not touching

[sparky]

One problem leads to another. Now it partially carved a name.
Tried again and now it doesn't even touch the board.
Anyone know whats up now?

[w2csa]

Maybe the sensor underneath the head is dirty?

[CraigBrownDesigns]

Watch and make sure the bit touches the steel bit plate when performing the set up procedure prior to carving. If it's not touching, that would be the reason your not carving. Best advise would be to run a search on the problem and you'll usually find your answer with several good solutions.
Good Luck!

[jcorder]

One problem leads to another. Now it partially carved a name.
Tried again and now it doesn't even touch the board.
Anyone know whats up now?

Sparky,

You might want to use a bathroom scale and check the head pressure. I was having centerline that would cut fine at one point during the carve and at another point it did not touch the board. Make sure you have 80 to 85 pounds of pressure with the heads cranked down on the scale. If you do not have the correct pressure, then lube the corner posts, the threaded posts in the center and pull the crank handle and put a TOUCH of lithium in there. That corrected mine.

Good luck
Jeff

[Digitalwoodshop]

To expand on Craig's post.

The bit not touching the board is a function of it touching the Bit Plate. When the head is in position to touch the bit plate it starts to lower the head with the bit toward the bit plate. When it impacts the bit plate the current in the Z Motor spikes and the computer knows to quickly reverse direction as to NOT damage your bit. In a perfect world this happens correctly..... This tells the computer "THIS IS THE LENGTH OF THE BIT".

The bit being HIGH tells me that the bit stopped BEFORE it touched the bit plate and a FALSE BIT LENGTH OR ZERO. This can be caused by a few things....

1. The Rails that the bearings ride on are dirty, including between the bearings where you can't wipe easily and when the head is going down it hits a clump of chips and like a rock in the road provides resistance to motion and a spike in the Z motor current will cause the computer to reverse the direction of the bit, THINKING it touched the bit plate but did not.

This results in a high carve or not touching the board.

2. Same result but wood chips in the Z Motor Cog Belts.

3. OLD Z Pack.... The OLD Z Motor and 16 pin cable had thinner wires and were prone to this error and the FIX was the new Z Bundle. The 14 pin cable has thicker wires and gives trouble free operation. I have posted pictures of the New and Old Z a dozen times. The Old Z, the cooling fins are flush to the back of the encoder. The new Z has shorter cooling fins.

4. A loose bit in the holder can cause this too.

Watching EVERY bit change seeing the bit touch the BIT PLATE will result in knowing your machine is going to cut properly. ALWAYS WATCH THE BIT PLATE TOUCH and watch the first 30 seconds of cutting to QUICKLY turn off the machine in the event the QC lets go of the bit. I have saved 2 QC's being there when the bit came out 30 seconds into a carve, especially the short V60.

That about does it.....

I return you to your regular scheduled reading. Stepping off the soap box. :)

AL

[sparky]

I have cleaned and greased all and now have 90 lbs load pressure (was 50)
Now the 90 degree bit touches plate and touches wood but it just cycles over and over install 90 degree bit. I have removed it and reinstalled numerous times. Red dots on QC are aligned so it is seated. Don't now what to do next?????

[Digitalwoodshop]

Format your card and reload the project for one. Make sure the left side of the machine is clean too.

I should ask you for all the bits that are in your carving, so expect it to ask for all the bits.

Did it really ask for the 1/8 inch cutting bit the first time and the V90 the second time?

AL

[sparky]

It only ask for 90 degree bit, over and over.
I have since came back to computer and switched from centerline to raster and it does the same with 1/16 carve bit, cycles over and over.
Really don't want to format my card' I have project that are only on my card (my mistake at start)

[cnsranch]

If you're trying to use centerline in a cerve region, you'll get the looping problem.

At least, I always have.

[sparky]

I call LHR support, They had me push down on flex shaft while its measureing on bit plate and when its touching board. That did the trick. Thanks to everyone who helped. I probably had couple of problems. ( Load pressure and chips in cog belt.) Thanks again. This forum is great help.

[Digitalwoodshop]

Good Job !!!!

Never heard of the push the Z Truck down before.... I must remember that....

AL

[sparky]

Carved a sign 1 hr plus today, all centerline text. Then tried to carve 15 minute carve , Problem of not touching wood returned. I tried the solution LHR tech gave me yesterday of pushing down on z truck when it tries to touch. Didn't work this time. I called LHR again. Tech says it has to be z truck. I removed z truck cleaned everything and looked for problems (found none). I reinstalled z truck and tried again. Same problem. Touches bit plate twice return home, finding surface, does not touch board but proceeds to carve. Approx. 1/4 inch above wood. I told tech I would remove z truck and look & clean & I would call LHR monday if I didn't find problem. Any help will be appreciated, I'm at a loss, Don't know what to try next.

[sparky]

Read post before this one. Anyone have any suggestions?????

[JOHNB]

z-motor replacement

[Jeff_Birt]

How thick is the wood your using? It needs to be at least 1/2". Did the CW tech ask you to 'bend up' the bit plate? If so did you actually move it enough to bend it? It should be level.

Have you ever done a sensor calibration? If not press '0' then '6' to go into the calibration menu. Do the height calibration then the sensor calibration. Do not try the belt calibration at this time though.

[sparky]

I was using 3/8 thickness. The machine has already carved one project on the end of this board and i was trying to carve on the other end. What readings t plateshould I be looking for in the calibration steps? Yes have lifted the bitplate and it did bend. It will barely return to rest position because of height.

[Jeff_Birt]

OK, now we are getting somewhere! The machine will do all sorts of strange things if your stock is not at least 1/2" thick. You need to try straighten out the bit plate to its normal level height.

The information about calibration and the minimum board height is in the owners manual. But, the calibration menu just changed. When you do the sensor calibration the machine just measures the board, cuts a slot in your test board and measure that. You can read the board sensors readings from the sensor test menu.

You need to use a good square 3/4" board for calibration purposes.

[sparky]

Thanks Jeff ,I knew about the board size ,guess I having a senior moment (lasting couple of days). I will certainly try that tommorrow. Thanks again

[robbrigg2]

Hey, I know this is an old thred, but I just wanted to let folks know that this advice (pushing down on the flex shaft 'gently') works.