Had my first fire today.

[jeff412]

I supervised a 45 min carve for about 20 minutes and then I had to go to work, so I left it alone. When I got home from work I noticed a smokey smell in the shop. The project completed great, but I notice a burn mark on the side of it where the bit never should have been. Then after further inspection, I found the culprit in the machine. I cleaned this thing out very well before the carve, but this still happened. I guess this is another reason to get a dust collector set up.

Jeff

[Digitalwoodshop]

WOW..... :confused:

AL

[TerryT]

Any idea what caused it? That looks like a lot of sawdust built up in there. Personally I wouldn't use the machine without some kind of sawdust removal system. Even if that is just vaccuuming it out every 15 minutes. But you should never leave it unattended. I'm glad it was only minor.

[Capt Bruce]

Have you been able determine what was the root cause that ignited the sawdust? Frightening to say the least and I hope the damage was limited to what you illustrated. I'm concerned enough that I empty my dust collector system bag often lest it become the source of a spontaneous blaze in my shop. All it takes is that one spark in a dust rich environment. Thanks for the warning.

Lesson learned, a smoke detector in my shop tomorrow at the same time we should all be changing the 9 volt batteries throughout our houses while we SPRING AHEAD Saturday night.

[PCW]

Kind of looks like the trunk got stuck and the cut motor kept running. Was the machine still cutting when you got home?

[jeff412]

The machine wasn't still cutting. It completed the carve successfully. However, now the x-axis won't move. I'm beginning to think that it wasn't the sawdust that was ignited. Where is the x-axis motor located? When I came in from work, the smokey smell was an electrical smell, but I thought maybe the MDF smelled like that when it burned.

Jeff

[PCW]

To get to the X motor you will need to remove the bottom cover.

Also may want to remove the cover opposite the keyboard. Once it is off there is a black plastic cover in the lower right side. Remove the black cover and it will expose the X gears.

[jeff412]

How do you get the cover opposite the keyboard off?

Jeff

[PCW]

How do you get the cover opposite the keyboard off?

Jeff

Two bolts on top (think 10mm) and two Phillips screws on front of cover.

[jeff412]

Ok. Right under the burnt sawdust in the photo there is a piece of plastic. That is melted. Is that where the gears are located? The melted piece may have the gears jammed up. They're probably melted too. The motor does try to move.

Jeff

[PCW]

Yes there is two plastic gears. One in the center under the burnt area and another just to the right facing the cover.

[jeff412]

Yep. That's my problem. The plastic gear cover is melted. How do you remove it?

Jeff

[PCW]

The plastic cover just snaps off. Pry it up and it will come off. It may have some silicone sealer holding it.

[jeff412]

That's what I thought, but wasn't sure because everything is melted together. I'll go try again. Thanks for the help. I'll get some more photos shortly.

Jeff

[jeff412]

Looks like it melted one of the gears too. It looks like it's just a c-clip to change them. Is that all there is to it? Also there is a black plastic piece over the gear shaft that is slightly melted. Do you know what that's called and if it's necessary?

Jeff

[Digitalwoodshop]

I have a smoke detector above my machine. It went off 2 years ago while I was carving and I was just outside on the deck. I had Kinked the Flex Shaft Spring doing maintenance.... The outside of the flex was smoking black...

They make smoke detectors with a set of alarm contacts. When I get my final setup in the wood shop I will have the smoke detector go to a relay and 1. turn on a HORN in my shop and 2. Be wired into the cover switch so it stops the machine. Next I have a Current activated switch that the CW will be plugged into that will be hooked to the dust collector so when the cut motor stops so does the dust collector.... That will help at bit change too.... Now my blower keeps running.

They sell the I switch for Routers to turn on Dust collection.

Access the X Motor from the bottom.... Make sure you unplug the unit as the wires are exposed at the switch with the cover off.

How did the carving come out?

Good Luck,

AL

[AskBud]

Looks like it melted one of the gears too. It looks like it's just a c-clip to change them. Is that all there is to it? Also there is a black plastic piece over the gear shaft that is slightly melted. Do you know what that's called and if it's necessary?

Jeff

With that much damage, I would want to have the unit repaired by LHR. It may be a total loss.

I would think that your home insurance might cover most of the cost as it was accidental. Who knows!!
AskBud

[Digitalwoodshop]

Yes, the C Clip is used to remove the gear. You can do it one of 2 ways... The Hard Way.... Remove the X Motor at the same time as the gear... When replacing it this way know that you need to push the motor into place at the SAME time as the gear.... One or the other first and it will not fit.. OR.... Do like many of us have... Take a grinder and cut the lower plastic to remove the gear easily. Just seal it with tape later....

Don't know what the officially name is for the cover over the X Gear Box... But there is a list of parts here, ASK BUD would know.... I don't pay much attention to it... It will be a LHR part.... Dust Cover....

Any idea what the source was of the fire..... Any METAL in the wood? That caused sparking?

How did the carving come out? Any burn on the carving?

AL

[PCW]

Looks like it melted one of the gears too. It looks like it's just a c-clip to change them. Is that all there is to it? Also there is a black plastic piece over the gear shaft that is slightly melted. Do you know what that's called and if it's necessary?

Jeff

From what I see you need the X gears and the X gear cover. The thing that concerns me is why. I wouldn't think that those gears would turn fast enough to cause that much friction.

I would also pull the bottom cover. 12 screws just to make sure.:mrgreen:

Don't forget to unplug.

[PCW]

Parts breakdown

http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/getModel!retrieve.pd?modelNumber=133.217540

[jeff412]

With that much damage, I would want to have the unit repaired by LHR. It may be a total loss.

I would think that your home insurance might cover most of the cost as it was accidental. Who knows!!
AskBud

Deductible would be too high to cover any of the cost. It doesn't look like a difficult repair. I'll probably just order the parts and fix it myself. Plus it'll be a lot quicker.

Jeff

[jeff412]

From what I see you need the X gears and the X gear cover. The thing that concerns me is why. I wouldn't think that those gears would turn fast enough to cause that much friction.

I would also pull the bottom cover. 12 screws just to make sure.:mrgreen:

Don't forget to unplug.

I believe the sawdust ignited. I was cutting a 14" wide board and haven't cleaned my bit in a while. I also did a cut very close to the edge on that side. So the buildup of sawdust coupled with the friction from the pitch on the bit probably ignited the sawdust on that side, because of the width of board I was cutting.


Jeff

[jeff412]

How did the carving come out?


AL

The project turned out great. I think it was probably a smoldering fire because there is no damage above the burned area. So it was able to complete the carve before the x-drive shroud was damaged.

Jeff

[Digitalwoodshop]

I am thinking the QC was hitting something on the bit plate end..... Do you block your Bit Plate out like I do? A 14 inch board, it might hit.....

AL

[jeff412]

I am thinking the QC was hitting something on the bit plate end..... Do you block your Bit Plate out like I do? A 14 inch board, it might hit.....

AL

That's possible. I'll go check it out. It should be obvious if it was hitting it. I'm not sure what you are talking about when you say "block your bit plate". How do you block it?

Jeff

[jeff412]

There's no obvious damage on the bit plate.

Jeff

[supershingler]

what kind of wood were you carving. if the sawdust got built up and maybe your bit hit something in your wood. if you carved mdf it will sometimes have small pieces of metal in it that might have gotten hot or sparked when the bit hit it and passed by.

looks to me like your really lucky that it didnt do more damage to both machine and shop.

i use a down draft setup on my carver the blow out the sawdust every 10 minutes just to be safe and keep from getting a buildup under the roller that could cause an error.

kendall

[jeff412]

what kind of wood were you carving. if the sawdust got built up and maybe your bit hit something in your wood. if you carved mdf it will sometimes have small pieces of metal in it that might have gotten hot or sparked when the bit hit it and passed by.

looks to me like your really lucky that it didnt do more damage to both machine and shop.

i use a down draft setup on my carver the blow out the sawdust every 10 minutes just to be safe and keep from getting a buildup under the roller that could cause an error.

kendall

I was carving MDF. Yeah just finished the shop about 3 months ago. It would have been bad to lose that. The wife doesn't want me to leave it unattended anymore, but it just takes too long to carve anything and I can't stand to stay in the shop while it's carving.

Jeff

[supershingler]

if you have to leave just hit the stop button once and when you return you can hit the start button and it should start right where it left of provided you havent lost power to the unit.

i have gone as much as 24 hrs before resuming a carve and havent had any problems.

kendall

[PCW]

Jeff,

I have been thinking about doing what Al does and that is to use a smoke detector along with a camera with sound to monitor the carver. I have been putting it off for sometime. I have been staying with the machine while carving.

I have ringneckblue.com (http://www.ringneckblues.com/Dust_Collector_Insert.php) top mount DC insert and love it but there are several other plans for the DIY. AskBud has a project for one in the CW pattern store as well.

If anything good can be had from your close call is it gives everyone that reads this a good reminder of the risks of a fire.

[Griz64]

Since a number of people have been complaining about the new software either running the machine to fast or slow or whatever, I was wondering what version of the software you were using during the incident? I know from reading previous posts that some folks have been saying the new software has caused them to burn wood and a few have said they have burnt bits. I am very happy to hear it was very localized. It could have been a hell of alot worse and be thankful it wasnt. I hope your up and running soon. Good Luck.

[liquidguitars]

Bummer- Keep the bits clean and your chances of smoking one will be eliminated.

LG

[jeff412]

Since a number of people have been complaining about the new software either running the machine to fast or slow or whatever, I was wondering what version of the software you were using during the incident? I know from reading previous posts that some folks have been saying the new software has caused them to burn wood and a few have said they have burnt bits. I am very happy to hear it was very localized. It could have been a hell of alot worse and be thankful it wasnt. I hope your up and running soon. Good Luck.

I am running the newest version. This is only the second carve that I have done on the new software. So once I'm up and running again I'll have to watch that and see if it's a problem.

Jeff

[jeff412]

Bummer- Keep the bits clean and your chances of smoking one will be eliminated.

LG

It was my cutting bit that was running and there is no obvious pitch buildup. I probably only have about 4 or 5 hours of cutting on it. But I normally clean my bits more often, so I assumed that may have caused the friction that led to the fire. If I had some type of dust collector this would not have happened. That is my next project.


Jeff

[jeff412]

Jeff,

I have been thinking about doing what Al does and that is to use a smoke detector along with a camera with sound to monitor the carver. I have been putting it off for sometime. I have been staying with the machine while carving.

I have ringneckblue.com (http://www.ringneckblues.com/Dust_Collector_Insert.php) top mount DC insert and love it but there are several other plans for the DIY. AskBud has a project for one in the CW pattern store as well.

If anything good can be had from your close call is it gives everyone that reads this a good reminder of the risks of a fire.

I think a smoke detector with a contact is a great idea. I will definitely look into that. Especially after this experience. I could put a webcam out there as well just to keep an eye on things.

Jeff

[Digitalwoodshop]

I use a wireless intercom and listen in my shop next door and at the house too of I am really pushing the schedule.

AL

[Dan-Woodman]

I talked to my insurance person a while back and they said homeowners insurance does not cover most POWER TOOLS only the usual circular saw or minimal homeowner hobby tools, that everyone has.
later Daniel

[jeff412]

I talked to my insurance person a while back and they said homeowners insurance does not cover most POWER TOOLS only the usual circular saw or minimal homeowner hobby tools, that everyone has.
later Daniel

Other than that my deductible and most people's deductible is 1% of the home's value. I would just about need a new machine just to cover the deductible.

Jeff

[dcalvin4]

I had a bit come loose an slide down till it started grinding an sparking on the rod below it. i didnt tighten the 1/8 cut bit properly..later i read here , the correct way to insert and keep the flat spot of the bit positioned . i have the rock an am really happy with it but there is a wrong an right way to insert, an tighten the bit.. i dont leave the machine alone because i enjoy watching her cut my projects [sick i know] soo any way i feel bad for you
denny

[dcalvin4]

I had a bit come loose an slide down till it started grinding an sparking on the rod below it. i didnt tighten the 1/8 cut bit properly..later i read here , the correct way to insert and keep the flat spot of the bit positioned . i have the rock an am really happy with it but there is a wrong an right way to insert, an tighten the bit.. i dont leave the machine alone because i enjoy watching her cut my projects [sick i know] soo any way i feel bad for you
denny

my brain is shrinking faster than i think

[www.go3d.us]

I was carving MDF. Yeah just finished the shop about 3 months ago. It would have been bad to lose that. The wife doesn't want me to leave it unattended anymore, but it just takes too long to carve anything and I can't stand to stay in the shop while it's carving.

Jeff

You can cut down the carve time by using draft mode. Draft mode + bit optimization set to best will get nice result. It cut down the carve time a lots for big project. Under normal circumstance, there aren't much different between normal vs draft mode when bit optimization set to best, unless you are really picky.

Hope you can get back up and running again.

[jeff412]

You can cut down the carve time by using draft mode. Draft mode + bit optimization set to best will get nice result. It cut down the carve time a lots for big project. Under normal circumstance, there aren't much different between normal vs draft mode when bit optimization set to best, unless you are really picky.

Hope you can get back up and running again.

Does that make a difference if you are just drilling holes and doing cutouts?

Jeff

[jeff412]

Finally got back up and running today. It took a while to get the right part. After further investigation, I found the bit was really dirty. There was quite a bit of pitch at the top of the bit. It may have been glue from cutting a lot of MDF. I cleaned it up and started a carve. Hopefully I won't burn the place down. :)

Jeff