I think I killed my machine

[Lin]

Running an eagle carving. Lots of dust building up in the cutting areas. Sides are clean...downdraft hooked up. Kept thinking about what if those rollers get a lot of dust on them while its moving...the depth will change and my eagle will be screwed up...so I stoppped the machine buy picking up the cover and vacumed out the dust off the board...shut the lid and hit enter and off she went...Thought...not hard to do this every 10% or so to help keep the chips off the rollers...at just over 40% I vacumed out the dust chips again and closed the lid..hit enter..nothing..nada...it didn't go this time..no power I discover fairly quickly..well maybe I had accidently hit the cord with my foot and loosened the plug...I shut off shut and back on...figured I'd just start from the beggining...nope...will not power back up. Third carving on the machine. Used same heavy duty strip all times...strip has power to it..but no power to the machine...I checked the forum...tried tapping on the machine just above the display...turned it on its side and done same...nope...
Could I have killed it with static discharge while vacuming it out with shop vac? My plan was to eventually fix up a way to blow off during the carving...I have the pump to try but not everything else I needed to get it done before this carve....any ideas?
I checked the card...no errors...re formated it anyway and put project back on...Updated the firmware also...no power to the machine at all....no display period. Called Carvewright and left message...Only had the machine three weeks now...might return to Sears...haven't decided yet. If Carvewright calls back today I will try to deal with it thru them...If no call back I will probably take machine back to Sears and get new one..
Should I not vac it out during a carve...I did read now after I already did it that some say you shouldn't...but others say they do it all the time.
LIn

[Kenm810]

Lin, Sorry to hear of your misfortune,
The only time I had a static problem was with a shop-vac.
I could actually feel the snap when it discharged to the machine.
So I did a forum search and read that only some makes or models of shop-vacs have static suppressers or eliminators,
evidently the one I had, even though it was new didn't, I haven't used it near the machine since. http://www.carvewright.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif

[rjustice]

Lin,
I also had a static discharge using a shop vac, but i got lucky enough to have it only knock out the display temporarily. Mine actually started back up, and finished the carving with the display blank. After rebooting mine it came back. I heard the "ker-SNAP" when mine zapped, and figured i roasted it, but got pretty lucky. Most posts that talk about it werent so lucky. My best guess is that you werent so lucky either.... Sorry to hear about your misfortune.... Good news is that they are turning them around pretty quickly from the sound of it...

Ron

[Dan-Woodman]

Would a grounded plug have prevented this ,like the BETA machines had?

[benluz]

Did you check the cover switch on the right side of the machine ? that one controls the motor and the one on the left controls the computer,mine are both bypassed and the machine is stopped by the stop button
Ben

[Kenm810]

Dan,
Quote-Would a grounded plug have prevented this ,like the BETA machines had?

Not likely, It never seems to discharge to where you want or expect it to. - I have a 10" high rpm.disk sander with dielectric bushings to the motor, it and the shop-Vac, both have 3 prong grounded plugs. If you happen to get the flex hose any where near the aluminum back plate while vacuuming up dust you can hear the static snap from the hose to the plate. Even though it's posted on the wall. A few of the warehouse men come into the shops to clean up and take out to trash when thing are slow in the building around lunch time, and have made the mistake of holding the flex hose with out gloves to near the sander. Believe me when I say they only have to do that once to learn,
you can hear the crack and yelp from my shops conference room. http://www.carvewright.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_eek.gif

[Digitalwoodshop]

The motion of the dust traveling through the vac hose produces static electricity in the ten's of thousands of volts. A grounded carve machine would not have made much of a difference. Semiconductor chips have a real sensitivity to static electricity. Most of the input and output chips have capacitive input and outputs. The Static Electricity charge punches a hole through the capacitor destroying the chip. The wire harnesses pick up the deadly voltage and deliver it to the chips.

I use a 2 HP dust collector with a top hood and a down draft under the machine for a real wind storm in there. I use foil dryer hose that is grounded and have a ground jumper wire 3 places on the dust collector and 3 places on the carve machine.

Add your post to the 20 or so that start out.... "I vacuumed my Carve Machine now it's dead...... Reading this forum has saved a lot of machines.

If the display is blank then it's dead. If a cover switch is open then it will say close cover. Also check the dimmer on the display in case you bumped it to blank.

Your machine will get a trip back to LHR to fix it. Or you can take it back to sears.

Good Luck.

[Lin]

I'm pretty sure the power was off before I even close the cover door...I just didn't realize it. I myself didn't get a jolt nor did I hear anything but I had earmuffs on at the time also. Just dead. No power what so ever. Operator error I'm fairly sure of it. And I tried so hard to make sure I read everything so I did everything right to avoid this type of thing happening to me. I have read folks who use a vac to suck out the dust when its under power without issue...I obviously failed to read the ones that got bit before me.
Carvewright never called me back today. I left a message on two of the three lines I called. I was very upset with myself and wound up extremely tight over the whole thing. Used a lot of words I don't normally use.... Hubby loaded me and the machine up this evening and we took it back to Sears. My new machine will be here next Friday the 20th. Maybe I will get the eagle done in time for the raffle at the family reuinion after all. Wish me luck...NO MORE SHOP VAC around my machine...I may be a bit old and a few gray hairs...but I can still learn a lesson or two when I get bit...lol
Lin

[Digitalwoodshop]

We all learn the hard way. Glad you will have a new machine shortly and good luck getting the project done. I would offer to do the project for you as would many of us. But it would just NOT be the same as the "Oooooo's and Aaaahhhhhh's you will get when they find that YOU made it.... Good Job !!!!!

My old boss in San Diego in my Navy days was a Classic Car re builder, his wife's classic car CA license plate was "Not HIS"..... I always got a chuckle over that.....

One word of caution.... Sears has a VERY POOR Track record of getting requested machines in when promised. A back up plan should be in place like a print out of the designer project and a "I owe you"..... And stay on the butt of the manager.... They will tell you what you want to hear until the deadline passes and your frantic....

Good Luck,

AL

[Lin]

LOL...that's why I said cross your fingers for me. I have to admit. My first machine came in 1 day ahead of schedule...so maybe..just maybe. Printing out a pic is a great idea. Ya know "just in case" Thanks.
Lin

[rpringle]

Lin,
Sounds as if your return worked out better than mine.
On 7/5/7 my machine had a "Z axes stall" and would not clear.
I wasn't to concerned because I figured I could exchange my unit quicker than a repair and have the warante re-newed.
I paid for the macine on 4/4/7.
Finally got it on 4/21/7.
I went to the store on 7/7/7.
Under the 90 day return policy I thought I was, at least 14 days before the 90 return and only 3 days from the orginal purchase.

The first problem was this little witch in the tools department says, in effect to bad the 90 days starts at the time of purchase (3 days late).
After some discusion about this stupid rule, what if it took 60 days for delivery, then you would only have 30 for it's return.
She got irratatied and just walked away and did not return.
An assist manager came along and I told him of my problem.
He listened looked sympathetic and went to the back to talk to the "orginal witch" after 15 minutes or so he returned and said that it was a "Home electronics product which has only a 30 day return" and I was out of luck.
He was polite but I thought it was a VERY inapropriate answer.
He did say that the local repair center would send it to Texas for me.

I was so damn mad I could not spit.

Was your machine returned under 30 day or 90 day policy?

I'm not sure whether the compucarve is a 30 or 90 return, I cannot tell from the internet adds.

All Be careful about the Sears return policy, if it takes 3 weeks to get it you may have only 7 days to see if it works.

Russ

[Jeff_Birt]

It says 90 days in the manual you get from Sears, might have helped if you had shown them the manual (but maybe not) Just sounds like the guy was trying to get you to shut up and leave. Too bad idiots like the two you ran into give the rest of the good Sears associates a bad name.

[Lin]

It had been less than 30 days (order date 6/19 picked up at store on 6/28) but my understanding of what the manual states...90 days. Never thought about date of purchase versus actually delivery date..that could cause a problem.
I had ordered the machine online and had it sent to my nearest Sears for me to pick up. I took it back to that Sears and had no problems getting the refund and then reordering for the same 15% off price that I had originally paid for it. The manager also look to see if within the time I ordered the machine and now the reorder if it had been any cheaper. It had not... Hubby and I talked with the manager for quite a bit of time about woodworking in general. He enjoys building furniture as a hobby. So for me anyways...I had a good experience with Sears...Thinking I need to make them one of the Craftsman wrenches when I get my machine back and take it to Sears for them to show what the Compu-Carve can do...
Lin

[Digitalwoodshop]

Will the girl loose money out of her pay check for a return, giving up a commission???

AL

[rpringle]

My impresion was that she did not want to botherd ordering another unit, I think if one had been in the store it would have been OK.

WhenI got home I orderd a second unit with the intention of returning my old broken one with the new package.

It seems fair sense they are taking advantage of me.

Now that I have had a few days to sleep on it, I will probably keep both.

I'm having carving withdrawel!

I talked to Chris at LHR, nice guy, who is sending me a new controller.

Russ

[VtBlues]

Returned mine about two weeks short of the 90 days and had no problem with sears at all. The people that you dealt with at sears and their treatment of you should be reported up their chain of command so they mend their ways or move on.