question on ratcheting pressure issue

[PlateCarver]

After replacing the QC and doing a couple of carvings I have an issue bringing the machine down to the wood, Where before I turned the crank and when it hit the board it would ratchet to stop the machine from applying too much pressure to the board I now do not have any ratcheting.... it will continue to go down until I stop turning.. I am concerned that I will break the machine as there is no stop anymore.

I hae cleaned it well to ensure there was no dust etc preventing this but can not find anything....

Any ideas as to how to get this feature back?

[c6craig]

Whenever my ratcheting doesn't work right, I always start by taking off the handle and spraying it out with air, followed by a short shot of WD40 into the clutch.

Hope that does it for you.

Craig

[Icutone2]

Dry lube all 4 posts go up and down a few tines and blow out the clutch handle relube 4 posts. That works for me all the time Hope it helps!
Lee
____

[gfbentz]

:) I just got my carvewright yesterDAY and did my first project.
Gave it a thorougth cleaning.
Today, I went to do project #2 and tha thing wouldn't crank down!
Nothing in the manual about it.
Saw this post, removed the crank handle and blew it out and it worked!

You guys saved me a lot of frustration and from thinking impure thoughts about my new machine.

[CarverJerry]

Give it some great thought about getting a vac hooked up to your machines, it will save you a lot of headacks. There are several available righ here on the forum. I run Ringneck Blues attachment, it works fine for me and I also use the exhaust port and a hose off an old very small shop vac and when the machine starts I stick it in the slot where the flex cable moves back and forth. This keeps a lot of air flow and the vac picks up 99.9% of dust and chips. I haven't cleaned my machine (except for wiping down the rails Z & Y and wiping off the sensor on the bottom of the z truck) for about 4 months now. But I do have a very large cfm vacuum hooked up to my machine. This will help elimate lots of chips, dust and head acks.....just my opinion and what I do for myself.

CarverJerry

[Kenm810]

gfbentz,

Welcome to the CW Forum,

Temperatures below 60 Degrees can make the top of the machine hard to crank down,
or sometimes if the top of the machine is cranked all the way up, it may bind and not crank down

[chkorte]

After replacing the QC and doing a couple of carvings I have an issue bringing the machine down to the wood, Where before I turned the crank and when it hit the board it would ratchet to stop the machine from applying too much pressure to the board I now do not have any ratcheting.... it will continue to go down until I stop turning.. I am concerned that I will break the machine as there is no stop anymore.

I hae cleaned it well to ensure there was no dust etc preventing this but can not find anything....

Any ideas as to how to get this feature back?

I have been having trouble with low head pressure. I couldn’t get more than 60lbs. I cleaned, realigned and lubed the 4 posts, verified the head was level and still had low head pressure. I called LHR and they had me remove the handle. Behind the handle on the inside is a spring and some washers. The washers go between the spring and the handle. They told me there can be up to 4 washers on the handle. I had 2 on mine. I added 2 and got it up to 70lbs. When I added 3 the CW handle wouldn’t ratchet. I went back to a total of 4 and called LHR back. The tech at LHR told me 70lbs was sufficient so I said OK and thanked him and proceeded with carvings. After 2 carvings I again checked the head pressure and couldn’t get more than 60lbs. I called LHR and the tech had me do a couple of checks and determined that my clutch is bad. I am waiting for my new clutch at this time. Clean out behind your handle. Wipe the grease off of the spring a the washers and put it back together with 1 less washer and check your head pressure.