archy

[archy]

Hello Every One Out There. This Is New To Me So Hopefully I'm Doing It Right. I Am Getting Ready To Install My 3rd Shaft Within About 125 Hours On My Machine. I Am Using The Recommended Lube With Moly. The 2nd One Really Got Fried. Can Anyone Give Me Some Insight As To What I May Be Doing Wrong. I Soak The Internal Shaft For As Much As 3 Days Before Using It. The Only Thing I Did Not Do Was To Completely Dry The Shaft Before Inserting In Sheath. Would That Have Made That Much Of A Difference? But I Have Always Noticed That The Shaft Runs Pretty Hot. 155 Degrees Plus. Even The Original Shaft Ran Hot And The Metal Support Loop Melted Through The Outer Plastic Sheath. Please Help.

[AskBud]

See the link below.
AskBud
http://forum.carvewright.com/showpost.php?p=90811&postcount=2

[Digitalwoodshop]

Do you have a metal spring inside your flex? Without the flex you can get more heat.

I would remove your flex from the machine and remove the spring. I would use something like a .22 gun cleaning rod to try to clean out any stuff inside the flex. OR I would just bite the bullet and buy another $75.00 flex Shaft. There could be heat damaged material inside the flex causing your heat problem.

What kind of carving do you do? I just broke my first flex shaft. It was properly lubed but I was using a dull or dirty 3/8 inch bit taking a .1 depth pass in hard yellow pine. The machine was bogging down during the cut. I do some deep V Carving too and is more stress on the shaft.

AL

[want2b]

You mentioned not making sure the shaft was dry. Apparently the lube can migrate into the spindle bearings and dissolve the lube there. Then the bearings disintegrate and you have to replace the Z truck. If you don't catch it in time it may damage the QC and destroy a bit.
Good luck
Rick H.

[TerryT]

Three flex shafts in 125 hours is crazy! Definately something wrong there. My first one lasted 300 or 400 hours and the only reason I changed it was because the ball bearing in the top hat wore through and it wouldn't stay in anymore.

Use chain lube with molly. Use coffee can or what ever to put the inside shaft in. Cover with lube over night. Dry and install. Make sure the silencer spring is installed and the flex shaft goes into it. Do not use DW40 or anything similar. I don't know whats going on but there is no way you should have gone through three flexshafts in that time period.

[www.go3d.us]

I used coastal bearing grease high temp (at advance auto parts) mixed with 10w-40 motor oil and the flex shaft stayed cool...well just a little warm through 4 hours of carve.

[PCW]

I would stay with the Liquid Wrench chain lube with moly. It is the proper lube for the flex shaft. The moly is like having thousands of micro ball bearings coating the flex shaft. It is some truly amazing lube.

It is what LHR recommends for the lubrication on the flex shaft and I am sure they have done studies on all the lubes.

Ziplock works good for soaking flex shaft in and then you can save the remaining lube for the next time.

[PCW]

Hello Every One Out There. This Is New To Me So Hopefully I'm Doing It Right. I Am Getting Ready To Install My 3rd Shaft Within About 125 Hours On My Machine. I Am Using The Recommended Lube With Moly. The 2nd One Really Got Fried. Can Anyone Give Me Some Insight As To What I May Be Doing Wrong. I Soak The Internal Shaft For As Much As 3 Days Before Using It. The Only Thing I Did Not Do Was To Completely Dry The Shaft Before Inserting In Sheath. Would That Have Made That Much Of A Difference? But I Have Always Noticed That The Shaft Runs Pretty Hot. 155 Degrees Plus. Even The Original Shaft Ran Hot And The Metal Support Loop Melted Through The Outer Plastic Sheath. Please Help.

Archy

I would have to agree that you have something wrong going on. I would definitely take a look at it from the point where it comes out of the cut motor all the way to the top hat. If you have a infrared non touch temperature reader I would monitor from one end to the other for hot spot. If not use your hand and see if you can feel a hot spot when it is running. It should never get hot to the touch.

I take that the flex shaft is routed correctly with no sharp bends. You could even have a rpm problem. If you can not pinpoint the problem I would call tech support. You need to correct the issue that causing the problems before you go broke.

[archy]

Thanks Alot Guys For The Quick Reply. I've Talked To Lhr And They Seem To Think I May Not Be Lubing It Right Or Often Enough. But Like I Said I Soak The Shaft For 2 To 4 Days. The Only Thing Is I Did Not Wipe It Dry After. Also I Noticed The Inside Surface Of The Spring Seems To Wear To Where It Actually Has Flattened The Inside Surface. What Should The Temp. Range Of The Shaft Be? I Will Double Check To See That Both Ends Of Shaft Are Seating As They Should. Any Other Ideas As To How To Keep Track Of The Shaft Temp? Thanks Again Guys!!!

[Wilbur]

I have just gone through this very same thing and when almost through with a 11 hr carving I begin to see what my problem was.
It was the QC. I have a new one now but have not been able to remove the old one as of yet.
I watched the temp on my cable using a meter and noticed that the temp went up and down with the difference in QC sound.
The sound of the run changed, so did the temp plus there was a change in flex cable, The way it moved from smooth to jumpy.
The oiling of the cable played no part in its temp.
I found it all in the cutting QC. This is not covered under warranty and I find mine very hard to get off.

Wilbur

[archy]

Did You Happen To Buy The Tool Kit That Comes With The Thin Wrench And The Adapter That You Use With A Ratchet To Remove The Qc? Also You Might Try Heating The Qc With A Hair Blow Dryer First To Soften The Locktite They Put On The Threads.