Saga of machine AX.004.100

[ramlin]

I received my machine on 4/6/07 from Sears. With great excitment,
unpacked it, and having studied the manual and software for 30 days,
felt I was ready to try carving. Made a small "normal carving" of
cross. This came out OK. (photo 1). Then make a "best carving"
of the same cross. This came out OK. (Same as photo1). Moved on to try
to make a cut. This came out OK (photo 1). So far so good, figured
I am ready to try something larger. Loaded pattern Germany.mpc.
The carving started fine and ran until was 10% complete and died.
No error messages were shown on the keypad LCD. I restarted the
carving again, and it carved over the same area until the same
spot as before and died. Again no error messages. (Photo 2). I
removed the memory card, and checked it. It had recorded
X Axis stall and Y Axis stall. It gave the option to send error
messages, which I did. It never gave a confirmation that the
messages were sent. This left me in the dark as to where the
messages went, or how it would help my problem. I deleted the
messages, and checked the firmware on the card, and re-flashed
the firmware. I then reformatted the card, and uploaded the
program again. Ran the same design (differnt wood),with the same
results as before. I again checked the card, and this time it said the
card was corrupted. Time to call CW in regards to the error messages.
Talked to Chris, and he led me through removing the cover, and
checking for loose connections. He had me remove the dust cover
on the back of the truck and pull the ribbon cable from the dust
cover. On inspection it looked like the cable had been pinched
together as someone took it and squeezed from the side almost
had a perfect thumb print. Straightened out the ribbbon cable and
reconnected all of the other connections, and we were getting ready
to run some tests. I had noticed when I first got the machine, that
the chuck was very hard to use, I had tried to lube it, but still was
very had to insert/remove bits. Anyway the chuck got stuck and nothing
would budge it. Chris said he would send out a new chuck, and instructions
on removing the old one. After reading the instructions he e-mailed me,
I discovered that you have to fashion a special tool to insert in the
shaft that the chuck is attached to, also it requires a "special 7/8 wrench"
to unscrew the chuck. I tried to puchase on all over town with no luck.
Time to call CW again. Talked to Hope and explained the problem. She
said no worry, the chuck came with the wrench. This was on 4/16/07.
While waiting for the chuck, I finally, with much effort got the chuck
to accept bits. So as one last shot I decided to try one more carving.
Loaded DecalFinal.mpc The carving worked perfect, and then asked
for the cuttting bit. Inserted the bit, and it went perfect until it broke
the bit. (Photo3) It gave an error message of 440. I called CW software
to inquire about the error (did not record on memory). The young lady
said it was nothing to worry about??? I also seached the forum for anyone
else encountering this error (none found). The new chuck arrived today
4/20/07. Delivery time was extremly fast. I had fabricated a special tool
from an allen wrench to fit in the square in the chuck shaft. Tried to
loosen the chuck, no luck. Chris has said it might take some heat to
loosen the loctite. I heated the chuck, no luck, heated it again until
the whole truck got so hot I stopped. Still could not be it to break
loose. As a last resort I used some PVB Blaster, and tried again. The
allen wrench snapped off and left a piece in the shaft. I had no way
to remove it. I then pondered whether to take the machine back and
get a refund, but finally decided what little of the carving I did i liked,
and the machine has some real potential. Sears was great, no arguments,
ordered me a new machine. Will arrive on 4/25/07
BONUS... In the meantime the price had come down and I got $100 rebate. My final analysis:

Carving time: 4 hour 1 min
Technical support: Outstanding
Software support: Being a retired software engineer, I felt they would
have a little more knowledge of error codes, and be
able to explain a bit better.
One last item: When I blew the machine out, 3 small nuts come
from the inside of the machine. They had never
been used, so must have been inside of the machine
when assembled.
Machine rating: For all of the unlucky people who have theirs and are
having problems. I think all of these problems will be
overcome and the machine will be a real addition to
us woodcarvers, who used to do it by hand. That's
why I am willing to give it another shot.

[rjustice]

Ramlin....

First off, welcome !!!

I have an observation that might help you on your new machine next week. On your last picture of the decal, i noticed that the wood isnt completely planed smoothe. The reason this is important, is that the machine will pinch tighter on the belt on one side than the other, and can cause a sandpaper belt tear. This could also have been a cause of your stall... if the board wasnt ripped parallel, it could have been tightening up as it was going through the guide. I have had wood purchased from Lowes, that was finished, and actually had this happen to me. As it was feeding through the machine it was getting ever so slightly tighter due to being not quite parallel. Since then i have made it a practice to slide my workpiece all the way through to make sure i didnt tighten the guide too tight.

I think you are going to find that the machine is incredible. I have over 50 hours on mine and havent had any problems to speak of...

Good luck and feel free to post any questions or request for help....

Ron

[FINGERS]

Well got my forth machine from sears today and all the pepole at sears wishing me luck on this one, anyway got it home and set it up on the bench checked the felxcable and it was dry I pinched wiped the cable with a micro cloth and it was dry so I lubed it up with some brake-free the chuck was sticking so I lubed it also 2or 3 hours later it was good to go, ran a small 30 min. carving it came out good, in the morning I will set-up the machine for a 5 hour carve, I haven't named this machine yet, but I bet Moe, Larry and curley are being parted out on Ebay.

[MarkJamesDesign]

Welcome to the nut house Ramlin.
I too had a sticky chuck on a Sears unit and would like to give an important "HEADS UP" to all new users. My chuck was so sticky I had the carving bit go in but the chuck did not lock completely. Came down far enough to hold the bit in place and fool me. When the carving began, I walked away and got about 1 and 1/2 steps from the machine before I heard what sounded like a jackhammer loose in my workshop. The bit had drove down into the wood and come free from the chuck. The machine and the chuck were still rocking away as though it still had a bit and was pounding against the top of the stuck bit adapter on every pass. 2 of the 4 "wings" on the inner flange of the chuck were broken off in the scuffle. Once I overcame the horror of seeing sparks and metal chips flying out of my machine, I removed the bit and adapter from the workpiece and made a quick assesment of the situation. Bit was fine, adapter was a little scratched up but seemed fine. I lifted up on the QC and it went up and took the bit adapter and seated well. I then grabbed the base of the adapter and gave the bit a firm tug. No play - it was in good this time. Never removed the workpiece or cancelled the carve. Pressed enter and the carving started where it left off and came out fine. While the carving was running I phoned CW to see what the downside of having a QC with 2 broken wings was going to be. Before I could even tell Hope that it was my fault for not seating the bit completely in the QC, she told me a new one was on the way. I have not replaced the QC yet as I'm not looking forward to tearing apart a machine that is working fine. My QC with the broken wings is still working great and it only sticks a little now and then and with a few taps and tugs it cooperates. I do check that bit for a snug fit every time now. Having that bit come loose in the machine reminded me of my grandfather who cut off 2 of his fingers in a table saw. He used to hold up his "nubs" and say "That's something a fella only has to do once to learn."

Anyway, welcome again Ramlin and I agree with Ron. The snipe on the left side of your board was probably a contributing factor in the error on that carve.

[ramlin]

Mark
Thanks for sharing your experience of the chuck. Seems you had
more luck in removing the chuck than myself. What did you use
to insert in the square hole in the shaft to hold it while trying to
unscrew the chuck, and how hard was it to unscrew?

Ron
Thanks for the advice about Lowes lumber. It was red oak, I used
that was purchased from Lowes. Just one more valuable lesson
learned from those who have "been there done that" I certainly
will add this to the rules to follow before hitting the proceed key.

[ramlin]

Mark
I read your post wrong. Thought you had already removed the
QC. sorry, need another cup of coffee before reading posts.
If you decide to change the QC, please let me know how it
goes for you.

Thanks again

[Idioteyes]

Hey Ramlin...

I'm on machine number three right now, so dont give up. I have also found extra parting in two of the three machines that I have worked with. My second machine after running a test part, I found a piece of 1/4" ID black rubber, nylon reinforced rubber hose, about 3/4" long. On my third and current machine I found a piece of an electronic photo eye. It part of the head of the photo eyes. I know this having done my time in industrial factories, installing equipment. I just like to set the extra pieces aside and wonder how or why they would have ended up in my machines. lol