Yeah, I’m fairly new to CNC, so I’ll be experimenting with different tools and settings for a while 
I’ve used a 2mm bit diameter, with a 1mm depth per pass and a feed rate of 900mm/min. The figure in the image above took 95 minutes to cut from a 9mm plywood sheet.
Today, I’ll be testing a 4mm single-flute bit, aiming to double the feed rate.
I would suggest you print a proper fan for your spindle. The stock one doesn’t push much air. You can find them on thingiverse
This looks awesome! Thanks for sharing!
How is the noise level? I think that’s a huge selling point of the spindles
New clamp wedge design. Remember to set a pause in your 3D printer at the layer height at the top of the captive nut. And as soon as your printer hits that pause layer get the captive nuts in pronto - it’s easier when the plastic is hot, and you’ll get better layer adhesion when you continue printing.
ClampWedgeV3.stp (482.0 KB)
The PCB mount that I had first printed in PLA, didn’t survive some abuse I was throwing at it, specifically when I lifted up the top clamp with the entire spindle assembling in by holding onto the PCB. It’s still holding together, but barely.
So, I’m reprinting in PETG.
And if you’ve already printed yours in PLA? Don’t worry about, just don’t do what I did.
@TimS,
Thanks, this is on my to-do list.
That said, even with the stock fan and minimal clearance (about 5mm) between the PCB and spindle, the spindle barely feels warm after 3+ hours of continuous operation at max RPM.
@bar,
The spindle itself is very quiet - much quieter than my shop vac, most of the noise comes from cutting and vibrations resonating in the plywood. I haven’t run Maslow with my Makita router, so a direct comparison wouldn’t be fair. However, comparing the Makita’s noise (cutting 6.5mm in a single pass by hand) to the spindle (cutting 2mm per pass), the difference is significant.
just tried assemling a new 4.1 with this tonight, I think it needs to be thinned out just a hair, and it would be nice if the notch in the sleeve had flanges on it to hook into the thumb notch, so that it can be assembled and stay in place when the inner part is getting ready to be used.
I would also consider making it solid at one end, so that one of the maslow clamps can be tightened down around it to make the maslow solid with it installed, but the spindle removed.
Used @m8n’s sleeve file with some modifications. I had to abandon the outer/inner sleeve approach and go with a single sleeve instead, as the inner sleeve walls would have been too thin. I also adjusted the sitting depth.
I bought the same spindle as you and it’s currently in transit.
Would you mind sharing the modified .stp file for the inner sleeve if it’s working well?
Any other insights since purchase on this spindle? Cheers
@md8n did you have any reason for not adding a knob on the outer sleeve like the one on the inner one to restrict its position and prevent it from rotating? I was thinking of using the bottom socket for that, but I don’t want to break something. for now the router in/out is a bit awkward.
To start with it was just the outer sleeve with a lip on the top edge so that it wouldn’t slide down.
Figuring out the problem with rotation came later.
So yeah, feel free to make changes to the model
I created a model of this in onshape and parameterized it so it should be easy to adapt to any spindle (I have a pulldown that shows the 500w dc and 600w bldc spindles, I’d be happy to add others if someone will work with me to get the needed dimensions)
I’m also interested in opinions on this design.
Assuming this is being 3D printed, there are a two immediate things that pop out at me that could be done that would make the end result a bit more resilient and would add minimally to material usage and print time , but I like the design overall.
I would add a chamfer to the inside corners of the support fins, equal to at least half their thickness. The faces that are meant to be against the print bed would also be less likely to elephant’s foot if there were a 0.5 mm chamfer around the perimeter of the bottom face.
Carson Barry wrote:
Assuming this is being 3D printed, there are a two immediate things that pop
out at me that could be done that would make the end result a bit more
resilient and would add minimally to material usage and print time , but I
like the design overall.I would add a chamfer to the inside corners of the support fins, equal to at
least half their thickness. The faces that are meant to be against the print
bed would also be less likely to elephant’s foot if there were a 0.5 mm
chamfer around the perimeter of the bottom face.
printing tall and thin things like this the bigger problem is bed adhesion.
Elephants foot would not cause much of a problem (and for the spindle holder,
it’s one line wide, it’s only purpose is to hold the ribs in place until things
are clamped down)
I would expect to need to print these with a brim (I have not yet printed them,
hope to do that when my makerspace figured out how to print delrin, probably in
the next few days)
David Lang
Definitely understand on the adhesion bit. A brim would also do the job, I guess I just find myself defaulting to no brim, no supports, and designing the parts around those constraints as much as possible.
Context: I’ve been selling handles for full-contact LARP and HEMA weapons printed out of ABS that are super structurally similar to this, internally. They have to take impacts during blocks and swings, so it’s been a big engineering hurdle. I was about to suggest to set these up to print at 45 degrees and with CAD-designed supports like I’ve had to for my stuff, but the base is much wider and it won’t need the offset layer orientation for extra shear strength. It’s the only thing I’ve ever had to print with a brim, and getting the supports to resist wobble as it gets taller while reducing waste has been an interesting challenge.
Carson Barry wrote:
Definitely understand on the adhesion bit. A brim would also do the job, I
guess I just find myself defaulting to no brim, no supports, and designing the
parts around those constraints as much as possible.
That’s normally what I try for (and I enginner in support when it’s absolutly
needed), but delrin seems to be absoluly horrid for bed adhesion, according to
the experts at the makerspace that have been trying to get a print to succeed
for the last two days
Context: I’ve been selling handles for LARP weapons printed out of ABS that
are super structurally similar to this, internally. They have to take impacts
during blocks and swings, so it’s been a big engineering hurdle. I was about
to suggest to set these up to print at 45 degrees and with CAD-designed
supports like I’ve had to for my stuff, but the base is much wider and it
won’t need the offset layer orientation for extra shear strength. It’s the
only thing I’ve ever had to print with a brim, and getting the supports to
resist wobble as it gets taller while reducing waste has been an interesting
challenge.
please try these in various formats, I’ll be happy to tweak them (and I can even
add tweaks that get turned off with a checkbox if needed)
David Lang
