Im just curious. What and or how many different tools can the Maslow replace? Can it be used as a vertical plywood saw? Planer? Jointer? Band saw? Drill Press? Table saw? Bottom line im trying to declutter my downsized shop space.
I’ve been thinking about making a table with a cutout so that the sled can be flipped over to work as a router table
Basically it boils down to, with the correct bit and multiple passes it theoretically could replace all these tools? Am I correct in that assessment? As long as it can cut straight lines… LOL Id rather not spend thousands on multiple tools IF this can in some form replace them.
Just my opinion, of course. I’d say maybe a plywood saw if you can handle the wide kerf. Having a Maslow adds a whole new class of tool that can do jobs the others can’t, and lets you turn ideas into projects that are hard to do with conventional tools, with a lot more precision than most of us can do by hand. It’s not going to match the speed of a purpose built bench tool doing the job that tool was designed for, think ripping a pile of wrong width boards into nicely sized trim.
Planer? Pretty slow and wouldn’t give an even surface finish. You’d still need a jointer for warped lumber, the sled will tilt on convex warps and probably wouldn’t handle concave ones very well either. You won’t get the level of thickness control you would with a planer either, but you might be able to wing it with careful measurement and shallow passes.
Jointer? Wouldn’t do that great on squaring edges, plus the sled would tilt without a pre-planed board of the right thickness supporting the non-stock side.
Band saw? No way. Never gonna make a bandsaw box, resaw, mill your own lumber, or cut anything of any thickness
Drill Press? Not enough travel. Not going to drill metal, either.
Table saw? Basic rips and crosscuts sure, as long as the extra kerf width is OK and you can handle a little variation in the cut. Of course you’re not limited to straight lines with a Maslow. Not going to match the speed and power of any halfway decent table saw, although you’re a lot less likely to lose a finger or two through inattention (deep pocketed SawStop owners excepted of course).
It all depends on what you want to do in your shop, of course. As much as I like my CNC routers they’re not going to, say, prep stock for a wood lathe or turn maple firewood into (admittedly short) boards for other projects. Have you looked into benchtop tools and one of the rotating style bench tool holders? There’s some that will rotate three or more tools into position as needed or you could just use the armstrong tool lifter to and from the shelf. There’s some pretty good videos on youtube on how to lay out a small shop. And there’s always hand tools, worked in the pre-electric days and have a big following. Check out the Woodright’s Shop on PBS, for example. I’d suggest the first thing you should do is some careful thinking on what kinds of projects you enjoy and need to do, and what you need to get those done. And maybe check for available shop space for hire, are you near a makerspace, do your local schools have open shop time for adults, is there something (like some Woodcraft stores) that will rent shop space or have memberships. Maybe a neighbor or friend that will share?
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