I would expect the sled to ‘hook up’ on that edge on splints from the fist pass. I do however have a ‘hand sanding block’ i go after the cuts, even with a plain bottom on the sled.
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I saw the hole and wondered if that was its intention. I don’t think you can “turn down” the suction on standard shop vacs but I could be wrong. Any suggestions?
Also, with the hole at that distance from the bit, I am curious about dust and chips escaping from the hole around the bit. Dust can be a problem for some if it’s in a garage with cars or other things that you would prefer not to be covered in dust.
@Metalmaslow, any way you could have a gen 2 with dust collection built in that is close to the bit?
This will likely be an issue. I have two 3/4" ports located on two sides of my bit, but nothing aside from that and the router throws chips everywhere. The vacuum ports mitigate it a lot, but there is still a significant cleanup that has to be done after a cut. I plan to figure out some sort of wall to contain the chips, since I think the vacuum will grab them if they aren’t flung too far. The original router base, of course, takes care of that problem.
I’ll show you a picture latter of a top mount vacuum solution, one just needs a vacuum crevice tool, which comes with most vacuums or you can buy online from china for $2.
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I personally do not have that issue, but one can easily remove the UHMW trim, takes about 1 minute, just take out two screws. Once can also add a bigger wooden plywood sled under the metal sled if they are digging out big holes/pockets. My guess is most people will never need to do that, but it’s easy to do if wanted.
Hope these responses do not come off as defensive. The original kit was not perfect, neither is ours, but we have tried to make it better.
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Absolutely not defensive! 
I am impressed and happy with what you have made available for the community. This is definitely a big improvement for Maslow CNC. Thank you.
I should have expressed that along with my questions.
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Standard sled has about 250 in^2 of surface area vs about 4 in^2 for our sled. UHMW is also much more slippery than wood. Friction has nothing to do with surface area in theory, but I think in practice it will help due to rough surface of many plywood sheets.
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I think it’s an excellent idea and this is why:
That is a large improvement in surface area and a meaningful improvement to how the sled will move.
It’s hard to tell by the above pictures but it looks like the inside of the UHMW ring is rounded enough to slide smoothly over cut areas.
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Now that you mentioned it 
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Thanks a lot for the info! I was curious because I’m working on a sled based on 1/8" thick steel, and some of the other profiles to fit this size will likely not bend as easily as the profile you used and heating might be needed to prevent the material from deforming in the z-direction.
Bending UHMW depends alot on the bending radius as well, anything below about 6" diameter gets very hard to do. 12" or more is easy even with thick UHMW profiles. I did experiment with oven heating. it was actually very easy to do, but in the end not needed.
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Your commitment to Maslow and the community is inspiring. Thank you. Can’t wait to get mine!
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That looks amazing!
What is the current delivery time/eta on the sled/z-axis/linkage package?
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Parts in stock for the $120 sled/linkage/Z axis. We have been making the silver aluminum vacuum riser by hand, but in a week or two will get some slightly nicer ones that are cnc machined. I wanted to do them in house but just do not have the time. @ 15 minutes each, they would take 50 more hrs. to make all that are needed.
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@Metalmaslow Have you cut with this yet? Would dust collection be improved by wrapping the riser around the bit, leaving a reasonable sized hole to see what your cutting? Essentially a mirror of the back side where the hose connects? Like this:
I’ll play around with it. I’m sure it will work better, but at the cost of not seeing the bit cutting as easily
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Is the Z axis riser still bolted through to the bottom sled? I’d hate to see the tramming be off because of a vacuum port.
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Yes it is bolted through. If you dont’ like the vacuum port, you have the choice to not install it.
That is what I do, one just has to sweep up under the machine. and blow out all the shavings from the c beam.
In the future I might get a custom plastic profile made that will rise sled up from work for more clearance under the slide vacuum but right now this is the solution
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