My most recent project, did a pocket engrave on a cutting board, followed by filling with epoxy and sanding back smooth. This was my first project using epoxy, but I was very pleased with the results and will be trying more!
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First assembly of a corner (~85°) shelf. Apart the screws to fix it on the walls, everything is assembled without screw and glue, thanks to precision offered by Maslow (the last part laying on the shelf will have to be glued at the bottom). It has yet to be disassembled, sanded and varnished. And I will add some leds inside.
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These are gorgeous. What CAD program did you design them in?
Oh wow, those corner shelves look great 
Those are amazing. Would you be willing to share?
Thank you for your feedback!
For such projects, I usually do CAD in 2 steps:
first I use OpenCascade which is, among other things, an open-source geometrical modeling kernel. It is complex and necessitate C++ dev, but it allows total freedom for complex shapes design, and is also useful for me to implement algorithms that automatize slicing, dogbone dressups, chamfers… that I re-use for different projects.
Then I use FreeCAD (that is OpenCascade Based, so fully compatible, and OpenSource) to do more classical mechanical design things: holes, pockets, simple parts (in terms of shape)
And then comes CAM, that I also do under FreeCAD using the CAM built-in functions (Path WorkBench), but also automating things (because of the number of parts) with the possibility to develop Python add-ons, that allow to automate path and NC code creation for Maslow (e.g. putting all parts in the XY plane, discretization of complex curves, do profiling of the parts with attachments that left for the part not to fall during the last cutting pass, …)
That is the usual CAD/CAM track I follow when complex shapes are involved. If some of you are interested and/or have remarks fell free to react and ask for more details !
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That’s a great workflow. OpenCascade is super powerful.
I’ve been working on a CGAL/Javascript project to offer something similar in a web based way. I totally think that this kind of workflow is the future, ideally with some user interface for those who don’t want to write code.
I would be super interested in knowing more about the project you mentioned!
I already used CGAL within the above described workflow in order to compute automatically the number and position of interfaces (links and spacers) between the parts of the table below. But I didn’t think it was possible to do CAD with it. What that your goal ?
Concerning OpenCascade, a lot of its power is accessible via FreeCAD, and is wrapped in Python, so a lot easier to use. Making modules with interfaces in FreeCAD is quite easy with Qt. As an example, this is what I done very quickly to set up and generate profiling Maslow GCodes from FreeCAD objects (my coding skills are quite limited).
I have the project, with a friend which is good at coding, to make an english and better version, and distribute it as a FreeCAD module, but we lack of time. However, if somebody is interested is such a project, I would definitely help!
Yup! Well the goal was to create a language similar to OpenSCAD (which is open cascade based) which would work in the browser. Working in the browser being important to make it easier to share and collaborate on projects.
We started out as a fork from jscad which is a rad project, but it has an issue which is that it uses floating point math. The small errors in floating point math add up over time and can create artifacts making it difficult to build complex projects. We ended up making a fork and then keeping almost none of the original code.
You can check out our fork jsxcad…although we’re changing the name to jotCAD I think: here
Or you can try the interactive web UI here, although it’s pretty buggy at the moment. It’s also chrome only right now. That project is 99% Brian’s work. I’m following along, but he’s a genius with compiling CGAL into web assembly and getting it to run in the browser. We went with CGAL over OpenCascade because with CGAL we can choose which parts to compile in so its only a few megabytes, while OpenCascade needs the whole thing which is like 100.
On top of jsxcad I’ve been building Maslow Create which is a Grasshopper style interface for folks who don’t want to write code, although you can use code within Create also. It’s integrated with GitHub to make it easier to share or collaborate on designs.
You can give it a try at https://maslowcreate.org/ , although it’s also a little buggy and chrome only at the moment. Right clicking anywhere in the top half of the page will give you the option to create new atoms or molecules (the building blocks).
I’m about to go camping for the weekend, but I’m super happy to answer any questions you have when I get back. It’s all a work in progress right now, but any feedback is always welcome.
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Actually, following your previous answer I searched and found out about maslowcreate in the software section of the forum, but I didn’t took the time to read the topic, so thank you very much for these synthesis and ‘historical’ point of view of technical choices which make the story very comprehensive to me I will sure give it a try!
This approach is of major interest to me: the friend I built the Maslow with, who is in woodworking and not so comfortable with computers and CAD, feels often stuck in FreeCAD even with my MAslow-Dedicated developments, although my goal was for him to be independent with the machine. I definitely failed, and it emphasized to me that more user friendly software and workflow (that require a lot more effort to be done, so the collaborative approach is also a must) are really needed to spread the use !
Have a nice camping week-end !
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Gwen, that is some next-level CAD/CAM workflow magic you’ve got going on there! It’s well above what 90% of most Maslow owners are capable of achieving I would say (even comprehending?! except for Bar of course), but never the less it is freaking awesome and it’s really neat that you shared the process in depth. This way those of us who will never ascend that far can at least be somewhat aware of it
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Thank you for your reply!
The OpenCascade part is the most complex to me, but I wanted to do it ‘the hard way’ because I was deeply interested in understanding surfaces in CAD, and how CAD works. It took (and still takes) me a lot of time and effort, and I am not at all good at it yet, but at least I have a better understanding and made things that are useful to me. But there exist tools to design complex surfaces and solids which are a lot more user friendly. I know there is a dedicated module in FreeCAD to name one.
Then, as I said previously, the rest of CAD, and also CAM, are done in FreeCAD, for which there are plenty of tutorials available. I mention it again because (I like it a lot, yes, what a job these guys did and are doing !) having all the steps of the workflow in the same solution is important I think. First it avoids a lot of time-consuming compatibility problems, and most importantly, when you design something to be built, you have to have CAM in mind when doing it.
But, as said in a previous post, I do understand the struggle for people who have no CAD experience. In this sense, the type of solution Bar is working on are very needed, and I’m sure that they will act as a bridge to CAD for some people.
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I didn’t manage to make maslowcreate or jsxcad work. I could load some example models, but I never manage to create geometries, atoms, molecules … maybe I misunderstood something (i tried in chrome under Windows).
On the implementation side (compiling C++ code in webassembly to work within javascript …), it is far beyond my skills and knowledge, but it is very interesting. I started asking a lot of questions about it to some skilled friends in order to sort it out better in my mind. I think I will then come back to you with questions, maybe on the dedicated forum topic.
Please do!
I’ll make a youtube video explaining it soon too. There’s not enough documentation right now for it to be easy to use. Also, the jsxcad UI is getting cleaned up this week which should help.
Wow, I’ve just spent the first 2 hours of my day going back through the entirety of the 750 posts under this thread and I have to say to Bar and others who were involved in the initial design that you guys must sure be proud of yourselves for the change you’ve made to this world. Look at all these amazing things people have made and the level of creativity! And these are only the small subset we see. For every picture there are probably 100 more things that were made but never documented.
To all of you involved in nursing this wonderful idea into reality, Thank You!
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I am! And I am excited to keep pushing the design forwards as soon as the computer chip shortage gets sorted out 
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The Lasertube passed away… 
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It’s neat to hear the change in the sound moment it died. What a cool display piece 
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I cut a sign for a friend’s seasonal cemetery.
1/2" ply
1/8" mill
4.2 mm per pass at 650 mm/s
Coreldraw, estlcam, webcontrol, (triangular)
Mega with v1.8* shield
Metal sled with std z motor
UPDATE: added foam lettering for 3D and to distress:
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