Where do I start?

[atldal]

So I started with a minor issue and everything seems to have hit me at once. It started with a bad vibration on the flexshaft that caused two broken bits. I took everything apart, lubed it all good, and that seemed to have gone away although I did have a lot of shavings in the top hat. I was having a tracking issue and changed out the x-gears from there I developed a worse issue with tracking and discovered that my head pressure was 160. I got that fixed, but my tracking issue is still there. I seem to get check tracking roller often now. Also my machine seems to be having an issue with just locking up and spinning the bit over top of the wood like it is confused. On one attempt it measured everything out ok, said routing figure, and just sat there and never did do anything. I'm at a total loss as to where to start with trouble shooting issues as I seem to have several at the same time. The worse part is I have 4 orders I have to fill and two of them are cribbage boards that require the tracking to be spot on. Any help on where to start would be awesome.


Shane

[RogerB]

You had it apart to fix .If you removed cable's and straps try the connections and make sure they are back in place properly. Hope this helps. I did the same thing and found a bent pin on the y

[bergerud]

I would focus on the brass tracking roller as to the cause of your tracking problems. Make sure it is not too close to the belt. Check the underside of your board for tracking marks to make sure the roller is hard pressed against the board. Roll the roller with your finger while watching the x sensor data on the LCD display to see if the numbers change smoothly. Also, with a board clamped in, you could roll the x gears by hand and watch how the two sets of numbers agree.

[DocWheeler]

And, that little piece of rubber hose that goes under the brass-roller mechanism.

[TerryT]

This is interesting. Maybe I missed it but......
What quality setting did you use? Did you try a different one, instead of best try normal, etc.
Are you sure your head pressure was 80 or was it more or less? Maybe try it on the light side, 80 or slightly under.

[atldal]

It is at about 72 or so now. I have tried different settings. Nothing seems to be helping at this point. I've never had an issue with it just hovering and not doing anything

[bergerud]

I have noticed this behavior before where the truck just sits and waits while the motor spins. In my case it was because the board was slipping on the belts. The x drive would move the belts but the board would not move and so the brass roller would not move. The computer was in a pause waiting for the brass roller to indicate that the board had moved to the next carve position.

So, any reason why the x motor encoder data back at the computer does not result in brass roller data back at the computer could be the cause. Bad x motor encoder, bad x gear, slipping belt roller gear, slipping board, slipping brass tracking roller, bad tracking encoder. Lots of things to check.

[atldal]

Earlier it was mentioned that there should be marks from the brass roller on the board. I've never seen these even when I use tape. Is my rubber spacer not good would changing this out help?

[bergerud]

Your rubber spacer may be gone. Look across the belts and see how high the brass roller is above the plane of the belts. It should be up 1/16" - 1/8" above the belts and be fairly stiff to push down with your finger.

[atldal]

The roller is above the belts, the rubber spacer is there, but the roller pushes down fairly easily. Is there any substitute or the rubber spacer that people have tried?

[bergerud]

Do you have rubber belts?

[atldal]

Yes, I have rubber belts

[bergerud]

Maybe the spacer under the rubber damper spring is not there. Check page 9 of:

http://www.carvewright.com/assets/service/Service_instructions/CarveWright_service_replace_rubber_drive_belt.pdf

[liquidguitars]

Yes, I have rubber belts

One of the best ways to tell if the belts are hitting the Brass encoder is to keep a eye on the board as it exits the no man zone in the center of the unit, if the belts are hitting the roller as it exits it will spin free or climb do to the fact its rubbing on the belt and that's bad.

Also as the rubber "people mover belts " gets older or the rubber on the table in feed wares out you will see issues like bulges. The fix is cut off a 1/2" of the belt on the keyboard side next to the rollers. One less issue to think about.

[atldal]

I'll check, but I thought it was there. I wonder if it would hurt to put another spacer there. Also I noticed on that very same page it shows split spring washers over the pins said it comes with the belts. I know mine does not have that

[bergerud]

I thought the split washers were to tilt the apparatus so the roller was further from the belt. It may be that is that end goes down, the brass roller goes up. Maybe you have found the problem.

[atldal]

I'll try putting split washers in there. Seems like it would make it go further down. I will also try and put a washer under the rubber spacer.

[liquidguitars]

Before you go to all the work does the machine measure off most of the time? place a 2' board and measure it 5 times.

[atldal]

It usually does measure. I had already taken off the plate and added the spacers. Now I have an additional problem as the hits keep on rolling. I have always had an issue with my keypad not working with the down arrow. When I took it apart this time and then put it back together, now the up arrow isn't working either as well as some of the numbers. I checked to make sure the ribbon cable was tight as well as cleaning it out good. Not sure if the keypad is bad or the ribbon cable. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[liquidguitars]

if the key pad is not working it's normally a bad ribbon cable a small nick on the cable can be hard to see.

[liquidguitars]

It usually does measure. I had already taken off the plate and added the spacers. Now I have an additional problem as the hits keep on rolling.

yes I think you could of just forced it closer to the belts... Faster to cut them. BTW I think member Al cuts his off a little even the paper ones. :)

[bergerud]

II have always had an issue with my keypad not working with the down arrow. When I took it apart this time and then put it back together, now the up arrow isn't working either as well as some of the numbers. I checked to make sure the ribbon cable was tight as well as cleaning it out good. Not sure if the keypad is bad or the ribbon cable. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I would bet on the wire. Where the wires connect in the plug. Push the wires in, give it a squeeze.

[atldal]

So upon close inspection, the ribbon cable is toast. So is there at trick to getting this out. The hole it goes through is smaller than the end. Did Carvewright put these in and then put on the ends?

[fwharris]

So upon close inspection, the ribbon cable is toast. So is there at trick to getting this out. The hole it goes through is smaller than the end. Did Carvewright put these in and then put on the ends?

This is the cable replacement procedure http://www.carvewright.com/assets/service/Service_instructions/CarveWright_service_replace_LCD_cable.pdf

It is a little tricky getting it fed though the slot in the base.