Broken bit

[metalman32060]

Well tried my first real project last night and am sad to say I broke my carving bit. I am just unsure if it is a problem with the project design or the machine. Haven't had any problems with the couple test runs (just making a couple signs with centerline). The bit seemed to wobble a bit and then snapped off before I could hit the stop button. I have attached the project for some of our experts to look at and mabye point me in the right direction. The project is one I was working on, but found that it had been done before so i downloaded it and altered it slightly. Not sure if it was what I did or mabye a chuck problem. Everything seems to snap into place the way it did on my test projects. But it was late and I was frustrated at breaking my 40 dollar bit, so I left it to check this morning.

[woodknack]

well if it was me id make sure the carving bit (if that is the one you broke) was secure in the adapter. Get a new carving bit in an adapter and try it again. The mpc looks good to me. Might want to check your chuck too to make sure everything is tight.

[STEAM]

well if it was me id make sure the carving bit (if that is the one you broke) was secure in the adapter. Get a new carving bit in an adapter and try it again. The mpc looks good to me. Might want to check your chuck too to make sure everything is tight.

I agree with that. I broke my carving bit after the first project. I checked my chuck. It was good and tight but I did not check the adapter screws. If they are not snug, take them out and use loctite when you re-insert them.

[williamr701]

I broke my first bit last night during a cutout on a pattern that have used before with no problem. Brand new chuck and adapters after a chuck failure, another story. Anyway, I had done everything right, cleaned both sets of threads for each set screw, the adapter bore and the bit with solvent. Dried everything and set the bit in the adapter by hand feeling that the flats on the setscrews and the adapter were parallel. I removed one screw at a time and applied loctite 271 to it and reseated it by hand and tightened. Sounds like I done everything right...but I made a very big (little) mistake. I failed to apply loctite to both sets of threads for each set screw. I neglected the internal threads on the adapter. Used to work on big fast rotating stuff. That was part of the sops for the job. I believe that this failure was cockpit. Hope this helps.

[Jeff_Birt]

Thanks for the heads up William. It sounds like we have a similar troubleshooting technique. I always start with saying to myself, "What did I screw up?". The vast majority of the time I can retrace my steps and find the error. If there was no errors apparent in the step I took than I'll start looking other places.

[Digitalwoodshop]

Remember board quality can contribute to a broken bit. The bottom edge that contacts the brass roller muse be perfect. Any dents or gaps will result in a loss of contact and the X drive has the power and torque to break a bit if it is stick in the wood cutting.

AL