i have some slight problems with my maslow. It seems like the base plate of my maslow frame is not even from the right to the left. When i do cuts with very low depth like engraving it works fine on the left side and the right side but not in the middle. In the middle it just doesn’t cut enough into the material.
I made several tests and the best result so far was by just pushing with a little force on the router against the base plate while it’s cutting.
I do not really have a clue how i could solve this problem.
I was already thinking about why exactly the bricks on the sled are at the bottom and not on the top.? When cutting deeper cuts i always see the sled “pushing away” from the work surface on the top but not the bottom when plunging into the piece of wood. Wouldn’t it be much better on the top of the sled because the force than would push the sled more against the base plate? Or maybe just adding another brick on the top or cutting them by half and adding on in both of the four sides of the sled?
Do you maybe have any other ideas, how i could solve my particular issue?
I attached some pictures, hopefully somebody got any idea
Sorry to hear things aren’t quite right. I have a few questions based on what I think according to what you describe.
How heavy is your sled? Is the ring too high or too low with chains that are out too far rather than parallel to the cut surface pulling out on the sled, allowing the sled to tip rather than plunge the bit)?
Is the slope of the cutting surface 15 degrees (from vertical)? If not, there may not be enough help from gravity to pull the sled down on the surface and plunge the bit.
Any of these or none of these could be the answer. Just trying to get an idea of what you know and where to start looking.
if the sled is not staying flat to the workpiece, the ring is probably not at
the right height, if it’s pulling away at the top, the ring is probably too low.
if you hold the sled in the air by the chains, it should hang straight, if the
bottom of the sled is forward, you have a problem
(if you put the bricks on the top, the sled will rotate as far as it can towards
the bricks being on the bottom)
Also, and just bc I have run into this before, ensure that your work piece is not bowed. Not sure how far between the cut areas and non cut area in the center is, but it looks to be about the diameter of a sled. If the work piece is bowed in, then the sled would be held up on the right and left and not contact the work piece in the center.
As @Keith mention this could be because your cutting stock and/or you backing frame material is cupped.
In image looking from top of stock:
B - Bowed
C- Cupped
Check your frame and backing material first with long straight edge. If this is off then you really should fix the frame by adding shims. You can get door framing shims from DIY/Hardware stores.
If the Stock is Bowed or Cupped and both sides are comparable quality then mount it Bowed rather than cupped. The Maslow deals better with it this way.
Otherwise screw down the stock in many places just make sure that the screws will not be anywhere that is being cut. I move the sled to safe areas in the project and mark the cutting bit points with pencil just to be sure.
Hi there. Thanks for all the advices. My bad for answering that late. It turned out that indeed the workpiece was heavily bowed… Will prevent that in the feature by adding shims.
