New to frame building help

Hi everyone
I came across the Maslow CNC starter video by accident and started to do more research on it
I really liked what I saw so I jumped right in and bought a kit, should be receiving it in February.
While waiting for my kit I started reading the forum about building the frame and all its components.
I’m totally new to the CNC world so please forgive me if I use the wrong terminology when asking a question. While there are instructions to build the temporary frame first and then cut out the parts needed for the permanent frame and then have to redo the calibration all over again, I would rather use one of the new frame designs . With that said I noticed that all frame designs that are out there are about 10 feet long, I guess because of the 4 x 8’ cutting area . What I would like to know if there is a formula that can be used for building different size frames that fit in smaller areas.

What I mean is if I use a 7 foot top beam, do I have to shorten the chain and if so by how much?

What about the angle of the frame does that stay around 20°?

How high and how far away do the motor mounts have to be from the cutting area?

Based on a 7 foot long top bar what would be the cutting area?

Hi everyone
I came across the Maslow CNC starter video by accident and started to do more research on it
I really liked what I saw so I jumped right in and bought a kit, should be receiving it in February.
While waiting for my kit I started reading the forum about building the frame and all its components.
I’m totally new to the CNC world so please forgive me if I use the wrong terminology when asking a question. While there are instructions to build the temporary frame first and then cut out the parts needed for the permanent frame and then have to redo the calibration all over again, I would rather use one of the new frame designs . With that said I noticed that all frame designs that are out there are about 10 feet long, I guess because of the 4 x 8’ cutting area . What I would like to know if there is a formula that can be used for building different size frames that fit in smaller areas.

Yes, you should build a new style frame, see the (almost 300 post) thread at

where we are hammering out the frame design

What I mean is if I use a 7 foot top beam, do I have to shorten the chain and if so by how much?

What about the angle of the frame does that stay around 20°?

How high and how far away do the motor mounts have to be from the cutting area?

Based on a 7 foot long top bar what would be the cutting area?

I’ll go into more detail later (I’ll make a new topic to cover frame design
considerations), but a 7 ft top beam would give you a cutting
area 4-5 ft wide.

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What @dlang said. The design is open to anyones interpretation. There are several times it has been asked about a rotated tall design or smaller build. It is totally doable. No one has to the best of my knowledge discussed getting extra chain and doing a 20ft (6.1 meters)build. As ling af the total sled weigh and chain don’t exceed somewhere near 40 lbs (18.14k). This with additional framing would allow for 16 ft (4.88 meters) cuts. You can alter the design. Alterations could introduce new problems. However that is why we hve this community. Welcome to the group.

Thank you

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Wow…thanks for the quick reply’s guys…

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Hey guys I’m back, took your advice and read all the posts (about 900) about new frame designs. there were very little about smaller designs and the ones that they had had no details attached.
I did learn a lot about reading those posts but a lot of it went over my head when it came to terminology. But I still have questions about building a smaller frame,
If I choose to build bars new frame design and just make the top bar shorter let’s say eight-foot but all other measurements the same will that work? Will the accuracy be the same?
When calibrating, does ground control know it’s a smaller frame? Or do I program it in?
Like I said I’m a newbie here and I’m just trying to learn and I’m sure you guys will set me on the right track. Thanks for listening.

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Welcome back. You certainly can make it smaller. During calibration you are giving the software information about the size of your system. We can’t address the accuracy without more information. It’s more a question testing and proving it out.

I hope this is helpful, we are always available for questions.

Thank you

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Welcome back. I’m sure you can scale the Maslow.
The design is based on the dimensions of a ply sheet.
We need to go higher and wider to get the usable area to this size.
If you shorten the top you reduce the width of what you will cut.
The question if the software scales the same ratio as you needs to be answered.

Thanks for the quick reply guys, I realize that the shorter the top beam will have a smaller cutting area which is fine by me it’s not that I’m going to build anything big at this point just getting my feet wet, still have to learn cam and cad programs to make anything useful but I love the idea that it can be done.
So what you’re telling me is I should just build the frame based on the measurements that @bar has with the only difference is the top bar at around 8 foot and hope for the best.
Thank you

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accuracy is not a constant, the more extreme the chain angles are (near the top
as a chain angle gets closer to horizontal, and near the bottom corners where a
chain angle gets closer to vertical), accuracy suffers.

We try to stay 18" below and 12" over from the motors (a little further over
would be signficantly better)

so as you change the dimensions of the machine, keep an eye on these offsets, as
you push the limits, things can get bad very fast.

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Sorry @dlang but what does that mean? are you saying 18" below and 12" over from the cutting area?

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no, the effective cutting area starts about 18" below and 12" over from the
center of the motor shaft (and you need about 10-12" below the cuttin area for
the sled, hoses, and bricks to fit)

with a 10’ space between the motors, and the motors about 6.5’ off the ground,
that lets you fit in a 4x8 sheet of plywood fairly well (although things suffer
a bit in the bottom corners)

If you move to motors to 6’ apart and 4’ off the floor, you end up with about a
1.5’x4’ cutting area

2 Likes

Hi @dlang sorry to be a pain with these questions, but you’re the only guys that could put me on the right track before I waste a lot of time and money building Something that doesn’t work.
The picture shows your frame design with a few modifications, shorter top bar and shorter rear and front crossmembers. This is all based on my understanding of your statement ” 18 inch below and 12 inch over from the center of the motor shaft” or am I still missing something?
Hopefully I got it right this time and I won’t have to takeup more of your time.
Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks again

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that matches what I have been saying.

the borders are not absolute, it’s that things get less accurate as you approach and pass them.

you can cheat on the width a bit near the top, and the bottom corners are going to be marginal, just like with the larger machine.

I just starting cutting the lumber for the frame using your measurements for the build but I came across a possible problem with the front leg measurements if I use the 72 inch measurement as you suggested
that doesn’t leave enough room for the 18 inch below. I’d be 2 to2 1/2 half inches short to the middle of the motor shafts. I don’t know the height of the motor shaft from the top beam I can only look at the pictures in your frame design and just guess that there about anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 inches,
if the front legs were cut about 74 inches I think would do the trick, if you look at the picture below
you see where I got that measurement from.
Unless I’m missing something again does that sound right by you?

at 72 inches, the top beam needs to be above the top braces and there would only
be 7" between the bottom of the kicker and the legs

the front legs need to be extended to 79" to have the legs at the position Bar
showed (10" between the bottom of the kicker and the legs)

David Lang

I’m using the cut list from your frame design


are you saying I should change the length of the front legs to 79inch? or move the top beam above the top braces. just a little confused know where is that mentioned on the plans.