Stopping a carving to lube?

[carrothers]

I started a five hour carve tonight and after about an hour felt the flex shaft and it was definitely hot the entire length of the casing....probably over 100 degrees. I am tempted to stop the carve and lubricate but I haven't had any experience with what happens to the carveing if you stop midway. any help would be appreciated.

[chief2007]

You can stop the carve, lube the shaft and start back, just don't turn the machine off or press the stop button twice. Try not to more the y truck either.

I have stopped a carve to change a flex shaft, and then back to the carving with no problem.

[rossclark]

I use this method. If you can hold you hand on the flexshaft it,s not too hot.If the temp is higher than that stop the carve..I don't leave my machine run unattend for a long period. Too many things can go wrong very quick. I have stop a carve and started it again ,But do not remove the board from the machine. When you start it again it will measure the board and should start in the same place. It will carve air for awhile ,but in my case the carve came out great.

[chebytrk]

As Chief2007 says... You can stop the machine even in the middle of a carving. Just press the stop button ONLY once which places the CW in a "Pause" mode. Try to do this when the Ztruck is centered on the board as it's carving because when you press the stop button once, the Ztruck will halt, stop spinning and raise to its highest position. Then you can now proceed to remove the flex shaft and lube it, place it back in and after all is set, press the start button TWICE. The CW will now contine to carve where it left off.... No board measuring, no air carving, no bit resetting or anything. I, like quite a few others here have done this many times. The main thing to remember is to stop the CW by using the stop button & NOT lifting the plastic cover. I also personally use the "Al Who" method for lubing the flex shaft (place a "dime size" lube spot) on the middle of the flex shaft. Works great for me. :)

[lynnfrwd]

Make sure u get it fully seated when you put back in and don't over lube.

"a little dab'll do ya"...name that ad!!


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[Digitalwoodshop]

And since we are talking Flex Shaft... As our machines age, the little ball bearing in the top hat holding the flex to the top of the truck can wear a hole in the outer flex. Not being too careful a while back I tugged on the flex a few times to pull it out and actually stripped a few teeth off of the big plastic gear for the Z.... A First.... So if you have trouble getting it out... Remove the 2 screws and take the whole top hat off then work it off the end of the flex. I also ROTATE the Top Hat once the bearing wears the flex to keep the flex from DROOPING and getting caught on the UP STROKE of the Z with the rubber lip on the Flex catching the underside of the Flex Slot in the cover.

AL

[cestout]

I think the sheath goes in two ways at the motor, so you could probably accomplish the same thing by rotating the sheath.
Clint