I’m new and will be buying my cnc soon, but there are plans that I think would be popular, especially where I live, an area devastated by hurricane Harvey around 6 months ago. People are rebuilding and could use projects like these to get inexpensive help. Here is my starter list and hope others will add to or work on these ideas.
Baby bed. (I’ve seen the bunk beds so I won’t add that]
Cabinets. Either the entire cabinet or to reface the front.
Kid toys, and toy box
Wood flooring planks from plywood? Cost effective?
Welcome the Maslow Community Forums! I’m sorry to hear that your were affected by Hurricane Harvey. I had wanted to go help out with the rebuild myself but I can’t take enough time off from work to make a difference. I wish we had better infrastructure in our country to allow more people to help those hurt by natural disasters.
Now here I can help. I have cut several different cabinets on my machine. It’s something the Maslow is well equipped to do! I’ve done traditional dado construction myself. That’s some slick joinery in the article posted by @MidnightMaker. I prefer to conceal as much of my joinery as possible, but maybe that’s the woodworker in me.
I was going to wait to post the completed images together in their own thread, but now’s as good a time as any.
As an aside, there are parts which are more quickly done on a table saw than the Maslow. There are quite a few applications where the CNC makes sense, but It is a relatively slow machine. A lot of rectangular parts and even some dadoed parts just make more sense on a table saw. It does, however, automate part making. So if you have the CNC make the cabinet ends, you can rip all your innards on a table saw while it works.
The advantage of using a maslow instead of a table saw or circular saw is that the maslow will make the parts the right size with right angles (and put the holes in the right place), while doing it with separate tools requires significantly more expertise.
These are awesome. Kitchens are some of the most expensive areas to remodel after a flood because it has to be ripped out and started over. Box stores selections are cheaply made, and custom ones too expensive
creating a pattern for cutting kitchen cabinets (and drilling all the holes for
shelves/slides/etc) is just perfect for the maslow.
Do this on good $50 sheets of hardwood plywood and you end up with a kitchen
that costs you hundreds but is better than ones that would cost thousands.
doors and drawer fronts are much cheaper to buy in quality than the boxes.
That’s why I said that the Maslow would be ideal for cutting cabinet ends. Generally, that’s where most of the hardware holes are. Also allows you to do dado joinery that would otherwise be difficult or impossible with a table saw. I just wanted to clarify that the simple rectangles like shelves and decks are better off with a saw, so long as you’re comfortable with it. I know a few people who hate table saws.
Thanks! I know exactly what you mean with the big box stores making crappy cabinets. I’ve had a lot of trouble getting cabinets from Home Depot. And my work charges $$$$$$$$$$ for even a couple of cabinets. I’ve been able to use even crappy plywood to make some good cabinets, they just needed some filler and paint.
I couldn’t agree more. I have personally built kitchen cabinets as a DIY project. Although the wood as raw material is likely more expensive than you stated, the comparative $10-20 K is big money. The required precision is tremendous. There are so many individual parts; drawer bottoms, drawer sides, etc. Lining up all the cuts can take a very long time. Mistakes can mean redoing a large amount of work. The Maslow can cut all the parts, one after another, without moving a fence or changing blades. If the Maslow were to race against a good, fast carpenter, the Maslow would likely win, even though it cuts slowly.
When I first saw the Maslow as a concept, I thought cabinets were an obvious application.
My wife has a habit of buying stuff. It is as if we are racing to see if she can buy stuff faster than I can build storage to contain it. When I get my Maslow, I hope to build cabinets.
I don’t know why I have never pictured the potential of making cabinets with the Maslow… This is an incredible idea! In fact I just put together an estimate for my kitchen remodel, and it came in at around $20k, and that is a cheap whole kitchen remodel! The boxes could be cut with the Maslow no problem, and then use a standard size door to install to make the product a little more finished. Could even get the doors off amazon! I like the way you think!
See, as a career cabinet maker, I have trouble thinking of making things aside from cabinets on the Maslow. It can be a little frustrating at times, because I’d like to make other things aside from boxes.
I knew you could buy doors from different vendors, but I didn’t realize that Amazon, of all places, sold doors. That’s actually pretty cool. Even with the shipping charges, their prices are actually pretty reasonable. Like, almost hard to justify making your own doors reasonable. I could spend my time making the parts on a router table, but it’s really hard to beat that price.
I actually just bought most of the cabinets I need for the new house. Found a set on Craigslist going for $700. It’s all face frame and raised panel doors. I was going to make them myself, but again, hard to justify with the price. Would have cost even more if I had gone through my work, I think even with my discount it would have been $8000. I’m not made of that kind of money! o.O
It can be a little frustrating at times, because I’d like to make other things aside from boxes.