I’m late to the party, but here’s what I’ve learned that helped me get it going:
- The stretchy cord and sprockets are important. Don’t try to run without them.
- It is very very helpful to put a roundover on your temporary sled
- The bricks are useful as all get out. Get some with the holes in it, and bungee them (see pic).
- The 1/4" Spiral Upcut Bit is a beast - you can cut 1/4" deep x 30 inches/min no problem.
(I used this one, but the Maslow 2 Flute should be the same) - much better than the “side gouge bit” that came with the router. - Always set your IPM to 30 in MakerCNC, and if you move a part to the origin in MakerCNC, it helps you visualize where it’s going to be.
- Try not to cut extreme left or extreme right sides. And watch the ground and the top. If you go outside the Maslow work space, it does funny things and your parts won’t be right.
- Cut the pieces one or 2 at a time until you get good at it and understand where the machine might dip into and get caught on the other pieces.
8 Don’t try to hold the router… gravity is good, hands aren’t - If you have a router with a ring (like this one), I found it handy to darken a 1/4" (for me a full turn) and 1/8" (for me, 1/2 turn) steps with a sharpie. But that’s because I didn’t quite get the white ring and it kept slipping.
I was going to say cut (and round!) the real sled first, but once bricks are bungeed, I went ahead and cut everything with the temp sled.
Here’s a pic of my temporary sled, so you can see the bungeed bricks
