What are the minimum dimensions for the frame for a 4’ by 8’ sheet of plywood and still be able to maintain reproducibility? t he old commets arre based on the two cable Maslows.
it depends if the frame is vertical or horizontal how easy the workpiece is to
cut, and the on how slippery the workpiece is.
as you get closer to the edges of the frame, the belts are at a wider angle and
so apply less force to move the sled towards the edge.
the recommendation is at least one ft beyond the edge of the frame, but if you
have a vertical frame, at least two feet above the top of the workpiece (because
you also have to fight the weight of the sled/router
reproducability tends to be very good, accuracy is more likely to suffer near
the edges before reproducability does.
There isn’t a lot of real-world testing pushing the limits yet, so all we have
to go by is Bar’s recommendations.
David Lang
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Yes, I think we recommend something like 2ft offset, but honestly these recommendations are kind of arbitrary. The one indisputable limiting factor would be the radius of the sled, this is something you can’t physically go over, so it’s definitely over 20 cm. But still, if you push it to the limit, because of how the belt is attached, things will definitely get weird and shaky near the corners.
Having said that, I don’t discourage anyone from trying to do it and see what happens. Just keep a close eye on it, and get one of those emergency stop buttons that Bar recommends. And most importantly share the results with us!
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The smallest that I’d recommend is the default wooden frame which is 10’x8’…12’ is even better if you have room.
Eventually Im looking to cut on 5x5, 4x4 or 4x5 sheets vertically at 20 degrees. Would a 9x9 frame work for this in my small shop? Would it be better to offset the workpiece down by a foot? A 3’ border above and 1-2’ below since dealing with gravity
Yes, I think that should work well although I haven’t tested that exact configuration
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9x9 should work, you would have to experiment to see if it has any issues near
the top, if so, lowering the workpiece would probably help.
We just don’t have enough people testing yet to know the limits.
David Lang
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One issue is the angle of the belt to the sled / anchor when you get very close to the anchor as it starts to pull downward quite hard on the edge of the belt guide - wondering if for smaller workspaces you need to adjust the height of the anchor to be more in line with the spool …?
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not as much smaller workspaces, but if you are trying to get closer to the
anchor points, that may help.
Bar has not tested this, but it makes sense.
One thing that needs testing as they are now getting into the field.
David Lang