New User old lurker

[Jcpb321]

Greetings
I finally purchased a cw, I have been on the forum about 2 months enjoying all of your posts of projects of inspiration that got me into this.

Well the grandkids set the machine up in the garage yesterday, the power cord still hast the tie on it and even though I am off of work the next 3 days (sick with doctors excuse) the tie will stay on..

Maybe next week will be soon enough, damm anxieties of waiting, the news of the new chuck, dust collectors etc must have really got to me, cause now it seems more like it will get done when it gets done instead of get-er-done.

I'll be taking my time looking at the new chuck, was going to get the rock, now??? of course I willl more than likely fire it up with the QC and see how it works too.

Dust collection, hah LOL, my shop is my one car garage and I have a real problem here and it cause I sometimes get a little lazy, I have too many tools and don't always use my main dc unless I am making alot of cuts, that is no excuse for not using the portable that must be a 650cfm so I guess the 1st lesson of this new machine is going to be housekeeping.

Hope to be joining in this discussions and share my projects with you soon.

John Bussom

[dbfletcher]

Greetings
I finally purchased a cw, I have been on the forum about 2 months enjoying all of your posts of projects of inspiration that got me into this.

Well the grandkids set the machine up in the garage yesterday, the power cord still hast the tie on it and even though I am off of work the next 3 days (sick with doctors excuse) the tie will stay on..

Maybe next week will be soon enough, damm anxieties of waiting, the news of the new chuck, dust collectors etc must have really got to me, cause now it seems more like it will get done when it gets done instead of get-er-done.

I'll be taking my time looking at the new chuck, was going to get the rock, now??? of course I willl more than likely fire it up with the QC and see how it works too.

Dust collection, hah LOL, my shop is my one car garage and I have a real problem here and it cause I sometimes get a little lazy, I have too many tools and don't always use my main dc unless I am making alot of cuts, that is no excuse for not using the portable that must be a 650cfm so I guess the 1st lesson of this new machine is going to be housekeeping.

Hope to be joining in this discussions and share my projects with you soon.

John Bussom

Welcome to the forum. No doubt by now you have realized this is quite an active forum. Any time you have questions or concerns please feel free to post them here. Generally you will always get several answers/opinions in just a few minutes.

Doug Fletcher

[CarverJerry]

John, congratulations on your CW, and welcome to the forum. As you already know there is a lot of good usefull information right here at your fingertips. My opinion is mine and I'm sure a lot of guys will agree, a dust collection system is very important to the maintenance of your machine. The chuck, well thats your decision but I'd change it out before the old QC rattles your new machine apart. That is why CW redesigned it and it looks like they did it around the Rock except it is a full spindle as where the Rock screws on where the QC is now. The rock is fast and easy to do, can't comment on the carvetight as I don't have one on my machine but I love my rock chuck. I also use the ringneck's dust collector, that too is easy to install and if needed comes off really easy. Your 650 cfm collector should do a good job.
Good Luck, happy carving and feel free to ask any questions as I'm sure you will have a few during your BIG learning curve.

CarverJerry
CJ

[SteveEJ]

Welcome. Save your pennies for the POM. Michael does quality design work and they are excellent!

[Router-Jim]

Welcome to the forum.

I'm going to go against the grain here and recommend that you start using your machine as is, provided that you have read the manual.

I love my Rock chuck but I loved my QC when it was new also. The QC will let you know when it's wearing out because the bit adapters will start to stick. When that happens you can upgrade to the Rock. In the mean time start carving, it's the only way to really learn on these machines.

Jim

[Icutone2]

Welcome to the forum. Lube Lube Lube!
Lee

[TerryT]

Hi John,
Welcome to the group!

[Jeff_Birt]

Dust collection, hah LOL, my shop is my one car garage and I have a real problem here and it cause I sometimes get a little lazy, I have too many tools and don't always use my main dc unless I am making alot of cuts, that is no excuse for not using the portable that must be a 650cfm so I guess the 1st lesson of this new machine is going to be housekeeping.

Welcome John. You have the basic idea, a little bit of time spent keeping the machine clean will keep things running smoothly. I wrote a piece about maintenance for an issue of the 'Tips&Tricks' a year or so ago that would be a good place to start for tips on how to keep things in shape. In general I would recommend looking through all of the past issues of 'Tips&Tricks' as they contain a wealth of information and will help you avoid many of the common 'newbie' mistakes that most of us found out the hard way.

http://carvewright.com/cms/tips-and-tricks

[cestout]

The QC will work fine - just make sure the bit seats well. If you grab the sides of the QC and tug down you can you will feel it slide down a little further and you will have no play in the bit. And keel it oiled. I never considered the Rock Chuck, but the new one I will have to get eventually. But a total conversion will cost about $230 minimum. The QC should last close to another year and I have a couple of new bits. When I have to replace all that stuff, it will be economically feasible.
I find designing project to be as much, if not more, fun than the carving.
But be careful, it is addictive.
Clint

[fwharris]

John,

Glad to see you make the move from being one of the guests to being one of the carving group.

No worry, you will have those anxiety feeling for a while but by taking things at a slow pace and simple projects to start with you should be able to change those feeling into Hey, see what I did
and hearing Hey GrandPa that looks great!

[Capt Bruce]

Welcome to the Forum and enjoy the ride. I too vote with the jump in and carve something school of thought!

[eelamb]

Welcome John, for now take it slow and read as much as possible. The tips and tricks are a great place to start. I would suggest you search here for information on the quick change (QC) chuck, and learn how to use it properly. Later you may want to change to the CT or the Rock. As mentioned keep the CW clean and well lubed. Also search here for how to keep the CW lubricated. Lubrication, cleaning and proper use of the QC is top priority. Doing these three things will give you many enjoyable hours of carving.

When you have a question ask it, and many here will help you. The fourm has a good group of people here and very knowledgeable.

[earlyrider]

And don't forget to lube the flexshaft!

[CarverJerry]

On the flex shaft, read about it first so you don't get too much lube on it and it drains back down into the top hat....not to scare ya but it's important.

CJ

[Jcpb321]

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcomes, too bad it don't bring some more heat to Pa.

Just to let you know that I am still hanging with this cold and the temp at 1:15 here finally got up to 56 deg, windy outside! I just returned from the state store, the wife sent me after some ginger brandy, maybe that will help once this medicine runs out, may need to go back to the doc again if this don't let go soon!

Anyway I have been using most of my time studying the tutorials etc have a couple of things ready to go when I go too. I have not been to the garage since day 1 now you know I gotta be sick. I am sure it will wait for me and like I said I need to do some housekeeping 1st!

I am kinda over the look what grandpa made stage, have a collection of woodwork from futon beds to acorn birdhouses that I have made over the past couple years, most my grandkids are gettin grown now and more interested in them girls:roll: Thats why pap has to wait to get things done here cept when they need some girl money I say!

I'll be just fine and really this is not how I planned getting started with this CW but stuff happens.

Thanks again,
John

[CarverJerry]

Hope you get to feel'n better John, don't feel alone as the weather here in Ohio is crappie too and I came down with the shingles over the weekend, hopefully the doc caught it in time where it doesn't get too bad, mine is on my head and it feels like I'm getting shocked all the time......but a good time to do some scanning of things.

CJ