Flex cable broken

[Franklinp44]

Hello, I recently purchased a Carvewirght machine from this forum and after a learning curve and lots of reading here i was producing some great things. I encountered a z axis error which of course stopped my carve. I found the flex shaft to be broken off on the motor end and the cable all though well lubricated looked somewhat in disarray. I purchased a new flex shaft assembly and installed it. Now the bit spins fine then stops. The problem is the cable does not extend past the end of the sleeve on the bit end. Like it is to short. Does the sleeve push in father into the motor? It is twisted to fit in the hole of motor and seems tight. Could the core be too short from the factory? Thanks for the help.

[myshop1044]

I had the same thing happen a while back. The flex shaft made the square hole in the motor into a round hole and the shaft slides into the motor. You should pull out the motor and look at the end where the shaft fits.
if that is the case, you will have to replace the motor as I had to do. The flex shaft has a sq. the on both ends.

[Franklinp44]

I was thinking about that. I will check it out. Thanks.

[Franklinp44]

I pulled the motor and put cable in there. It goes in a bit and stops. The cable spins the motor ok with minimum play. I'm going to say it is ok. i will have to wait to try it all again due to the day walkers wanting sleep.

[fwharris]

While your checking take a look at the hole on top of the Z truck. You will need to remove the top hat (2 screws) to get a good look at it.

Also compare the outer core length to your old one.

[bergerud]

We have heard before of the end of the sheath at the motor end coming off. People have had to re-glue it back on. Maybe it has slid off a little and is making the sheath too long.

[Franklinp44]

The bit holder end has no stop. With the bit out I see straight through. So the drive cable just works into the bit holder until it disconnects from motor and stops spinning. Rigging something now.

[bergerud]

On both my machines, the flex core at the truck end sticks out 1/2" past the end of the sheath when the core is pushed back into the motor.

[fwharris]

The bit holder end has no stop. With the bit out I see straight through. So the drive cable just works into the bit holder until it disconnects from motor and stops spinning. Rigging something now.

I "think" that you should be able to see straight through the Z truck. Verify that when you put the flex core into the top of the truck that it does not rotate without turning the chuck.

[Franklinp44]

Yes the chuck was normal to see through. I ended up putting the old sleeve on the new cable and packing a bit of tin foil into the motor end to get the shaft to come out a little bit. I has been running 12 hours now with no heat on cable sheath and seems to be ok.