Questions on friction, spoilboard, and router speed

Troubleshooting
1

Hi all,
I have set up a Maslow4 frame using 4 cement anchors on my workshop floor.
2 weeks ago, I tried cutting something out of hardwood. It went overall okay, but at some point the workpiece got dragged, resulting in a failed cut.

I have tried several remedies:
1 - add more mass by clamping together more pieces of hardwood (the total weight of the wood was over 100 lbs)
2) reduce depth of cut to 0.35 in (90mm) and do many passes
3) increase router speed to max

Those 3 things together allowed me to finish the cut. However, I am still looking for ways of preventing workpieces from slipping relative to the frame.

I was previously using thermal insulation foam as a spoilboard (https://www.homedepot.com/p/R-Tech-1-in-x-48-in-x-8-ft-R-3-85-Insulating-Sheathing-320821/202532854).
I thought that replacing it with OSB would help. But today, I tried cutting 3/4 in plywood in a single pass (0.8 in cut depth) on top of 3/4in OSB, and that was catastrophic:

  1. the plywood got dragged relative to the OSB
  2. the OSB generated a lot of fine dust and smelled burned (even when router speed was lowered to 2)

Does anyone here have advice on how to prevent work pieces from slipping relative to the frame on cement floor? I am considering setting up anchors for the spoilboard/plywood and just bolting it down to the floor - is there a slightly less drastic solution?

2

you want to screw them down or use double sided tape, not just rely on friction.

but sometimes you can get away with friction, look into the anti-slip shelf
liners (something along the lines of
https://www.amazon.com/HOME-GENIE-Original-Adhesive-Cabinets/dp/B0898XD59S/ )

David Lang

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3

you want to screw them down

the plywood to the OSB? (that is easy)
or the OSB to the cement floor? (that would require anchors… it would be way cleaner than using double sided tape as I sometimes need that space to be accessible)

Also, if I go the screwing down route, is there any way of making it work with foam, or would it require OSB?

4

You could probably get away with using a sheet of OSB as a mounting board and affixing foam to it as the material that is actually chewed up during through-cuts on the workpiece. You’d be in a good position to anchor the workpiece to the OSB through the foam, as well.

I am suggesting this from the standpoint of anchoring the OSB to the floor.

5

interesting idea… that being said, this will increase the Z offset by (0.75" OSB + 1" foam + 0.75" plywood = ) 2.5in or 65mm.
Although I do update the z offset in maslow.yaml, I’m wondering if the functionality of Maslow will degrade as it’s not designed for this (mainly concerned about calibration/accuracy)

6

iliaden wrote:

interesting idea… that being said, this will increase the Z offset by (0.75" OSB + 1" foam + 0.75" plywood = ) 2.5in or 65mm.
Although I do update the z offset in maslow.yaml, I’m wondering if the functionality of Maslow will degrade as it’s not designed for this (mainly concerned about calibration/accuracy)

“testing needed”

unless you get too close to the anchor (and no, we don’t know what ‘too close’
really means) you should not have any issues with increasing the Z offset.

David Lang

7

My anchors are at irregular Z offsets from my frame, I have never adjusted the Z offsets, and have cut a range of 0.5 inch to 1.5 inch thick material on a 3/4 inch spoilboard with no noticeable issues. Bucket lid I cut for my dust collection was a perfect fit, panels I cut for my window units came out exactly as they needed, etc.

Youll likely eventually run into issues, but if your cutting surface is less than 2.5" from the height of your anchors, my experience would say you’re likely in the clear. I’d do a few test cuts to confirm that your environment provides the same experience, though.

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