Carving issues

[JuicyCarp]

Good morning! As always I appreciate any feedback you may provide!

I am having an issue, and I think I might know the cause but I am unsure. I am using a C machine with approx. 200 hours on it. My two most recent carves have presented an issue that I can only try to articulate in hopes that someone might recognize the problem. I would have included pictures, but I already sanded out the issue the best I could.
Imagine you were doing a carve of nothing but a rectangular carved region in the center of the board; let’s say its .25” deep with a 1/8” feather. This should be no issue, as almost all of my carves this far have had this component in their design. However lately, as the project lay in the CW, the left side of the carved region displays several anomalies. It appears that sometimes the bit travels slightly too far, carving small grooves into the edge of the carved region, and sometimes the border of the carved region is very sloppy, not straight at all.
My assumption is that this is occurring perhaps because the Y drive timing belt may need to be tightened, but I don’t know why that would cause the issues only on the left side. I need to replace my carving bit, so while I am at it I am going to replace both the y and z drive belts, but before I do I thought I would see if there might be a different part that is the problem.

Kevin

[chief2007]

Morning Kevin,

Your running close to the 250 hour mark on your machine, If you been using the machine under Heavy use, I would say to change the Y motor housing bearings to be replace, They do not always last until the 250 hour mark, especially if you are use the machine under heavy use. The Y and Z belts will last so I would not recommend changing those unless they are damaged for some reason.

Doing the 250 Maintenance requirements should resolve your issues - Here is the link to what you need to accomplish http://www.carvewright.com/support-page/maintenance/

[JuicyCarp]

Thanks Chief,

I see that there are two different bearings on the website, an adjustable and a fixed, does it matter which ones I get? The site doesnt specify which ones are for what.

[bergerud]

The Chief is talking about the little bearings inside the y motor pack that the more mechanically inclined users change themselves. LHR would recommend changing the whole y motor pack. The little bearings are standard sized bearings that one has to buy elsewhere.

The bearings on the web site are the rollers for the whole y carriage or z truck. Fixed ones and adjustable ones.

Here is a post with pictures from Al talking about these bearings.

http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?22612-y-z-gearbox-big-gear&highlight=bearings

[JuicyCarp]

Ahhh, its all making sense now! I see the Y truck motor has a rebate, thats probably the best way for me to fix this at the moment. You guys rock, thanks for the help!

[bergerud]

Not to slow you down but the bad y motor pack bearings just MAY be the problem. There are other possibilities. (Chief suggested the motor pack bearings because of the hours on your machine. Those bearing seem to go on average around 250 hours.) The carriage or truck may be loose. Carriage or truck bearings may be clogged with dust. The small idler pulley may be seized or clogged with dust. The point is there are other possibles. Those bearings are only the most probable possibility. We would hate to see you buy parts and still have the problem.

Do us a favor and check the play in shaft of the y motor pack before you buy a new one. If the bearings are bad, the shaft should wiggle some and have some gear backlash. You can check this as soon as you take off the belt.