OK, what causes this:

[SAA3840]

I loaded my project board and selected Project Menu.
I then selected the project I wanted to carve. (there were only two on the memory card.) The machine immediately asked if I wanted to stay under the rollers and I pressed "1" for yes. Nothing happened. I waited, still nothing. I started over. I turned the machine off, and went through all of the above steps and got the same thing, no response when I pressed "1". Pressing "2" got the same, nothing. OK, I figured the keypad was shot. Having two machines I swapped keypads. Went through the whole process again, same thing. Nothing, the machine just sat there with the question "Stay Under Rollers?" (1) Yes, (2) No displayed. Being quite frustrated by this time, I pressed "1" numerous times in rapid secession and low & behold, the machine started.
Any thoughts on what's amiss in my machine. I really don't think it's the keypad. I don't think the problem would show up in both keypads at the same time.

????

[Digitalwoodshop]

Dirty contacts on card?

Computer going bad?

Power Supply going bad?

Card needs to be reformatted.

AL

I left a card out on my deck in a rain storm..... Let it dry 3 days and no problems.... Oooops....

[SAA3840]

I called LHR the day after I posted this inquiry and Phillip told me that the cable running from the computer to the keyboard needed to be replaced.
Well, I replaced it AND I vacuumed out the bottom of my machine and the problem seems to be gone. I'm hoping it was the cable and not the tons of sawdust that didn't get sucked up by the down-draft box. (See picture)
Anyhow, thank you Phillip!

Edit: One thing I should add regarding the cable; If you're going to make your own cable(s) from store-bought pieces, make sure you get the connecters oriented correctly (both facing the same way as the original cables). If you don't, you'll get the cable installed, but it won't do a thing. Leastwise mine didn't until I removed and reinstalled one of the terminals on the 24pin cable.

[PCW]

Mike,

Someone and I can't remember who posted the same problem about 3 or 4 months ago but they had to replace the computer because the chips packed around the computer causing it to overheat.

[Steven Alford]

So how do the chips get in there? Isn't this part of the machine sealed off from dust?

[PCW]

Hi Steve,

It is not sealed off. If you look at the bottom cover there are cooling vents that allow air to flow in and pass by the electronics to cool them. The center slot of the cover is where you might hook up a downdraft DC but the other two vents are for cooling.

Al posted some pictures a while back that showed the two fans in the cut motor that draw air from under the machine and out the dust port.

[fwharris]

I called LHR the day after I posted this inquiry and Phillip told me that the cable running from the computer to the keyboard needed to be replaced.
Well, I replaced it AND I vacuumed out the bottom of my machine and the problem seems to be gone. I'm hoping it was the cable and not the tons of sawdust that didn't get sucked up by the down-draft box. (See pictures)
Anyhow, thank you Phillip!

Mike,

Glad to hear you got fixed and are back to carving!

You might look at how your seal is between your down-draft box and the machine. I would guess that your DD box is pulling any dust from the outside of the machine to your port on the box. This area on the machine should be on all of us carvers deep clean check list.

[SAA3840]

I also added cut-outs under the vents so that my shopvac can keep some of the sawdust out of the computer and circuitboard areas under the machine. Before all I had cut out was the long slot under the cutting area. I'll check it after I've done a few carves to see if it's keeping it cleaner now.

[will george]

Thanks for the picture.
I clean my CW after every use. However, I was not smart enought to think of turning it over. Maybe some cutouts in my roller cabinet I made for the machine?

[earlyrider]

Mike, you might want to put foam rubber type door/window insulation around the periphery of the downdraft opening between the bottom of the machine and the top of the downdraft table. This eliminates alot of the dust that can otherwise pack in around the electronics. Not perfect, but helps.
Ron

[SAA3840]

Earlyrider, thanks for the suggestion, I have 3/4" foam around the long cutout as well as the two cutouts I added on either side of that. Having the foam around just the long hole is what prevented the sawdust from going through the vents and into the downdraft box. Now both sets of vents as well as the long hole get vacuumed out continuously.