Problem with CW accepting, or homing bit

[Elkaholic]

When I load a project this piece on the machine is supposed to pop out and then the bit lowers and touches the metal. This piece no longer flips out. I can move it easily by hand. It now just keeps asking for a bit over and over. I have 1.119 and I am going to try 1.12. I have carved about 10 projects and now this.
Any Ideas CW.

http://haastylcalls.com/photo/data/515/support1.jpg

[Cliff]

Check out the second article in the troubleshooting pdf section, it will list one of two possible causes and easy fix..

[rgant05]

That piece is physically pushed out by the travel of the Z-axis truck over to the edge of the machine. I have heard of some having problems where there was a burr either on the rounded part of the flag or the spot where the z-axis truck assembly pushes it. Stoning or sanding that burr solved the problem for them. Not sure what else might create that problem. Does the truck go all the way to the edge or does it stop short of the bit flag? The reason the bit needs to touch the flag is that it tells the machine exactly where the end of the bit is so that it can know how deep to move it up and down in the carving..... without touching the flag, it will never know that it even has a bit in the machine and naturally then wants you to put the bit in the machine. ie everything is "thinking right" its just that it doesn't go over far enough to find the bit on the flag becasue the flag is not coming out like it should. Check that you can move the truck that far over by hand that there is no bind, and that it is not hitting a burr and stopping

[RC Woodworks]

Elk, I had that problem with my first returned machine. At first I thought it was the temp of my shop. I would completely turn off the machine and wait a minute and hand move the truck side to side warming it up. Turned it on and it worked, well not exactly. So then I watched it and it looked like it wasn't going over far enough or with enough pressure to move the arm.

You might locate the edge it makes contact and grind it smooth. Or another member sprayed WD 40 on the track and that fixed it. With WD 40 I would be worried about dust gumming it up. I would try silicone other then that if it is within Sears 90 days return policy exchange it for another one. Or call CW and have them send a return shipping label. I received an e-mail about a label I requested and they told me Fed X was taking 10 days to deliver,cramping their shipping time.

This is for my 4th CC so like you time is an issue so I can get a new unit in a week so my choice was Sears. I guess you need to make the choice for what's best for you. Hopefully you can fix it yourself...good luck

[Elkaholic]

I will try and sand it with a dremel lightly. It appears to be rough and may have a burr. I was able to get a project going by wedging a small strip of wood to make it stick out slightly. I figure their must be a burr on it.

[Elkaholic]

The troubleshooting tips did not work, going to send it in :( 2 machines have not worked, so it's o worked 2 DOA

[Skyhawk]

I started to get this problem about 2 weeks ago, and I finally figured out the cause! I had tried all of the ideas from the other users, and still it would fail sporadically...

Tonight during a long carve this started acting up again, followed up by 246 errors...Watching the head, I notice that it has started to move erratically...I cleaned the system completely, to no avail.

I then removed the top cover and had a look at the z truck. Moving it side by side was rough...not smooth like when it was new. I removed the belt to see whether it was the motor, belt or pully...same rough movement...

It seems that the bearings have failed on my unit, making the movement out of sync, and causing the problem (as well as others)

I will contact CW tomorrow to see about replacement bearings, or a new truck assembly.

With the power off you should be able to move the z truck front to back...there will be resistance, but it should be smooth for the entire distance...