Their project is open source[4], GPLv3 for the on-device software and CC-BY-SA 4 for the cad files
1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12705546
2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5bZfNOZi-A
3: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maslow4/maslow41-access...
I need to know what drama happened to cause this, lol
There is a decent sized community that supports the software as well.
In the forums, I have seen people cutting cabinet parts with it, so I have to assume the straightness is acceptable, but it might be worth asking those who are using it for that purpose specifically.
If you're looking at this, think hard about whether it's possible to cut a router template for what you want to do on a normal sized 2.5D CNC router. It's what I do and is good enough to build a business around.
I was never really able to sell the advantages to artists, but got some good side gig money for landscaping stuff.
(Just to clarify: the business is wound down, but I personally still use the approach in art projects)
For comparison I have an Avid 48x96 bed type CNC router that I am into for close to $10k. Obviously the more expensive machine has more cutting capability, but I am curious what the actual accuracy of this machine is.
I am getting +/- 0.010” or so for large parts, cutting .032” thick aluminum 6061-T3. Probably doing better than that on wood due to lower cutting forces and less machine deflection.
This is not a very rigid setup, so your cuts are not aggressive. If you have the space and budget for a big machine, It will be more accurate and FAR simpler software, but the maslow can be packed in a 16" cube, and setup anywhere you can glue down 4 anchors.
There is also a frame posted a few days ago that sets up with 6x 8' 2x4s https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/maslow-4-collapsible-frame-fo...
A good lowrider setup is a good option. If you can set it up so that you can use the table for other things when you don't need the CNC, it can be especially good.
The kit costs $525, and yes you need to supply a trim router (they recommend the Dewalt DWP611 which I paid $269 CAD for, but members of the community have successfully used other ones) which you might already have.
You also need to build a frame, or add anchors to your shop floor. This can run you from a few tens of dollars for concrete anchors to $300+ if you want to build something fancier.
I’m sorry that you live in a country with an economy is managed such that that the same motor costs you more than double, but you are the outlier in this dataset.
Maybe next year when the tariffs kick in, we in the US can be lucky enough to pay 269 USD for something that costs 129 USD currently.
But yeah, price-gouging in Canada is nothing new; even factoring exchange rates it should be ~180 CAD.
The Shaper Origin has you move the machine, and it makes corrections using machine vision to track its position. It will give you more accuracy than a Maslow; but at a much greater cost and more attention.
A jig saw does not make as clean cuts as a router, and you need to have the workpiece suspend so the blade can go through the work. With a router, you can just have a spoilboard underneath.
I really don't understand the market for the shaper. Even the youtubers that get paid to shill them don't seem to have a compelling reason to be using them.
For example: - It can do dovetails, etc. instead of purchasing a Leigh jig and using a standard router. - You can do hinge mortises for various hardware. - Cutouts in hardwood floors for various registers, without having to make a template for just that thing.
When you get into curves instead of just straight lines it can be easier to work with the Shaper than a template/jig. You can also use the Shaper to build a template that a standard bearing guided bit will follow.
You can do all of that with another tool, but the Shaper origin does it with less setup. The trade-off is if you have the setup then a regular router is probably going to be much faster to batch things out.
I guess that's probably the best use case, you've changed my mind.
- 50mm of z-axis travel
- Cuts in the center of a 4x8’ sheet of material
- Repeatable cuts to a decent tolerance
- Cuts made while you sleep
Can you leave the Maslow completely unattended? The video examples/timelapses I came across seems to always have a person removing sawdust (or something) every X minutes.
Just for curiosities sake, where are those on-call people located? At location, close to factory, home presumably?
https://www.mscdirect.com/betterMRO/metalworking/definitive-...
Anyway, I want a machine like this that can paint.
I think his approach can be improved if indeed he replaced the guiding rails by a system with corner-points only. That would make it more user-friendly.
V1 also had the electronics & motors on the frame, while V4 moved everything on the sled itself. This enables the option for the "frame" to be basically just 4 anchors on your garage floor, which makes this a very flexible machine.
"If you would like to build the frame shown in the video, that frame is 12' feet, by 2’ by 7’ tall."
Discovered the Lowrider 3d printed CNC a couple of months back which better fit the bill for me to be able to store (printing gantry on a shelf, bed suspended from the ceiling!) so hoping soon that'll enable some of the projects I had in mind for the Maslow.
Repo here: https://github.com/camchaney/handheld-cnc
Not at all associated with the project, just came across it the other day. Look like it uses a single optical mouse sensor and corrects in a single dimension at a time.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2130625347/goliath-cnc-...
didn't really make it over the long haul.
The Shaper Origin seems more successful:
A lot of users just have 4 concrete anchors on their garage floor, and they put the sled away in a drawer somewhere when not in use.
Basically every CNC uses some sort of off the shelf router or router motor.
So it doesn't need the big, rigid gantry of a traditional machine.
but it also is limited in that you can't cut away too much of the surface of your workpiece, you need to leave enough to keep the sled from falling into the cut.
It's also a lot slower as it's not as rigid.
The frame these belts are mounted on still needs to be stiff, though. A concrete floor is a pretty good option.
Plus it'd be much more compact. In the course of my former life as a small-"biz" hacker I had to move a one-ton router three or four times, and none of them were pleasant. Moreover, when later COVID hit we 'temporarily' stashed it in storage, and as things dragged on we ended up having to destroy it -- and let me tell you, even with people rotating off on the angle grinder it still took a full weekend to cut the thing apart, while a wood frame like the Maslow uses would take at most half an hour with a sawzall.
I briefly looked but there were all crazy $$$ so curious if others know!
Frame and Z-axis rigidity, vibration damping are going to be complicated, but super stretching an existing 0.4mm CoreXY to, say, 300x300x600mm, isn't that complicated in principle.
Most consumer 3d printers can't really take advantage of these large size nozzles, although you could print slowly and it'd still be cool!
From what I remember of youtube reviewers, plenty of problems though, as the first of its kind. Hopefully they get fixed, but not sure you'd want to get it now if you just want to print.
What about 100V for Japan?
Not sure what you are implying with that. Not everyone is an electronics expert.
That being said, to the very best of my knowledge (all 30 minutes of surfing around their project site :-D ) they only recommend the Dewalt routers, but I'd bet it would work just fine with whatever local router you could get at your Japanese hardware store that is already set up for 100V