makita router needed an adapter, so I ended up buying a €200 3D printer to print one. One Axis Clamp Wedge broke during assembly, so I printed a replacement. I also printed a dust collection attachment. As a bonus, I learned quite a bit about 3D printing along the way.
At first, seeing all the parts spread out on the table felt a bit overwhelming, and I wasn’t entirely convinced the machine would ever work. I had some challenges with firmware updates, calibration, belt management, and setting the Z zero position. I also used AI quite a bit during the build.
After making a few test cuts—small circles, squares, and some text—I tried my first real project: the ring in the photo. The design width was 67 mm, and the finished part measured between 65 and 67 mm, which is much better than I expected for a first attempt.
The most surprising part was watching the machine actually cut a perfectly symmetrical circle. After all the assembly, troubleshooting, and calibration, it felt almost magical and a little unreal to see it working so accurately.
For the design and CAM workflow, I used SketchUp 2017 and Estlcam.
Overall, the Maslow exceeded my expectations. It’s definitely not a plug-and-play machine—it’s a DIY project—but if you’re willing to spend some time learning and troubleshooting, it can produce surprisingly good results. I can already see it becoming a very useful tool for projects that would be difficult or time-consuming to make by hand.
