@dlang points from the Next version of the maslow idea? an m8 thread:
Ahem, soooooooooo I have been quietly playing around with this idea in the background of the other stuff I’ve been doing, for like…months, I was going to test it a bit more before I talked about it, buuuuut:
The main advantages:
- With some clever geometry you can get the attachment points all the same height.
- You can get a sub-5kg assembly.
- You can fit a Makita router easily.
go to a spindle instead of the router and you can save more wight
Yeah, I considered jumping to that point - I’m not sure how well you can see, but at the moment i’m using a cordless/brushless dewalt running off a PSU like I talked about in Interesting find - brushless Franken-router setup (at least I think I talked about getting the dewalt one, I should check). Run like that it actually doesn’t weigh too much for the amount of power you get. I wouldn’t want to go down to a 500W spindle, but the 800W ones (I think that’s what you use?) are potentially interesting yeah.
- I think all these mean you could run a higher speed lower torque set of motors and push feedrates higher: (hence this thread: Feedrate limits of the Maslow (theoretical).
you will be pushing the rigidity of the system, but you are working on that as
well.
Yep! The other direction is using it to offset the weight in a really powerful spindle, but things would reward continued work on stiffening.
However.
(And this is why I hadn’t posted it yet)
I’ve only tried it with 2.5m leads, and I am not sure how 5+ metre leads would work, which is what you’d need for a full sheet. Voltage drop and interference could well scupper the whole thing.
the electronics are light, so I don’t see a lot of advantage in moving the
controller board off of the sled, but I look forward to see your work.
David Lang
Ah, it’s still on the sled, just on the side because of the PSU adapter - I don’t want to extend the Z-stepper leads by any more than I need to given the drivers are on the board.