Electronic Equipment Reliability

[Digitalwoodshop]

Everyone has gotten used to a TV that goes 20 years without a problem. Office Laser Printers that go for years with little more than a new Toner Cartridge. The list does go on....

I think that is some of the reasoning behind the latest batch of members asking about the reliability of the Carve Machine. We all get spoiled with reliability..... I am in that boat too....

Just tonight I am fighting with a Epson R1800 Ink Jet Printer. I use it for Sublimation Printing, the pictures on a T Shirt technology. Generally a very trouble free printer but not tonight.... I am just finishing the last 60 printed plastic tags of a 300 tag order and the printer head is plugged. Cleaning Cycles are Expensive as the bulk ink bags cost $1200.00 for the 8.

I just finished the fight tonight not making any headway. I ended up pulling the ink and installing empty refillable cartridges filled with 409 cleaner to flush the heads. I ran a few cleaning cycles and will let it soak for the night.....

I am a little disappointed in the printer but the Sublimation ink is thicker and the heat in my Laser Shop does dry the heads more in the winter. As for preventive maintenance I print a nozzle check every morning and today it was perfect. 200 some tags later and "Huston We have a Problem...."

I will sleep in peace tonight knowing when this happened a year ago last Christmas, I panicked and bid on 3 printers on eBay.... Well I won 2..... So I have 2 back up printers.

Just like the Carve Machine, if you are going to put yourself in a place where you will need to get work out the door every day a second machine is a must and the knowledge and parts to fix the machine.

Just my 2 Cents...

AL

This is tonigh's project, 300 Fire Dept Accountability Badges..... Only 60 more to print.....

[oldjoe]

Great way to put into perspective Al. Thank you

[John]

Hey Al, I have a R1800 as well. If my CW quality and reliability was half as good as the printer I would be thrilled. (BTW, I hope you are using 409, or anything else, that is made with distilled water or your problems are going to get worse.)

[Digitalwoodshop]

Last night as I was doing the final cleaning it jammed into the right side and locked up with fault lights flashing.... Guess I killed it..... Now I am fighting to load the drivers to the backup R1800.....

AL

Edit.... Finally got the backup working..... Took deleting all the R1800 drivers and reloading them.

Thank Goodness..... Printed the final batch. The cleaning cartridges I installed a year ago saved the day keeping the heads open. Had that been ink it would have been plugged solid.

AL

[Digitalwoodshop]

Murphy's Law visited the shop today.... I was finishing up the 300 tag project and had some defect tags due to the face of the tag getting scraped in shipping leaving a white scrape in the tag. I printed the replacements with the back up printer and saw the color was darker on the green. Checked a sample from a few months ago and the darker green is correct. I checked the printer settings and color setting and all is correct. I must have had a plugged head in the green. Could just ship it..... But I have higher standards.... Plus whenever I print replacements they will be darker too... So I start reprinting the tags tonight.... Fun Fun.....

The Carve part came out nice...

AL


Edit.... Murphy Strikes again... Short 1 tag...... :)

[SandBuoy]

Al, I think a lot of the people buying the CW to run the machine as a bussiness rather then a hobby expect some problems. I haven't received my machine yet, but already plan on calling CW Monday and ordering a new belt, flexshaft, senor and anything else they will provide me with as back ups.

I think the worse thing anyone here could do is tell a person looking at this machine it is foul proof. It was amazing the number of people that wrote me telling me not to expect a perfect running machine and absolutely expect some kind of down time and problems. I think its easier for me to swallow the expected then the unexpected and be prepared for it.

This machine is an amazing peice of equiptment for the price and size. It boggles my mind that I can pruchase this machine and do the stuff that you people are turning out with it for the price. If you can keep it up and running with very short down times there no end to your possiblilties of making some money with it. You are your own liminations as what a person can think if doing with it.

I have had some 20 computer since 1995. Anyone remember what some of the first machines ran with printers, monitor and other equiptment and how large then were. A 1 meg memory card cost over $100.00. I paid more then $2500 for a couple of my machines and they didn't have any moving parts other then the mouse haha.

I think this machine is about the same in therory. People are on the ground floor learning them and how to fix them. If you had a computer that broke down you either learned to fix it yourself, had a back up or paid out the gazoo to have someone fix it for you. I learned how to fix them and build them myself and saved a ton of money. Even thou I hated these darn computers most of the time, I still had to have it to better my business.

Hopefully, I can get to the place were I can buy some broken ones at a great price and repair them myself. I would love to get to the point in business with this machine I could have several running all day long.

[Digitalwoodshop]

It is refreshing to see someone like you post with realistic expatiations of the machine and at the same time see it's great potential.

It's 2:30 AM here and I just finished dipping the replacement tags in polyurethane and feel it was a good move as my Customer will be happier with the best product that I could make.

Having the Carve Machine made making the simple board to hang 300 tags a little more special with the Fire Company's name on it. It only took about 12 minutes for each board but will be appreciated by the Fireman. It's that Pride thing at the Fire Dept level.

I am sitting here listening to my local Fire Company out at a house fire just over the boarder in New York State. I take pleasure in knowing that the Accountability Tags I donated to them last year will be used at that fire tonight. The order I am making tonight is for a neighbor company that currently uses paper tags.

This is an example of using the Carving Machine to accent the other equipment in a business.

You mentioned having parts on hand and that is great.

Here is what I would order.

1. A Board Detector that you pay for just to have on hand. When it fails you call in a warranty request for one. But wait to install it as the Tech will want to walk you through some checks at the machine. The new ones that are sealed will last much longer. I went through 3 in a month due to vibration. Having your own will just cut the waiting time for the parts.

2. Sand Paper Belts. Not a warranty item, it's cheaper in the long run to order 2, 3, or 4 sets just to have them. You save on shipping this way rather than one at a time.

3. X Drive Gears. I broke the first stage gear but others have broken other gears. They might not be a Warranty Item but last I heard they were only 5 bucks. A board Jam will break the gear. It is designed that way to have a inexpensive week link. A burnt X motor or Circuit board would be much more expensive to repair. Good Design in my opinion. It does have motor current monitors and will show a X Overload but I pushed OK and heard the crunch....

4. Flex shaft. I would not order one just get the Molly Lube and follow the instructions and not OVER Lube it.... Over lube gets oil in the top of the Spindle and top bearing causing problems.

5. A second flash card is good. Handy to save you setup time when you go to the machine and swap cards and start a new project.

5. Buy a least 2 extra QC's and some extra bit holders as both will wear. At the first sign of BB marks in a bit holder you are better off changing the QC as it will wear other bit holders making the cost of replacement higher as you need to replace a few worn bit holders too.

6. Get the tools to change the QC from RJustice as they will make your job replacing the QC much easier.

7. Have Molly Lube for the flex, Dry Lube for the QC, Blue Lock Tite for the QC and bit holder threads, and get a dust collector to help keep the machine cleaner.

When you get the machine go through the sensor menu and know what readings do what like the board detector numbers. I get a 156 measurement using white copy paper as a test. Using your finger works but the readings are all over the place. Knowing when the machine was NEW it got a 156 on white paper will help if the back of the lens gets sawdust inside it and you now get a 60 reading with white paper. This 60 could lead to board measurement errors and drive you nuts. Knowing the standard reading is a quick check to fixing the problem. You see so many posts about Board Measurement problems.

When the board is measuring and looking for the end of the board I believe it waits for the board to slip out from under the roller before turning on the sensor. If you get sawdust in the roller switch and it never uncompresses then you get a board error when it is really a roller error.

Must be the poly fumes.... I am a blabber Typer..... 3 AM quitting time.... When the tags dry I can put the grommets in and I will be done.... Then the Invoice..... Next project Dry Marker Clip Boards with rings to hang the tags at the Fire. The Carve Machine will make short work of the wooden handle I plan.....

Good Luck,
AL

[SandBuoy]

Wow Al, now thats what I like seeing. A detailed explanation of whats what and whats to do. This forum is just endless with helpful people that can save you a lot of misery.

Bottom line is, until I actually have to fix the machine myself I won't know much of what all you people are talking about on the fixes. But it sure is nice to have the parts sitting infront of me that I don't know to do with.

Thanks for the help and tips. Their going to pay off I am sure.

[Kenm810]

Hey Al,

I have to agree; about your list and explanations for which replacement part should be kept on hand, and why.
Folks are beginning to realize that the warranties will be running out on their machines.
I know mine has and I have stocked up on most of the replacement parts on your list.
I was glad to see the post stating that CW will continue their free tech phone service to all of us (in or out or warranty).
Having the parts will help speed up the repair and limit the down time waiting for the parts to arrive.
A couple items that I also keep on hand for monitoring and servicing my machine are a bathroom scale for the roller pressure
(I’m surprised how many pm messages I get from folks that don’t own one)
and an infrared thermometer for hot spots on the flex-shaft and trucks, along with a few extra carving and cutting Bits.

[Digitalwoodshop]

Yes, the scale and thermometer is a must have too. Plus a heat gun or hair dryer to heat the QC for replacement. The heat softens the blue Thread Lock on the QC or Bit holders.

Something everyone should have on hand with over 100 hours on the cut motor is another set of motor brushes. I had a motor stall or fail to start at somewhere around 198 hours I think. I would have a set of brushes and check and change them at 150 hours.

When the motor failed to start it broke a 1/8 inch cutting bit so what did I save not replacing the brushes early.... Brushes plus a new bit..... Pay me now or pay me MORE later....

With the non availability of replacement cut motors, now is not the time to let the brushed wear to the point that the metal spring contacts the armature.

You need a very wide flat screwdriver to remove the brush caps. I was in a rush and using a smaller screwdriver stripped a brush cap and had to get a replacement. Do it right not like I did the first time. The plastic to plastic threads are very stiff and stick. In picture 1 I had gotten a used brush in my order of new brushes from LHR. They replaced it at no charge.

AL

[Kenm810]

Sounds Good, -- It looks like your developing a fairly comprhencive tool kit for folks to service and monitor their CW and CC machines.
You might add a little plastic tubing to protect the bits when handleing or storing them.
Even a small mirror can be handy when cleaning and checking the board sensor or up inside the QC Chuck.
Wow --I almost forgot --- a 3/8" straight Bit to calibrate the Machine.

[J_Man]

Guess I'll post in here about the machine. I just got it Thursday this last week and wasn't able to touch it until Yesterday (Saturday). I messed with the software for a few hours and finally got a few things on the card to take out to the woodshop and try. I did 3 cuts and the last one came out with the expectations I had. The first 2 messed uo due to me not knowing what I was doing.

That's pretty good to be able to go straight from the box to cutting something in 1 day. I didn't have any problems. I made sure the shaft was locked in place. I made sure the cutting blade was in place. I checked and rechecked everything to be sure it was all as it should be. I vacuumed the machine after each cut and used the shop vac to blow it out too. After the last cut and when I was "putting the machine away" I used air compresser to blow it out real well. I'd suggest people do that too, but don't put the hose right on the circuit board to blow it out. You can mess up the circuits with the air pressure (wiggling them around and such).

Bits breaking is something anyone should expect. The flexible shaft wearing out eventually is something else people should expect. Those are givens. The machine does vibrate a fair amount due to the cutting and rotation of the cutter. I'll probably check the screws every so often to be sure none have wiggled loose. From best I gather, normal checkups on the machine will keep it running for a good long time with what should be expected changing of parts I mentioned. I'll see how it goes as time goes on.

That's the trouble, with the negative people that have made pots around the net, a person comes to think it won't even work out of the box. I just wanted to make a post that was positive for people to see the other side when they do a search for older messages.

[Jeff_Birt]

That's the trouble, with the negative people that have made pots around the net, a person comes to think it won't even work out of the box. I just wanted to make a post that was positive for people to see the other side when they do a search for older messages.


Thanks J_Man, it nice when someone takes the time to report that all is well. I think you showed the appropriate approach to a new machine though. Read a lot, then read it again. Ask some questions, read some more and start with baby steps, then make your projects more complex as you learn more.

[Digitalwoodshop]

With 10 thousand machines out in public if it was a bad machine, you would see a bunch more negative posts.

Do a good job and your customer might tell 10 people

Do a bad job and your customer will tell 100 people.

AL

[SandBuoy]

I think if everyone posting here would go back to their original post when they first got the machine they would relive the moment. As you learn the ups, downs and inside outs of the machine I think people have a tendency to loose perspective of what it was like in the beginning for them.

The list of parts, details of fixes and techniques can really benefit any user. I know this post sure added to my parts list as I did ask this question before I bought the machine a week ago. Thanks for a few other emailing me I was told to oeder a sensor, belts and flexshaft...thanks gang.

Now when I call CW tomorrow for the order I can add the other stuff mentioned here and save some shipping fees making the parts even cheaper for me. None of us want a downed machine and by you veterians (also newbies) adding your soluations and fixes it will definatley help us beginners out.

I have a list of fixes, soluations and repairs parts on a notebook already and I haven't gotten the machine yet. And after a while may post it after my trials and errors. I think these soluations can free up CW phones lines, techs and keep us running on our own. I also have a list of the guys that are reasy to jump on and help direct. Kind of like a 911-for CW emergencies.

[Digitalwoodshop]

Now when I call CW tomorrow for the order I can add the other stuff mentioned here and save some shipping fees making the parts even cheaper for me. None of us want a downed machine and by you veterians (also newbies) adding your soluations and fixes it will definatley help us beginners out.

Be sure to use the toll free numnber 800-573-1226

AL

[Victor]

I got my 1st machine used on ebay and had to do a lot of repairs.The list above looked typical.The good news is after 4 months of reading forums and fixing I now last week made 20 3d wood signs the largest being 28 by 39 inches.I had drawn up 40 signs on my laptop on a trip coast to coast when I was not the driver.Now I get to make them.