I am excited about picking up a VERSION 1 Maslow secondhand so I can CNC with accuracy & precision on ply for a very specific project - a bunch of MFT worktops.
These require 20mm holes to be bored at 96mm centres across a top that’s ~1850mm by ~900mm with EXACTNESS - aka sub millimeter Pythagorean perfection.
Am I looking at this with rose coloured glasses or is the ORIGINAL v1 Maslow gonna knock this demanding task out of the park?
If not the original v1 Maslow would any of the subsequent revisions of Maslow be capable of this?
Thanks in advance for your frank and experienced answers on IF you’ve tried to create an MFT with a Maslow or a similar experience requiring this level of accuracy and provision!
PS sorry if I’ve posted this in the wrong place or if this is just a dumb question 🙋
When you say sub-millimeter, how sub do you mean? If you require a high degree of accuracy AND precision, you may do better to contract this work out to a professional cabinet shop. Those are a lot of holes. Times the number of tops… that will take a long time with a maslow
Millimeter? Based upon my experience it is doable with the proper provisions. Sub-millimeter? I think you are asked a lot of a machine like the maslow, this is just my opinion based upon my experience, YMMV.
Basically the way the MFT worktop functions is by having exact 20mm holes to insert exact 20mm bench dogs on an accurate grid of 96mm centres. This enables you to work with wood to cut, Rout and assemble materials with mm accuracy.
That level of accuracy is hard with normal benches and normal tools like clamps, cramps, saws etc.
The MFT is also used by many Makers as the MFT layout lets you swap locations of add ons to.
Hopefully that explains the level of accuracy I’m after - cutting to exact mm accuracy.
Is that an easy accomplishment with the original Maslow if I get one 2nd hand? Thanks
I would use a split approach for this, I would see if I could mount a center drill in the routers collet and just centerpunch the holes but I would drill the actual holes with a Forstner bit. You just have to be careful to make sure you keep the hole vertical. I have an old dewalt drill that has a two ,levels built in that was great for that. A simple low cost feature but very handy. One was a regular oblong level on the top for drilling into walls or what ever and the other was a bullseye level on the back, ideal for this kind of work.
I think on the router you could do this but it would take some expensive learning with what sheet goods go for these days. I think spotting and than drilling stands a much better chance of getting it right on the first go round.
the goal of the maslow project was to get down to ~0.4mm (1/64 inch). The maslow
is very repeatable, but not as good on accuracy.
it all ends up being a question of calibration. with Webcontrol and holey
calibration you may get it good enough for you, but you may not.
get a scrap piece of wood and cut simple holes in a pattern and see how accurate
they are.
Some people really rely on their MFT holes to be accurate to produce perfectly
square pieces, others just rely on it for workholding and clamping and use other
tools to check the angles.
because the maslow is very repeatable, if you do find holes out of position, you
can shift them in your cad to move them so that they cut in the right location.
What I have found with the Maslow is the more discerning you are with calibration the higher accuracy you can expect from the machine. I would tend towards the recommendation from @matthew as above.
no maslow wont’ work most holes will be good, but not all of them.
IMHO this is a task that is easily done manually. I’ve drilled out welding top tables with similar hole placement. All you need to do is buy 20mm wide aluminum bars, clamp one and use a box cuter knife to make a score, lay, down another, then score, and so on, then do from other end. Is it going to be sub mm accuracy? no, but most people over estimate how accurate they need things.
honestly farming out will be your best bet
if you really want to do it yourself get a lasercut template and install drill bushings, then you can just crank them out from the template easily.
Am I looking at this with rose coloured glasses or is the ORIGINAL v1 Maslow gonna knock this demanding task out of the park?
and 
problem.