# My new Z axis sled **URL:** \ **Category:** Maslow Community\ **Created:** [July 19, 2019, 3:21pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/my-new-z-axis-sled/10573 "2019-07-19T15:21:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JustinD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JustinD](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/JustinD)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 3:21pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/my-new-z-axis-sled/10573/1 "2019-07-19T15:21:11Z")
Hi all! I recently bought & built my first Maslow machine hoping to build some custom furniture to sell asap. I’m not new to woodworking, but since I’m pretty short on cash now I didn’t have money to put into a Ridgid router. Also since I’m into 3D printing I’m aware of better ways to turn rotational motion into linear motion than the way it’s been done with the Ridgid routers. I was waiting to buy a linear sled kit from a company in China, but had a chance encounter with this little object at my local Harbor Freight & decided to make a go at it. ![Cross%20slide%20vise](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/maslowcnc/original/2X/1/167a31d5c1780275ddc3e00e3692f7ad5e38a685.jpeg) I’ve spent a few hours disassembling, and cutting things up to use only the top and middle sections to create the linear motion I need. I’ll be strapping a Porter Cable router I already had to it. A few issues I can think of with this thing which will make it a little challenging. Friction. I plan to sand everything as smooth as possible and get it tuned as much as possible to keep things less wobbly but still not so tight it can’t be moved. I have been able to get the motor mounted already and have it moving the sled but without any tightening yet. Weight. I haven’t dropped this in a scale yet, but I estimate it’s about 5 pounds of steel. I know this will change the center of gravity a lot & I’ll have to move the ring out quite a bit to compensate for this. I also expect it will change chain sag & basically force me to re-calibrate completely. Any thoughts on this? I wouldn’t be surprised to hear others have tried things like this. I really seriously contemplated taking some linear bearings off one of my 3D printers but that thing cost me about $3,000. They and a piece of aluminum would be a lot lighter, but this is what I’m working with for now. ---
**Author:** ![dlang](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/dlang/32/859_2.png) [@dlang](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/dlang)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 8:24pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/my-new-z-axis-sled/10573/2 "2019-07-19T20:24:07Z")
it should work, you can probably reduce the brick weight a bit by having this on there. the calibration process will handle the chain sag issue (as much as it can be handled 🙂 ) let us know how it goes. David Lang ---
**Author:** ![Metalmaslow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@Metalmaslow](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/Metalmaslow)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/my-new-z-axis-sled/10573/3 "2019-07-20T00:19:11Z")
[https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ltype=wholesale&d=y&CatId=0&SearchText=C+BEAM+Z+AXIS+150MM&trafficChannel=main&SortType=price\_asc&groupsort=1&page=1](https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ltype=wholesale&d=y&CatId=0&SearchText=C+BEAM+Z+AXIS+150MM&trafficChannel=main&SortType=price_asc&groupsort=1&page=1) cbeam is what many people use. It’s pretty cheap. Actually cheaper to buy it one at a time then in bulk since 25% tarriffs kicked in on any thing over $700 in value. ---
**Author:** ![JustinD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JustinD](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/JustinD)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:40pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/my-new-z-axis-sled/10573/4 "2019-07-20T14:40:07Z")
Those cbeam sliders look awesome! I had found a few other options, but they were more expensive. Like this one [https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32808655274.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.53b33c00ZJV3Sx](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32808655274.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.53b33c00ZJV3Sx) It’s a very precise setup. but you get to pay for that. I also have this one in my cart [https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32912381231.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.53b33c00ZJV3Sx](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32912381231.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.53b33c00ZJV3Sx) It’s half the price, but still not as low as what you linked! But those Cbeam sliders are using aluminum extrusions, like my first 3D printer. From experience I know the wheels tend to eventually create problems. I think long term I’ll go with one of the more expensive ones so I can have good bearings to ride on. For now though I’ll forge ahead with the cross slide hack. Hopefully I can get it going today or tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![JustinD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JustinD](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/JustinD)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/my-new-z-axis-sled/10573/5 "2019-11-04T22:20:06Z")
It’s been a while but I figured I should let the community know how this one turned out. I took the this thing apart, and had to do some cutting & grinding to get the router to lay nicely on it but it worked out ok. I was able to get the motor mounts for the Z Axis mounted at the top of the screw & with a little grinding on the screw head it even fit in the coupler! It took me a while to calibrate the Z depth, but after a dozen attempts I got it pretty close! The only problem I’ve had is the slide tightness screws moving on me. Some locktite would fix that. I just didn’t do it when I put the thing together in case I needed to adjust the screws, but now I have a good feel for how tight they should be after having to adjust them a few times. Oh, I also reduced the counterbalance to one brick centered at the bottom. Two bricks were just too much weight with the steel of the cross slide. Overall I kinda did a hack job & it’s not pretty but I got the thing to work. ![20190729_153932](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/maslowcnc/original/2X/a/a6e07efd8b24a8d708c8584dfa7f293f225af74a.jpeg)