Melting flex shafts

[carrothers]

My Carvetight has around 450 hours and I am going thru my fourth flex shaft as they keep melting. I do the flex shaft oiling by the book with the stuff that CW sells and let it drain overnight before putting it back on the machine. I use new bits primarily. After talking with CW, I ordered and replaced my spindle...so with a new spindle and a new flex shaft and with a new bit I tried a short carve. After 10 minutes the spindle was extremely hot and the heat was backing up onto the flex shaft. I'm out of ideas on what could be the cause of this over heating? Any suggestions for trouble shooting would be greatly appreciated.

[bergerud]

I think that spindle heat is normal for a new spindle. I would just do short, easy carves until it breaks in.

[fwharris]

Something is amiss with going through that many shafts. Would it be possible to post a picture of the flex shaft on your machine? The flex core should have a nice curve with no bends to it.

Dan is correct in that there will be a break in period for the new spindle so it will/should be a little hotter than normal.