The Machine's Maintenance

[szczyglic]

This is my first post as a "happy carver". After a long time of different repaires such as replacment of : Board Sensor, Z Motor Pack, Power Supply... now, taking advantage of my winter vacation I carve like a mad carver - since week from now 10-12h per day and all OK! The worst part of the game is machine's maintenance - CLEANING. She likes to be clean and my way to achive that is : after every and each project I vacuum the unit very exactly and lubricate it with SILICON SPRAY. I give special attention to all bearings, rotating part and trucks. ATTENTION ! - both rubber rollers and sand canvas belts MUST BE PROTECTED with piece of paper. The Silicon Spray (available, at list here in Krakow-Poland where I live and carve in almost all gas stations and in The US probablly at The Home Depot or Lowes) lubricate all metal parts and works as a antistatic medium protecting the machine from wood dust not become so sticky. For machine's head gear I use silicon grease. For Flex Shaft I still stick to Moly.
Wishing to all Members hours of joyful carving I remain.
Greg Szczyglic

[JOHNB]

be sure not to spray anything on them bearings.

[jcorder]

This is my first post as a "happy carver". After a long time of different repaires such as replacment of : Board Sensor, Z Motor Pack, Power Supply... now, taking advantage of my winter vacation I carve like a mad carver - since week from now 10-12h per day and all OK! The worst part of the game is machine's maintenance - CLEANING. She likes to be clean and my way to achive that is : after every and each project I vacuum the unit very exactly and lubricate it with SILICON SPRAY. I give special attention to all bearings, rotating part and trucks. ATTENTION ! - both rubber rollers and sand canvas belts MUST BE PROTECTED with piece of paper. The Silicon Spray (available, at list here in Krakow-Poland where I live and carve in almost all gas stations and in The US probablly at The Home Depot or Lowes) lubricate all metal parts and works as a antistatic medium protecting the machine from wood dust not become so sticky. For machine's head gear I use silicon grease. For Flex Shaft I still stick to Moly.
Wishing to all Members hours of joyful carving I remain.
Greg Szczyglic

Hi Greg and welcome to the forum!

It sounds like you have a great routine going there. I did not see you mention cleaning the QC. That is as if not more important that doing some of the other stuff every time. I clean mine between each bit change, might be kinda anal, but I had to wreck a QC to get a bit out of it.

Good luck and be sure to show us some of your work!

Jeff

[szczyglic]

Hi Greg and welcome to the forum!

It sounds like you have a great routine going there. I did not see you mention cleaning the QC. That is as if not more important that doing some of the other stuff every time. I clean mine between each bit change, might be kinda anal, but I had to wreck a QC to get a bit out of it.

Good luck and be sure to show us some of your work!

Jeff

Thank you Jeff for welcoming me on the forum, appreciate your coments too.If I will come with some serious project I will be more than glad to show you. For now on I have only some samples - cabinet's doors 20"x13".
Regards,
Greg Szczyglic

[Digitalwoodshop]

Just remember Silicon spray that gets on the wood will cause finishing problems like fish eye problems getting the finish to level and stick.

AL

[szczyglic]

Just remember Silicon spray that gets on the wood will cause finishing problems like fish eye problems getting the finish to level and stick.

AL

Thank you Al, good point, I will not spray any wood.
Regards,
Greg

[billy]

Hi everyone,

I've had the carvewright for only a couple of weeks. Does anyone know how long I should wait to moly lube the shaft, and how often thereafter? I assume it's a time vs. workload issue. I'm averaging 3 or 4 hours 5 days a week.

Thanks!

[supershingler]

this is just what i do

i lubed my right out of the box

then i lube it every 50-60hrs of carving time
but i check it on every carve to make sure it isnt getting hot

kendall

[billy]

Hello,

Anybody know what would cause my machine to say "possible board removal" when the board is still in place?

Thanks!

Thanks for the quick reply about the moly lube, Supershingler!

[pine acres woodshop]

Check the board sensor under the z-truck it might be dirty.


Mark

[AskBud]

Hello,

Anybody know what would cause my machine to say "possible board removal" when the board is still in place?

Thanks!

Thanks for the quick reply about the moly lube, Supershingler!

My first guess is that the board is no longer under one of the rollers. It may also have a void/cut-out on bottom, on the keyboard side, where the sensor is trying to track the board.
AskBud

[billy]

I'll try those...

[mtylerfl]

Actually, the more common reasons are that a compression roller switch has a problem or the head pressure is too low.

There are other possible causes too. Check your Troubleshooting Guide for more info. If you haven't downloaded the Guide yet, it's in the Troubleshooting section of the forum (troubleshooting pdf's).

[cestout]

I have a baby tooth brush to clean the board sensor. Early on I made the mistake of cleaning it with compressed air. Don't do that, it blows the dust inside - and now with "optimal" the dust is finer.

[Wilbur]

I agree with everything said but was asked last week by CW if I had tried greasing the roller bearings and the belt with WD40. I questioned this about the belt but was told yes.
Now I will think many times about this before I do it.
I was also told that there would be a core charge on my QC when the bearing spacer fell out of mine and had to replace it.
Then two days ago I got a e-mail that indicated that I would have to pay for it. I don't guess that comes under warranty.

Wilbur

[mtylerfl]

Hello Wilbur,

What belt needs lubrication? I have not heard of that.

[Wilbur]

We were talking about the bearings for the Y Z action, so I was under the impression it was the two belts that move that action. Left-right and up-down.
I asked about it, thinking it may had been a mistake. I said that I did not think you should do that but he said yes.
He may be right but I need to hear more about that before I do it.
I know that armorial on rubber in cars keeps it from drying out and cracking.
I don't know.

Wilbur

[mtylerfl]

Hello Wilber,

I'm not sure that is a correct procedure or not. I certainly have not done that before, wouldn't know what lubricant would be safe to use, nor what the purpose of belt lubrication would be.

You may want to check with them again and let us know what you find out. Thanks!

[Rick P]

Wilbur - the QCs are NOT covered under the warranty...BUT, I purchased a replacement QC and it ruined 3 of my adapters...I took pictures and sent them to CW Tech Support per their request. LHR is going to send me another QC at no charge, but I have been waiting almost a month now. They tell me that QCs are on backorder, which, as I have stated before, is a sign that LHR is having quality problems with their QCs.

[Wilbur]

I have been down now for two weeks and waiting on power supply board and the ribbon cable. I know when I get that on there will be another week because of the Y movement, moving rough on the rail.
I have not been able to carve anything with the new re-built QC so I don't know how it is going to work.
The way things is looking I wish I never bought the bit sit and probe. Don't look like I will get around to using them.

The oil on the belts they said WD40. I am not telling anyone to do that. I am unsure about that.

Wilbur

[roman]

Hi To Woodworkers , I Am A Woodworker From Canada And I Am Very Interested To Buy The Carvewricht Machine, But Dont Get Me Wrong I Have Seen All Kind Of Postings On The Sears Forum Dhat Doesent Inspire Me ,its All About Brackings And Maintenance , Of Cource I Know Very Well That You Have To Keep Your Tools In Good Shape But The Other Consern Is The How Often The Machine Can Go Down ? I Want Your Opinion Please Advise , My Opinion Is To Wait For More Time So The Company Can Fix All The Problems , Please Do Not Get Me Wrong I Am A Big Fan Of The Product And Still Thinking To Purchase The Machine, Because Its Awesome Idea Just Needs Litlle Bi Of Adjustments , Good Job Carvewricht Team Keep Going .;)

[Wilbur]

Well, I will say this.
I like the machine.
I have had more things to go wrong than I expected.
I am waiting on parts now.
CW have worked with me and this is good. I could have sent the machine back for them to fix. I don't know what that would consists of as for as cost.
I had rather work on it here instead of going to the trouble and have the machine down for more time.
Another thing is I need to know everything I can about the CW and doing the repair myself with the help of CW I already know more about the machine than I would have.
I don't like the breakdowns. Maybe it is about over. I hear others talk about a lot of run time and that is what I am shooting for.

I am keeping a log of everything I do with the machine with pictures here
http://www.angelfire.com/sc/candlemaker/CarveWright.html hoping that it may help someone.

There is a lot of help here and good people that will help.

So what can I say, I like the CW and it is up to the person, as to if it is for them... It will help much if you can handle the repair if you need to.

I have nothing bad to say about CW.

Wilbur

[roman]

I AM NOT AN EXPERT BUT DONT YOU THINK SOME OF THE PROBLEMS GOULD BE FIXED? IF THEY HAD DIRECT DRIVE SYSTEM I MEAN INSTEAD OF HAVING THE FLEXSHAFT DHEY COULD ATTACH THE ROUTER ON THE TRACK LIKE THE SNS MACHINES ? :confused:

[roman]

And How Long Did You Run The Machine Before It Went Down ?

[Wilbur]

I don't know. This is my first experience with any type carving machine.
Could be I guess. It looks like the CNC is more simpler but I have only seen one of those. The differences I could not say.
My first problem was after about 30 hr. Up until then everything was going fine.
From what I hear from others I just wonder what I have to look forward to next but I am down now. No wander worrying about what could happen.

Wilbur

[cnsranch]

roman

For what it's worth, I've had my machine for over a year, and had zero problems.

Keep in mind that the threads that are started for figuring out how to make something work, or how to fix something that isn't working properly sound like all there is is negative, and the machine is fraught with problems. That doesn't mean the machine's faulty.

Unfortunately, we don't start enough threads regarding the machine working correctly.

That said, you may want to do some searches with words like

"praise"
"terrific"
"Awesome"
"Best"
"Great"

I understand that there are going to be occasional problems with anything you buy - that's why there are warranties. I've got a Taurus with 100,000 miles on it, and never had a problem with it, either. But I'm sure you can find many who would like to trash the Taurus because they had a problem with theirs.

A problem will crop up right away if it's a bad part, etc. But just because some have problems with their Tauruses doesn't mean the car's crap.

At the risk of offending someone, I believe that the vast majority of problems with the CW are operator related. I did break a cutting bit once, but it was because I was trying to cut a piece of hard ash with too deep a swipe. And I did mess up a carve where the project didn't center on the board, but that was because I was carving in a cold shop - not recommended - and the o ring failed on the roller - clearly my fault.

But I've never had a problem with the flexshaft, because I've lubed it properly from the git go, and I check it constantly.

And I've never had a problem with the QC, because I triple check the damnded thing every time I remove a bit, and every time I prepare to put a bit in it.

Don't let some problems scare you off - but allow those problems scare you into making sure your machine's ready to carve the next project. If you don't take care of it, you'll break something.


***EDIT***

Oh, and re your point of improving the cutting mechanism, I'm sure the engineers could improve it - but like my engineer son likes to remind me - an engineer can design something that's virtually perfect. Unfortunately, you can't afford to buy what they just designed.

[roman]

The Other Think Is If Somethink Happens On The Project And The Machine Is Down , That Means You Are Screwed Because You Can't Finish The Project And You Have To Deal With The Customers And You Have To Work All The Time With Crossed Fingers So Nothing Goes Wrong And Bam!!! :(

[roman]

Well I Will Wait Little Bit More For The Product Improvement Because I Dont Have The Time To Run After The Machine Repairs Or I Micht Go With Litlle More Expensive 24x32 Cnc Machine At Least I Know It Won't Let Me Down When I Need It , But Still Will Consider To Buy Later The Carvewricht For A Hobby

[Digitalwoodshop]

Roman,

Sounds like you are a Shop Bot man.... This Hobby machine just won't meet your expatiations. If this machine was a Direct Drive then the Y and Z Drive would need a gear box like the X or Board Drive. All this adding weight. Add Weight then you need bigger everything. Then you have a price close to a small Shop bot.

This machine is designed for a Hobbyist. I use it for business and that is why I have 3 machines to give me that back up. Machine 2 and 3 were both purchased at half price and were both broken. Yes, I could have bought a Shop Bot and most likely will someday. At $2K it was something I could afford right then and now... I am happy with my machines.

It fits my NEED.... small Signs....

There is no reason to come in here and bad mouth a hobby machine when you need a industrial machine, that is just rude. And yes, most here will defend the machine because we are willing to use it even with it's limitations.
When you get that Industrial Machine you won't need this hobby machine so, I would expect that you should never feel the need to buy one. The Industrial Machine will meet all your needs.

You don't take a BB Gun to a Deer Hunt and complain on how little power the BB gun has.... The right product or tool for the job. Enjoy your Shop bot, it's a GREAT Machine. Be sure to get a Spindle rather then a Router as the Router Bearings wear out at about 5000 hours from what I read. The Spindle is more durable and quieter.

And it is CarveWright not carwericht or Carvewricht.

Good Luck,

AL

[mtylerfl]

AL,

Off-topic, but...I don't think I've seen your roadside name signs before - they look fantastic!

[Digitalwoodshop]

Off topic, if you mean the post signs. That is Modern font, Outline Mode, 3/8 inch bit, .010 deep, 2 inch high letters. It looks like the Hand Router plastic guide letters. I was duplicating what is in this 5000 house development.

AL

[roman]

Dear Digitalwoodshop, First Of All I Apologize To You And The Folks Here If I Did Offend You , Second Think Is You Did'nt Get To My Point I Am Not Looking For Industrial Machine Shopbot Or What Ever If I Need Shopbot I Will Go To Their Website , The Reason I Came To This Forum Is To Hear From Real Owners Real Sugestions Because That Means A Lot For Every New Guy Who Whants To Own One Of These Machines And I Am One Of Them , I Am Not Trying To Bad Mouth Any Product Because That Is Not In My Intention And I Realy Want The Company To Improve And Sucseed , The Reason Is Why I Am Here Is Because I Am Located In Canada And You Understand How Hard It Would Be For Me To Deal With All These Problems (sending The Product To Us ) Talking About Limitations The Carvewricht Meets All Of My Needs And My Expectations And Of Course You Cant Expect Miracles , You Mentioned That You Hawe 3 Machines And 2 Of Them Are Down Why ? My Point Is To Hear From You From Real Owners The How Reliable Machine Is 50/50 60/40 Or 80/20 ? Realy I Want The Machine I Am Fan Of It And Curently Working With The Trial Software And I Like It , Good Job Carvewricht , Lets Talk Together Let's Bring The Problems On This Forum And Discust About Them Who Knows We Might Get Some Solutions For The Problems Or Suggestions , Because The Improvement Of The Product Will Be A Bonus For The Company And Long Term Sucsess For The Owners , Happy Woodcarving, And Carvewricht Team Keep Going And Keep Improving .