What materials can the sled be made from?

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1

Hi. To achieve the best friction and performance. What material would you recommend for the sled? Is plywood best?

2

the material of the sled matters far less than how smooth the bottom is and what
that surface is.

you want the edges of the sled rounded so that they will not get caught on
things, and you want the bottom sanded very smooth and then finished with
something slippery (say paste wax)

people have used plastic for sleds, apparently successfully.

David Lang

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3

Thank you for that info

4

Friction has two factors:

  1. The materials that are in contact.

  2. The force pushing the two surfaces together.

The Maslow uses gravity (weight) to move the sled down/sideways, decrease chain slack and backslash, but weight is also the force that is pushing the surfaces together and increases drag.

You want to have just the right amount of weight on the sled for it to work properly, but without exceeding it to avoid increasing the drag (also unnecessary wear on the motors).

If using the ring system, I would recommend to put as much of the total needed weight is possible at the bottom of the sled (as originally designed by Bar), not only to suffice the need for weight but also to have the maximum leverage possible to prevent the sled to rotate on its own due to router torque (as far down the weight it is, the more leverage you gain without increasing total weight).

Hope it helps

Roy

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