So my Maslow is on the way and before I get it I have a few questions. I’m new to all of this so forgive me if I ask obviously stupid questions.
I have a few projects in mind for when I receive it and both require pretty precise measurements for the parts to fit together perfectly. My question is can I cut the parts without adding tabs and without sacrificing accuracy? In other words are tabs required for all projects? If I can cut without them, how do I prevent the sled from catching or the wood from falling?
Secondly if I do have to use tabs how does everyone cut the piece out without damaging the work piece? For example let’s say I have a cut that is perfectly straight, how do I make sure to remove the tab from the work piece without compromising my straight line and without adding a lot of extra manual work to insure it’s straight?
Lastly how is the Maslow at cutting precise holes? And what bits are best for straight cuts without too much material waste and for cutting holes? I’m using the Ridgid R22002 router.
The parts will very likely fall if you don’t have tabs… unless you have some means to attached the cutout portion to the spoilboard before hand (screws, composite nails, glue?), the movement of the sled over the cutout piece would likely make it drop. It might not result in an issue, but I’ve had a situation where I cut through my tabs inadvertently and a the piece I cut got stuck inside the router cutting area and bang around for a bit… not good.
I cut tabs that are as small and shallow as possible. For instance, if its 3/4-inch plywood, I make the tabs about 0.1-inch high and about 0.1-inch long… The dremel tool cuts through it fairly well and then I sand the edge down to get rid of what’s left. After doing that, I couldn’t tell there was a tab there
I think it depends upon the size of the hole. Errors are more pronounced on small holes. If you were cutting a bunch of 1/2-inch holes, you might be better off using a 1/2-inch bit to make those holes rather than asking maslow to produce a 1/2-inch circle from a 1/4-inch bit.
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Okay that answers my question, hard to tell from videos if people are cutting down the tabs, having a very thin tab seems doable for sure.
As for the holes they would generally be 30mm or 1ish inch so seems I’d be fine cutting those with the Maslow?
I’d rather the Maslow do it because the spacing between holes and their configuration is important and difficult to do by hand but obviously not impossible.
There two questions. First, is whether or not you can get a circle of 1-inch diameter to be cut out accurately by the maslow. The second is whether or not you can get the circles cut out accurately at regular dimensions. I’m not sure I can answer those questions, but there’s a thread about something similar. I think there may be more threads about it so search for Ron Paulk in the forum and see what comes up.
You might want to create a new topic and include the specific question/questions in the topic. You probably will get a lot more responses.
I have found that bored holes are slightly irregular in shape and slightly smaller than expected. Round holes become slightly oval the more you get into the corners of a 8x4’ sheet. They are generally acceptable within the center 6x3’ area. You may want to make them 1/16 bigger in Diameter if you plan on fitting a part inside them (e.g. a dowel, bolt etc) otherwise you will probably need a round wood rasp to make pieces fit.
I you have some forstner drill bits you are probably better off using those in both accuracy and speed. I use Fusion360 for gcode and large bores take forever.
There two questions. First, is whether or not you can get a circle of 1-inch diameter to be cut out accurately by the maslow. The second is whether or not you can get the circles cut out accurately at regular dimensions. I’m not sure I can answer those questions, but there’s a thread about something similar. I think there may be more threads about it so search for Ron Paulk in the forum and see what comes up.
[Creating the Ron Paulk WorkBench on the Maslow](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/creating-the-ron-paulk-workbench-on-the-maslow/3723?u=madgrizzle) [Projects](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/c/projects)
For me, it screams “Maslow!”, and, in fact, he now sells pre-cut kits, and has all sorts of You-Tube videos of him working with the CNC resource to make them. Mr. Paulk is a clever guy, and his ideas are pretty cool. So, when I ordered the Maslow Kit back in December, I decided to order the plans for the Workbench 2 and conver…
You might want to create a new topic and include the specific question/questions in the topic. You probably will get a lot more responses.
Okay that answers my question, hard to tell from videos if people are cutting down the tabs, having a very thin tab seems doable for sure. As for the holes they would generally be 30mm or 1ish inch so seems I’d be fine cutting those with the Maslow? I’d rather the Maslow do it because the spacing …
I was hoping you’d chime in @dustcloud since I know you could provide some insight :), but I didn’t see anything in your response other than the previous messages quoted… Something get dropped?
Hmm… Used E-Mail to reply, and it did not show up here…
For the Paulk bench, I tested using the 1/4” bit for the 3/4” holes, but the results were as others have stated, not necessarily round. Also, the process, if it was acceptable, would take many hours. I also tried 3/4” router bits, but the sled often lifted up, especially in the lower corners, yielding irregular depths and wood burning. The Fostner bits I have are way too long to fit in my router, and are made for drilling speeds, not the 6000+ rpm of the Ridgid machine. It you find a bit that works, please let us know, as this would be a great feature for the Maslow.
Don’t know if this was directed at me. If so sorry I was not clear. I was suggesting manually drilling holes with Fostner bit rather than using Maslow to cut many bore holes.
I did more tests on Malsow doing bores, this time using hardwood (oak), and therefore slower cutting speeds with 4 flute 1/8 bit. Added 1/16" extra cut out to bores and got good usable results. The wood stock was only 3/8" thick, well seasoned, and had quite consistent in grain. I think the smaller bit, slower cut speed, and consistent grain all added to evenness of circle.
