Carving Bit Slippage

[BradJulian]

I have had more than one carving ruined because the carving bit continues to come loose in the collar. I have used red locktite several times and it seems to work for the first carving but after that not so much. Has anyone else experienced this problem and if so have you fixed it. Thanks.

[hess]

I have had more than one carving ruined because the carving bit continues to come loose in the collar. I have used red locktite several times and it seems to work for the first carving but after that not so much. Has anyone else experienced this problem and if so have you fixed it. Thanks.


what chuck you using?

[SteveEJ]

I have had more than one carving ruined because the carving bit continues to come loose in the collar. I have used red locktite several times and it seems to work for the first carving but after that not so much. Has anyone else experienced this problem and if so have you fixed it. Thanks.

I did while I was using the Quick Chuck but never when using the Rock.

[DocWheeler]

I have had more than one carving ruined because the carving bit continues to come loose in the collar. I have used red locktite several times and it seems to work for the first carving but after that not so much. Has anyone else experienced this problem and if so have you fixed it. Thanks.

Brad,

You can grind a recess or "flat" spot for one of the screws, I did that when I was using the QC. Wish I hadn't now since I primarily use the Rock.

[CarverJerry]

I too had slipping problems with the QC. Problem went away since I switched to the Rock.

CJ

[BradJulian]

What is the Rock?

[c6craig]

What is the Rock?

The rock is an aftermarket chuck similiar to the one that LHR has just started selling (The carve-tight).

Here is a link to Ron's webpage:
http://www.cw-parts.com/

You can also do a search here on the forum for "rock" or "rock chuck" and you will have many many pages to look through.

Good luck,
Craig

[BradJulian]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my post. I appreciate the information and will look into getting either the Rock or the CarveTight.

[BradJulian]

Again, I would like to thank all those who replied to my post. I broke down and ordered the upgrade package yesterday from CarveWright. But the more I thought about it, the more aggravated I got. CarveWright obviously knew that there was a problem with QC adapters why else would they have come up with a completely different way of loading bits. It seems to be that if there is a design flaw then it should have been a recall and the items that you had to buy should have been provided at no cost. Just my thoughts.

[alan.galbraith]

BradJulian,

I have to agree with you in most of these instances. I just decided that if I wanted my machine to work, I had to go along. Otherwise, it would become a dust collector. I am in the process of upgrading the z bundle, z truck and rock chuck. At least with the core returns, it will save me $80 out of about $350 total.

[mtylerfl]

...CarveWright obviously knew that there was a problem with QC adapters why else would they have come up with a completely different way of loading bits...

Hello,

I am one of the folks that was perfectly happy with the QC - always got great carve quality, only had a "stubborn" bit twice in three years. However, since enough folks did have issues with the QC it only made sense to eliminate the problem entirely, regardless if it was caused by user-error (often) or an actual physical problem with the component itself (seldom). People do NOT like to be told "they" are at fault when things go wrong. That doesn't sit well with most folks, and is rarely acknowledged. Thankfully, the new CarveTight is so simple to use, I can't imagine anyone being 'accused' of user-error on that! Plus, I think the solid one-piece design will outlast most of our lifetimes and our machines.

Just about any product can be improved upon and I think most companies are always looking for ways to do that. I certainly understand the advantages of the new CarveTight over the QC, even though I had no complaints. As such, I'm in favor of any improvement that makes the machine perform better, increases reliability, and makes it easier for the owner to use.

[jaroot]

I can't speak for the others but.. I like the idea of the QC but ours had bad runout when we got it. We didn't realize it and just thought that the carving ability of the CW was less than stellar. I short time into playing with the unit the z-truck came apart, spitting out the bearing retainer clip and allowing the bit to swing wildly about. We sent the z-truck to LHR and they repaired it and returned it to us. (Free of charge I must say) After the repair the quality of the carving was noticeably better and life was good. Bits practically slid in and out and they were tight with little if any wobble. Occasionally one bit or another would be a little difficult to remove but a little WD and some flipping of the collar would drop them out. Then about a half dozen of so carves later the truck spit the retaining ring back out again. I'm beginning to suspect vibration of the QC as has been mentioned numerous times here in the forums. So now we have a broken machine that will either cost $125 for a new z-truck or upgrade to CT and that will cost almost $300. (We would have to replace the two std bits and buy the 1/4" sleeve and purchase the rubber spacers.) We are not real excited about the cheap repair since it seems as though that may well just put us back in the same boat. If we replace the z-truck and add a Rock to it our costs will come down a little compared to the CT but then we still have the retaining clip issue that some have suggested would not exist with the CT. So at this point we are just pondering.

[rjustice]

Jaroot,
What material were you carving when this happened?... also, what is the condition of your carving bit. To have this happen to 2 spindles is very suspect to another problem. Even with the vibration of an out of balance chuck, i dont think that would nuke two spindles that quickly. Note that the spacer is in the spindle bearings no matter which chuck you decide to go with.

Let us know more of the details...

Happy Carving,

Ron

[jaroot]

We were carving poplar. It was the round three piece jewelry box project that is in the tips and tricks. We went with a centerline dingbat carve in stead of the shell & carve region and did a little note on the bottom. It carved the text and the bottom of the rim for the lid and was starting to cut the hole in the bottom of the box when it came a part. The bit is still sharp enough to cut your fingers and doesn't appear to be bent at all. Ours is a refurbished machine and others have suggested that the refurbished z-trucks have this problem. Some where, and it may be email that we got from LHR, we were told that the CT with the solid spindle did not use the same retainer.

Thanks for your input and help.

Jim

[rjustice]

It has been posted that some of the refurbished "Z"'s have had this problem. So, that may be the case. I just looked at one of the new CT spindles, and it definitely has the spacer ring in it, whether it is the same one or not I dont know, but it looks the same. Perhaps someone from LHR could confirm this? It doesnt sound like it is the wood, or the bit from your feedback...

Ron

[jaroot]

Well I took the z-truck off our machine. Checked it out and looked it over pretty good. It appears that the only problem was the missing retaining clip so I pushed the retaining clip back into place and then took a punch and dimpled the housing in 2 or 3 places around the bearing/retainer and put it all back together. We are carving again. I figured we had nothing to loose as we are not under warranty and will have to replace the z-truck anyway. We are still undecided about which route to go. I'll have to do a little more investigation about setting bit depth with the Rock.

Thanks for the help and ideas.

Jim

[dbfletcher]

Well I took the z-truck off our machine. Checked it out and looked it over pretty good. It appears that the only problem was the missing retaining clip so I pushed the retaining clip back into place and then took a punch and dimpled the housing in 2 or 3 places around the bearing/retainer and put it all back together. We are carving again. I figured we had nothing to loose as we are not under warranty and will have to replace the z-truck anyway. We are still undecided about which route to go. I'll have to do a little more investigation about setting bit depth with the Rock.

Thanks for the help and ideas.

Jim

There are lots of threads on that subject, but generally as long as you place the top most cutting flute on your bit 1/16 to 1/8 inch below the rock (or rock sleeve) you will be fine. The 3/8 straight bit and cutting bits are the only ones where if u have them too low you will sometimes get a z-stall whe it touches down on the brass roller side of the machine.

Doug Fletcher

[jaroot]

There are lots of threads on that subject, but generally as long as you place the top most cutting flute on your bit 1/16 to 1/8 inch below the rock (or rock sleeve) you will be fine. The 3/8 straight bit and cutting bits are the only ones where if u have them too low you will sometimes get a z-stall whe it touches down on the brass roller side of the machine.

Doug Fletcher

Thanks!
Jim