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View Full Version : Flex Shaft overheated!



Ron Smith
12-04-2006, 07:50 PM
I started a project today that said it would take approximately three hours to carve. I turned on the machine, began cutting and went over to do some wood turning on the lathe while it was cutting. I checked on it about every 15 minutes to make sure it was okay. It finished the lettering and the background, but when it started the Santa figure, I smelled something hot. I immediately opened the cover and noticed smoke coming from the flex shaft in the back. The cutter was still cutting, so there was nothing binding it. I pulled the flex shaft from the cutter head and looked at the shaft in the back. Smoke was pouring off of it and it was so hot I couldn't touch it in about an 8" length. As soon as I let it go, it kinked up on itself like it had been wound too tight. I couldn't understand how it did this if the cutter was still spinning with the motor. Would cutting red oak put that much strain on the cutter and let the motor outrun it, twisting the shaft?

I called Eric and he is sending me a new motor tp put in and I will send him the old one. I guess I'm down until next week sometime. At least I have turings to do for christmas to keep busy. Here is a picture of the shaft after I un-kinked it, but it still has a very sharp bend in it. The shaft will not pull out of the sleeve.