I’ve re-worded that step and added an additional picture. Does this seem more clear?
Yes it doesn’t.
Later step, installing the nuts for the stepper motors… the nuts are asymmetric and it’s never mentioned which side should go through the arm. The pic suggest the longer side but it would help to call it out.
It doesn’t seem more clear? 
Great suggestion, I’ll add that right now. It actually doesn’t matter, but you are right that it should be clear.
the bearings have more lateral force than pulling force, and not even a lot of
that.
David Lang
I blame auto-correct. The edits look good to me.
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Loved the guide. Really really good. It’s rare I see such a good understanding of signal to noise. (I.e. more text doesn’t automatically = better.)
I know first-timer feedback comes but once, so I took notes as I went.
Total time 9h30m (not the frame) without any large mistakes or long breaks. Looks like the arms took about 5h30m, router took about 2h30m. Something like that, rough estimates, I just know when I changed the page.
Instead of suggestions here’s a personal account of every stupid thing I did, in order, to give the “why” with the “what”.
Arm Assembly
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When I set the superglued magnets in the rollers aside, they did actually snap together because I hadn’t scrolled down the page to the photo and advice on placing them far apart yet.
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Didn’t know if the threadlocker needed cut with scissors (it does) or was some fancy “just squeeze hard” magic eye-dropper tip thing. Sounds dumb but the superglue was fancy “just twist clockwise to puncture” so I thought maybe the threadlocker would surprise me too. I also wasn’t sure which side I was supposed to open; the rear screwing off is kind of weird… the manufacturer of that thing wants it refillable?
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I did go and get an index card to put between the gears and plastic, that was helpful.
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The idler shaft really threw me off because it has a slight lean to it. Maybe by itself just sitting on my table but definitely when installed.
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With the idler gear so tight against the drive gear I didn’t know if I had done something really wrong. (I’m not used to precision
.) I didn’t want to force it, and the leaning shaft had me already doubting myself. I stopped here and began again on a 2nd arm, to see if I would run into the same problem, as I didn’t want to force & break anything. (I know now that a few taps with a small hammer was all I needed.) -
Very minor but I did wonder for a moment if “insert the set screw” meant it could be pushed-in (but screwed-in to tighten).
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Wasn’t sure when idler shaft was fully seated, didn’t know if it should be approximately flush with the motor shaft. Got out the calipers to measure the depth as I didn’t want to hit it too hard unnecessarily.
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On the 2nd arm, I got to the part where you mesh the idler gear to the drive gear again, and this time it seemed like it was actually hitting the set-screw, because I had the motor oriented in that direction. (I think it would have just glided past, but without any experience I couldn’t tell if it was hung up on it or not as they seemed to be in contact.) I was still too scared to apply much force so I started assembling a 3rd arm
, motor mounted to point the set-screw away just in case. -
This time with the 3rd arm I was able to get the idler gear meshed with the drive gear by hand with some force. Now I realized everything was all good! And they all had the same idler shaft lean (and in the photo) so I knew that was good too!
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Using a roller to help press in the bearings was an awesome suggestion. I mostly used the head of my hammer to press.
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I knew from instructions the 3rd bearing would be tight but I wasn’t sure if it should be flush and I didn’t want to press/hit it too hard. So I switched to another arm but it was similar, switched again and all the bearings were going in easier on this one, and now I knew they should all be flush.
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At this point I used a hammer to gently tap the idler gear to mesh with the drive gear on the previous arms, and they all meshed with ease! Wasn’t a big deal, I just didn’t know. (Actually I screwed around with removing both gears and meshing them together first before putting them on, thinking it might re-seat the idler shaft at the bottom of the plastic, straightening the lean and “fixing” the clearance, but none of that was a thing; it was fine all along.)
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I put the index card under both drive and idler gears, since applying force to the idler gear could push it all the way against the plastic. (But this is unnecessary for the idler gear because it probably walks itself away from it a little anyway yeah???)
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Actually pushing the sides together wasn’t too bad. I remembered reading advice to start with the “back” side but wasn’t sure which that was. Just checked now and it actually says which that is! Maybe a missing closing parenthesis had me miss that.
Anyway I did switch to other arm assemblies as before, to see if any would be easier. Got it on my 3rd, and then once I understood the 1st and 2nd weren’t bad. For me starting from the motor-side was definitely the technique. I basically got the rollers and then without letting them slip applied force at the shafts. Once I felt the “give” of the shaft partially into the bearing, I knew the rest would be easy and I could re-assess all the alignments and give them a final squeeze. -
The captive nuts beneath the encoder board were all good, and I remembered to place them all, but sometimes a screw doesn’t really want to engage with the nut and you have to rattle it around a bit and poke up in there to try to re-seat the nut somehow (even though the orientation is correct). Or hold it at a weird angle and just pray. Thankfully this only happened to me with one of the captive nuts (the one completely covered so I couldn’t hold it steady from the rear), and I managed to get it eventually. (Maybe a strong magnet could have held it steady through the plastic.
)
Router Assembly
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When I looked at the photo of the two upright sections stacked on top of each other to form a single upright, I literally couldn’t/didn’t see it as two pieces joined. My brain dismissed that and saw it as one section, with a reflection of itself on a glossy table. I didn’t see it in the “repeat” step either. My brain just interpreted the photo as elongated single sections from a camera distortion.
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Because of this misunderstanding I did some really dumb things because I thought I was to follow the steps with a single section, setting 4 of them “aside” (for something else). So I had fasteners going through just a single piece thinking “I wonder how this is going to work”. Actually I had one fastener because it said “a” nut and “a” bolt. (Normally I’m not this literal but I just thought it was going to be some clever time-saving technique and the rest would come later.)
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Then when I got to the photo of the uprights with bearings and the router in the center I realized something was really wrong.
I had to go back and inspect the previous photos and it still took a second and then my brain saw each upright was two joined sections. Maybe brain no work after 6h30m of assembling. -
When it said the lead screw nuts were asymmetric I thought that meant the screw hole pattern was asymmetric. I spent some time studying the lead screw and photo trying to figure out the meaning of some of the screw holes being “longer”… I assumed it meant closer/farther from the edge. I eventually decided in my head that the screw pattern was symmetric but was maybe asymmetric in an older design. Finally I realized the lead screw nuts had protrusions on both sides, and one was longer, and I understood.
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When sliding the second router clamp into place I didn’t know which side it should be facing; the photo confused me because I didn’t recognize anything (I couldn’t see the protruding screws from the previous step or the familiar clamping wedge). I studied both sides of mine a bit and realized it was the back side (and indeed that there was a back side instead of being identical). I realized the protruding screws from the previous step would be hidden inside. I wasn’t sure if their purpose was complete or if they were meant to face outward to be attached to something, as I didn’t understand how the screw nuts would mate with the actual lead screws at this point.
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When following the PCB steps and it flopping about a bit I thought maybe I had missed a step. Skipped forward and saw that the bolts would later go through cover, PCB, and bracket, which makes sense, and that the flopping was normal.
Putting It All Together
- One linear rod support took me 20 minutes for 6 screws, tightening around and around trying to be careful. I am maybe too careful. I assume this is intentionally lifting the edges of the sled? The purpose of the gap, etc. Because the tightening was endless. I went and got a 2mm precision screwdriver for the 6 on the other support and it only took a couple minutes. I think such a screwdriver should maybe be strongly recommended… actually I’d have been a lot faster at the entire assembly if I’d grabbed that earlier I think. (I was largely using a Bondhus T-handle.)
Now I’m exhausted so headed to sleep. Was fun. I intentionally didn’t look anything up on the forums so I could give no-forum feedback. Reading my own experience it looks like the most minimal tweaks that would have helped me would be just a few words of “this should be flush, this will be tight, this has a slight lean and it’s okay, this can be whacked with a hammer, this will be secured later, etc.”. I think what slowed me down the most was when I had moments of, “oh no, is this weird thing correct?” or not knowing if something was fully seated and being abundantly cautious.
(I might be assembling a friend’s Maslow4 soon, would be interesting to see how much faster I am.)
I was in awe of the incredible engineering of this device the entire time. Home run. 
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I had this happen to my arms as well during the multiple times I’ve had to pull my Maslow apart and put it back together.
For this reason I chose not to use lock nuts for this part after getting replacements. At least then I can disassemble without breaking it.
I might add a callout to the location of the power cord.
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Oh my gosh you are a hero 
I will go through the guide and make your suggestions today. Thank you!
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I’ve just gone through and made changes based on your feedback. Again, I can’t thank you enough. Phenomenal work. Everyone following in your footsteps will be better off.
This one has me stumped. I 100% agree with what you are saying. We can make this step more clear. Any thoughts on how I could reword it?
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Hmm, replacing “Slide” with “Flip” might be enough. Would have been for me.
Slide the router clamp into place so that the notch in the clamp aligns with the yellow button on the router.
Flip the router clamp into place so that the notch in the clamp aligns with the yellow button on the router.
With the previous photo, with the step of just having added that clamping wedge, I feel like it’s clear. At least today. With current wording and photos.
Something along these lines anyway. Sometimes I overthink instructions and sometimes I underthink them. Lol.
Possibly “Repeat the process of adding nuts and bolts to the clamping wedge on the lower clamp the same as on the upper router clamp.” could have its own photo to get their mind off of the funny bolts sticking up and onto the wedge, and then when the word “Flip” arises their brain is geared for “okay put wedge in, flipping clamp” and less likely for a stumble of, “funny bolts sticking up… flip… wait but I already flipped it from putting the bolts in to putting the wedge in… flip it again?”
Maybe that’s not a real concern though. Can be real hard to know what the virgin eyes / brain will think. Too bad I’m ruined now. 
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A fantastic suggestion. I’ve updated it.
I really appreciated this observation. Keeping it simple is so hard to do sometimes!
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There’s an overemphasis spiral that happens to people where they go, “oh this is really important I’d better mention it again and again, well now that my instructions are longer this other important thing is lost in it, better mention that a few more times, oh now that it’s even longer there’s so much to read it’s hard to see this important bit, I’ll put that in red, now this other stuff seems de-emphasized I’ll put those in purple” etc.
They don’t realize it’s really signal-to-noise that matters, and everything shorter = larger ratios. (Mention something once and another thing twice, that’s 200%. Mention something 10 times and another thing 11 times, that’s only 110% and your thing is way too damn long.)
And when everything is important… nothing will be.
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when talking about extending the cables, I think you need to say that you can apply enough force that you are worried about breaking something. I’m finding that I have to fiddle with the ends to get enough leverage to move the belt enough to trigger the sensor
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I was surprised by the force required too. Then when I saw it (written?) to pivot them… which is really leveraging it, I understood. Maybe it could be a literal step, “pivot the end for enough leverage to get it started” or something.
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Yea, the current text “To extend the belts you will need to pull them out. A
slight rocking motion will help get them started extending”
I would not call the amount of force needed “a slight rocking motion”
if I push on the belt end, it easily pivots down at about a 45 degree angle and
the belt doesn’t move (at least not enough to trigger the sensor) I have to
wrestle it up to the far side to get it to budge the belt enough to trigger the
sensor.
after it starts moving, gentle force is enough to keep it moving.
David Lang
on my linux system, in the configuration for wifi I have ‘automatic’ and ‘automatic (address only)’
then under routes, I have a checkbox for ‘ignore automatically obtained routes’
those two options make it so I can connect to the maslow without breaking my other connectivity.
@bar if you set the maslow to connect to a local wifi, but then that wifi changes or is not available, is there a way to reset the maslow to provide an AP? (I notice there is a USB port, would that be needed?)
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I found the last part of the assembly a bit awkward. trying to align the cap/fan with the circuit board and the circuit board mount, all while holding a nut in the tight space between the router head and the circuit board mount. My hands are too big, and I don’t have enough of them.
I suggest instead:
- mount the fan inside the cap.
- plug the fan into the circuit board.
- assemble the fan/cap, circuit board, and mounting spider.
- snap the assembly into the slots on top of the router.
- Plug in the motor, stepper, and encoder cables.
The main problems I encountered were due to the lack of space for a finger because the spider was snapped into the router head first, and the stiffness of the sensor cables causing the PCB to ‘float’ above the spider while attempting the final alignment of the assembly and insertion of those last three screws.
Good call, I’ve updated that.
Yes, if the machine can’t find your wifi network when it powers up it will default back to creating the maslow wifi network that you can connect to.
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I agree, it can be a bit awkward.
I’m a little bit worried about doing:
With the PCB installed. I had to wack mine pretty hard to get it locked into the slots on the top of the router and I’m worried it might damage the PCB.
You have a point. However, building the assembly first, then when you whack it onto the router, the force would be from the cap, through the screws and mounting studs. Minimal impact on the PCB itself?
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