My second machine

[ramlin]

After numerious problems with my first machine, I returned it to Sears for
an exchange. Turn around was good (5 days). Before I even tried a
project, I had made a check list of things to look at. Everything was fine
until I got to the quick release chuck. It had the same problems as the
first machine. I had tried to change the chuck on the first machine, on
the advice and instructions from CW. They had sent me a new chuck,
along with the flat wrench that was not available. I made the "special"
tool from an allen wrench, and tried to loosen the chuck, no good. I
then tried to use heat as CW suggested, even heated to point where
I was afraid of damaging something on the Z truck. no good, the end
result was, that the allen snapped off, leaving a piece in the square
hole. That is way I returned the first machine. My second machine
also had the same chuck problems. I purchased Boeshield T-9, and
lubed and worked the chuck for several days. When this did not work,
called CW. The wanted me to send the machine back to them for
repair. At this point, I pondered what to do. I know there are people
whose machines worked right out of the box. But I felt if I am spending
that amount of money for a machine, it should not have problems that
needed to be resolved before using. In the end I returned the machine
to Sears for a refund. On the positive side, I feel the machine has a
lot of potential, and maybe sometime down the road, most of the
problems I have seen in this forum will be resolved. I intend to keep
my eye on the forum to see what develops. I also give high marks
to CW tech support. I realize the problems that seem to be in the
manufacture and quality control of the machine, are not their fault,
and they do their best to resolve the issues.

[VtBlues]

Sorry to hear about your trouble. I can empathize completely. Someone on here claimed that they have a return rate of only .04%. Statistically that doesn't add up to me cause if that were the case then the odds of any one person getting 3-4 bad machines, as some on here have, would be somewhere in the neighborhood of those of winning powerball lottery. I have just come to the conclusion that instead of getting one new hobby, carving. I got 2. Carving and machine repair. When it works its great but when it doesn't its very frustrating. Sooner or later they will get all these issues worked out. It is a new machine with its share of growing pains.

[liquidguitars]

Removal of the chuck can be a pain; I had the same thing with my custom
allen wrench twisting off; remember the steel tool you made is softer after grinding.

Keep heating the chuck until you loose the locktite@ bond and it will come off. no heat = no removal...

CW got my unit back last month for a rebuild/upgrade, so im my case it worked out better than just getting a new unit replacement.

as a side note, I think sears will stock replacemt chucks soon that will work a bit better.


LG

[hilltech]

I got my second machine from Sears, retuned the first one for replacement (bad z truck bearings) with less than 10 hours on the machine! Sears had very fast turn around on the replacement machine. The replacement system has stuck chuck and after servral hours of lubing and gently trying to unstick the chuck, I'm giving up....I would not put up with these sort of issues with any other product; image a new car that won't work right off the lot!!!! I should not be expected to fix the chuck...wait for a replacement chuck from CW, or at a later date have to buy a BETTER chuck from Sears at a later date. Where's the quality control here? I need to be spending my time creating stuff, not trying to fix a brand new machine!!

[Jeff_Birt]

I agree that a sticking chuck stinks. That being said ANY machine tool you buy will have to have things cleaned and relubed before use. That's just the way it works. I think most of the sticking checks are stuck part of the way up. If you move it down/up several times you will get it unstuck. Then EVERYTIME you use the machine clean and lube the chuck as per the manual.

[ramlin]

Jeff,
I agree with you, but in my case the chuck on both machines was
stuck all the way down, and would not come up. I honestly tried
all the tips posted on the forum to loosen them. I used Boeshield T-9,
as some members suggested, looked inside with a mirror, and lubed
inside. Tried tapping, bit removal too, holding shaft with flat wrench,
all to no avail. On the second machine, I was beginning to think it
was "operator error" I had the chuck they had sent from the first
machine, and asked CW very specific questions as to how far the
chuck should raise. Omar even went to the shop and said it should
raise 1/4 inch. This confirmed what I was seeing with the chuck I
had. (see photo). The chuck on the machine would not come up
more than maybe 1/16 of an inch. After my experience with the first
machine, and the special tool, I was afraid to try and remove the
chuck and damaging the second machine. If this "special tool" had
been available, and could be obtained, I would have tried to replace
the chuck. I would not have purchased the machine, if I did not feel
it had great potential. I have not given up, just put my plans on hold\
for a while. Thanks to all of you for your input on the subject.