Firstly I would like to thank Bar for this fantastic design
I got my first cut started yesterday, was super amped
However it stopped midway through and started doing some weird stuff
going up and down (no lateral movement)
moving around when some belts are super loose
and when “retracting,” I need to bump retraction force to 2000 just to get the belts to move
I attached the serial from the latest attempt; I will try one more round and update shortly.
Maslow-serial (3).log (6.0 KB)
test two looked good (not super happy about upping the retraction force to 3000)
mad it to the “ready to cut” switched on the router, the light turned on, but it didn’t move. 
I know this probably isn’t the place for router repairs, but if anyone has an almost-new DeWalt router (brushes would be fine) that stopped spinning, the light turns on, and the head turned by hand easily
and knows how to fix it let me know. (I will probably take it to a repair place otherwise, but you might be able to save me a few hundred..?)
Otherwise, why does the maslow suddenly need MASSIVE retraction force just to retract when there is no obstruction
Sounds like you have binding in one or more arms. If you are using the older spools, the answer is to pull the arms down and sand and lubricate where they rotate. The newer spools are slightly bigger and don’t tend to bind as much. You could also have some foreign matter increasing the friction in the arm.
When you do a retract with a lower retract force, do all belts retract? If everything is correct your retract force should be lower than 900. This will help determine if it is multiple arms which need thee work.
By setting a high retract force you risk damaging the plastic gear itself.
worked out the issue, that massive gear the spool locks into was very tight. i sanded it down with some 120-grit sandpaper and added some multipurpose grease. havent tested it out yet but im pretty confident. I’m amazed the maslow worked at all, thoes gears were stuck… it managed to cut out a full sheet as well (stopped several times and needed resetting) it was jumping around, like it was getting stuck on something