Free Carvewright!

[Schluppy]

At least that's the way I'm feeling right now. I've spent several hours every night after work thus week repairing, tweaking, calibrating and resisting a crazy urge to grab a BFH and pound on thus thing! Didn't realize a person needed to be a NASA engineer to run and maintain it! Ugh!
Ok enough of my whining! After fixing the later problems (see recent posts) now there's a new one. This isn't the first time this had happened either but I thought it might be just a fluke. Did a test run about an hour ago and every seemed fine. Carved about 60% and it just shuts down. No error message, it truck doesn't home itself, nothing. The display reads as though I had just turned it on. Took the cover off and did not see any loose wiring. Completely out of ideas besides wasting money and randomly start replacing parts. How about you guys? Might try calling support tomorrow but because it's out of warranty I'm sure they will charge an arm and a leg.
Tim

[dbfletcher]

To me it sounds like a power supply issue. More specifically an "L2" issue. You can do a search of "L2 power supply" to find relevant threads... or eventually digital workshop will post 1/2 page of info on it. I'm pretty sure he just has it down to a copy/paste operation by now.

Here are a few images from him.

http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?10651-Traction-Belt-Trick&p=83221#post83221

[AskBud]

At least that's the way I'm feeling right now. I've spent several hours every night after work thus week repairing, tweaking, calibrating and resisting a crazy urge to grab a BFH and pound on thus thing! Didn't realize a person needed to be a NASA engineer to run and maintain it! Ugh!
Ok enough of my whining! After fixing the later problems (see recent posts) now there's a new one. This isn't the first time this had happened either but I thought it might be just a fluke. Did a test run about an hour ago and every seemed fine. Carved about 60% and it just shuts down. No error message, it truck doesn't home itself, nothing. The display reads as though I had just turned it on. Took the cover off and did not see any loose wiring. Completely out of ideas besides wasting money and randomly start replacing parts. How about you guys? Might try calling support tomorrow but because it's out of warranty I'm sure they will charge an arm and a leg.
Tim
Start by plugging the machine in to another electrical circuit. See it that solves anything. Do/did you see any lights flicker or did anything start up at the time it failed?
AskBud

[Schluppy]

Morning
I have a dedicated power source running to my shop. Nothing else runs on that specific circuit. I do have the powercord plugged into a retractable extension cord. I never had power fluctuations in the past. Not saying it still might not be the cause. I will give it a try once. Have to do something this is driving me nutz!
Thanks
Tim

[dougmsbbs]

My new machine was doing this when I got it. Drove me nuts. I found a wire connector loose on the power supply. Plugged it in fully and the problem went away. Something to check...

[Mikewiz]

Have you tried it without your extension cord? The cord could be the problem.

[Schluppy]

Thus early evening after work I'm going to recheck all the connections and try it plugged directly into the wall and see if that works with a scrap piece of wood. It just bites a bit when you think it's all good to go and you end up running a quality piece of lumber through and all it creates us expensive firewood! If all is good I will update!
Thanks
Tim

[TerryT]

Most retractable extension cords that I have seen have a circuit breaker built in. It's a long shot and I really feel it is a power supply issue BUT if you have to use an extension cord make it a straight cord (no interupters) and of a good guage (10 or 12).

[Digitalwoodshop]

OK... Sorry to hear of your power problem....

Like said above... Power Supply.... L2 or something else on the power supply... Just replace it if you want the best and easiest fix....

Then there is STATIC Electricity.... IF you have some kind of dust collection you should have a ground wire on the machine to the dust collector to the outlet...

I believe that if Static Electricity builds up on the frame of the machine it can cause the computer to shut down.... I was disappointed with The NASA finding that the TOYOTA Car problems were NOT Electronic... I still believe that a static charge is building up on parts of the car and that is causing the computer to lock up..... Sure they did lots of tests in the Anechoic Chamber as seen on TV... But did they charge the car with static electricity.... I have been in 3 Anechoic Chambers, the kind with graphic impregnated pointed foam on the walls. Sony had a huge one to test the designs of the first HDTV's in 96 and the antenna place I worked at had 2.

AL

[cnsranch]

I've got two retractable power cords in the shop - one's an expensive one and works great. The other one is from HarborFreight and is a POS.

The HF cord cuts in and out intermittently - I've had it apart a number of times - the design is crap. If you draw a tad more power thru it than it's rated for, the small brass contacts will no longer (or intermittently) make contact sufficient enough to keep current going through the thing.

If you're CW loses power, even for a sec (AW - could it be a MS?) the machine will re-set.

My bet's on the retractable.

[Schluppy]

Thanks everyone for the great ideas! I cannot wait to get through the day here at work and get my butt home to try some of these simple possible remedies.
I will keep everyone posted!
Tim

[badger2424]

Tim I had basically the same problem but I was getting y stall and x stall errors, and I noticed the display flicker from the y stall error, to completely off, then back on to the startup menu like it was just turned on, and it was the power supply. Put a new one in and the CW worked fine. If you're good a soldering, check Al's pics out about the broken L2, and save yourself $125.

[Schluppy]

Good morning
Last night I had the chance and removed the cover and bottom plate. Checked all the connections and did a Thorough cleaning. Did not notice any loose connections but removed and reseated all of them. After I ran a board through for a test run and the CW stopped on me twice. Same thing again. The bit just stopped spinning like the on/off switch was flipped but the display read like it was just turned on. I did not specifically look at the L2 but this afternoon I will. Posting some pictures to show the CW and also I think I will start building a suction box to go along with the dust collection I had already installed.

Thanks again for everyones help!
Tim

[bjbethke]

Good morning
Last night I had the chance and removed the cover and bottom plate. Checked all the connections and did a Thorough cleaning. Did not notice any loose connections but removed and reseated all of them. After I ran a board through for a test run and the CW stopped on me twice. Same thing again. The bit just stopped spinning like the on/off switch was flipped but the display read like it was just turned on. I did not specifically look at the L2 but this afternoon I will. Posting some pictures to show the CW and also I think I will start building a suction box to go along with the dust collection I had already installed.

Thanks again for everyones help!
Tim

Looking at photo #1, your problem maybe the stuff you have attached to the clear cover. There are micro switches attached to this cover assembly, one of them (right side) is a safety switch to control the main motor. Any vibration on this cover can open this switch.

[CarverJerry]

I may be wrong but I'm almost betting you are using a shop vac on your carvewright. If this is the case like Al said static electricity is going to be a problem....besides do you really get enough CFM with that small of a vacuum hose to keep your machine clean?

CJ

[Schluppy]

The problem started before I had installed the vac on the CW. I was also having big problems with pitch building up on the truck rollers which this alleviated.