Slab flattening sled - the TakeOneTwo

[Mark Gibney]

I just came across this very effective looking slab flattening sled in a video. Here's a screen grab of the sled from that video-

takeonetwo.jpg

The sled seems to move smoothly on the X and Y axis, and overall could be just what I've been looking for. I think it's made in the Czech Republic and costs about 500 Euros or so, most likely with shipping on top of that.

Anyone here have any experience of using this system?

thanks, Mark

[Kevin Jenness]

If you are doing enough slab flattening to think about buying this, go visit a local cnc shop and have them process one for you. You should be cured.

[Ted Calver]

I've seen that video and it looks like a really nice system. If you like to tinker, for less money you can build something similar. This one I built a few years ago does essentially the same thing and may give you an idea or two to help build your own.

80/20 or Faztec extrusions are very versatile, like a big erector set. I eventually made my sled mobile and I can level it up and use it either as a chainsaw mill, or as a router planer sled.

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[Prashun Patel]

At that price, you can consider the Woodpecker slab flattening jig. It's about USD1000 from Woodcraft and can handle most dining table size slabs.

[Mark Gibney]

Ted, I have several lengths of aluminum extrusions that a friend gave me several years back, I think they are 12' and 14'. So making my own sled is something I was considering.
It seems you turned the wheels on your lathe? - how did you control to achieve the exact dimensions?

I'll go dig out the extrusions I have and start planning. Thanks for the inspiration!

Prashun, the woodpeckers product looks like a decent system. Have you used it?

[Prashun Patel]

No. I have always (done it 4 times) made my own rig. I do it infrequently enough that having a rig to store would annoy me.

The rails and sled are the easy part, and wood works just fine.

Unless you plan to do this a lot, my advice is to invest in a good, powerful router, a great bit that does not tear out, and a comfortable work table that is stable and can be made flat easily.

[Ted Calver]

...It seems you turned the wheels on your lathe? - how did you control to achieve the exact dimensions?....

Mark, I'm not sure exactly, because it's too many years ago for my feeble memory cells to recall, but if you look at the first pic of my original build it looks like the skate board wheels were jammed against the wood block in the chuck and the wheel turned to match the diameter of the wood and then flipped to do the other side, making sure the diameters match with calipers. The wheels actually ride on the turned (smaller diameter) on top of the extrusion, with the middle rib riding in the groove providing tracking. The turned smaller diameter is not critically important, except that the four wheels on each carriage should match and the middle rib should be high enough to provide tracking, but not be so high that it bottoms out in the groove of the extrusion and is affected by a build up of chips in the groove. Hope this helps.

The one you posted a picture of and the Woodpecker slab use the same XY principle. Thanks to the rise in popularity of CNC's, there are more wheels/bearings/extrusions available now than there were when I built my system. If I were to do it again I'd look around for better wheels or extrusion compatible linear bearings.

Prashun's advice on a powerful router and comfortable work table is right on.

[George Makra]

I have the woodpeckers slab flattening Mill. And use it quite a bit. It works well. And you do need a powerful router. I have a 3 horsepower, Milwaukee And we'll go about a half hour before it shuts down on thermal.

[David Bassett]

What's a big ShopBot go for? (Once you buy the rails & sled, add a big router, and probably want dust collection... seems like you might be getting pretty close in price.)

ETA: never mind, used Google and answered my own question. Looks like the big ones go for $15K, and up.

[John TenEyck]

It gets down to how often you plan to flatten slabs. Like Prashun, I don't do it often enough to buy anything. I just build them out of wood for the job at hand at almost no cost and no storage. And you don't need a big powerful router. I'm not saying it wouldn't be faster, but I use a 2-1/4 hp Bosch with a 3/4" straight bit and it works just fine and never trips out the overload. You only take off 1/8" or less at a time, which doesn't tax the motor enough to trip out. Dust collection is the bigger issue for me. Even with a brush skirt and vacuum dust ends up everywhere.

John

[Mark Gibney]

I flatten slabs reasonably often, and I have a few wooden sleds for different width slabs. The difficulties of having the sled extend way out past the two rails in a crowded shop is one thing that attracts me to a system that moves on the XY axes.

[John TenEyck]

I flatten slabs reasonably often, and I have a few wooden sleds for different width slabs. The difficulties of having the sled extend way out past the two rails in a crowded shop is one thing that attracts me to a system that moves on the XY axes.

Make the router slide inside the sled. That way the sled is no wider than the rails. X motion with the router and Y with the sled.

John