Please tell me it's not going to Houston

[optionman]

with less than 10 total hours on it, i went to totally clean the cw and was using micro vacumn attachments to get sawdust stuck in the far reaches. when i cranked the head up one of the two bars (one from front of machine to handle) attached to the Head Locking Lever (see attached pic) fell onto the sand paper belt. HELP

FYI, i have been experiencing re-occuring board measuring problems since the first hour of use. i noticed that the Head Locking Lever would give a good bit of resistance when i first used the cw, but since i began having measuring/board recognition issues, the Head Locking Lever moves easily without any resistance at all. this isn't right, is it?

i was about to use the bathroom scale to check the roller pressure when the rod dropped. not sure if i'll get an accurate reading without locking the HLL down.

any assistance would be greatly appreciated. happy holiday.

[Jeff_Birt]

Some folks don't use the locking lever at all. I think with all the problems you have had with it not wanting to raise and lower that your machine got banged up in shipment. It would be worth giving LHR a call.

[optionman]

thanks for ur response. didn't know some folks don't use that lever. another thing then, when i use the scale under the pressure rollers,does the entire scale have to sit on the belt or can it extend onto the left outfeed table? i did a quick pressure test and it only read 40 lbs. not sure if i did it correctly.

FYI, i did get a beautiful 5 hr carve done before todays issue. will upload it later.

[Jeff_Birt]

You want to position the scale so the pressure rollers are hitting it. If you are only getting #40 that is why you were having measurement problems. Time to give CW a call I think. They might be able to walk you through a couple of other checks for proper down pressure.

[Lin]

Maybe I'm wrong on this but....in your pic is looks like the head is cranked up but you have the locking lever that many do not even use in the locked position. I would think it being in the locked position and then cranking the head up is not the thing to do..maybe that is what part of your problem is...just something I noticed. Maybe someone else here can shed more light my thoughts.
Lin

[pkunk]

from you picture it looks like the scale is only under the rear roller. Position the scale so that both rollers contact it and the scale readout is facing to the side away from the keypad & in the middle over the slot between the belts.

[ChrisAlb]

Maybe I'm wrong on this but....in your pic is looks like the head is cranked up but you have the locking lever that many do not even use in the locked position. I would think it being in the locked position and then cranking the head up is not the thing to do..maybe that is what part of your problem is...just something I noticed. Maybe someone else here can shed more light my thoughts.
Lin

That was a great spot Lin! I looked at the picture twice and didn't pick that up. (Too focused on the rod). If indeed the locking lever "was" locked when cranking, that would certainly produce some bad happenings.

I went to raise mine once and felt a very hard drag on the crank handle. I immediately stopped and saw the locking handle was locked. I released it and it cranked up fine.

Sometimes it's easy to miss that because the head will go "down" no problem with the lever locked. But going up is what it's meant to prevent.

[optionman]

think i need a different scale. my bathroom scale doesn't fit under both rollers and still have enough room to allow the head to be cranked down without cracking the glass that covers the weight dial. i'll get a new one tomorrow and retest the pressure.

[optionman]

chris, i just saw your post. though the pic was taken with the handle in the locked position, i don't think it was locked when i moved the head up. i do remember that yesterday, when the machine was still able to properly measure the board, that the locking lever moved with absolutely no resistance. i even remember looking under the black shelf as i moved it into locking position to see if anything happened when i moved the handle.

[ChrisAlb]

Hey optionman,

My lever moves with no resistance either. When I first got my CW back in August 07, I actually thought it did nothing at all because it moved so easily. I kept using it because....well...hey, you're supposed too...lol. That time I tried cranking it up with it locked showed me how wrong I was.

I'm not claiming that was the cause of your problem. But it did seem funny that the head was up with the lever locked. I was really just praising Lin for noticing that. I didn't...lol

[bobi]

think i need a different scale. my bathroom scale doesn't fit under both rollers and still have enough room to allow the head to be cranked down without cracking the glass that covers the weight dial. i'll get a new one tomorrow and retest the pressure.

Perhaps lay a 1x6 across the scale to give the dial area clearance, and allow both rollers to make contact?

[Jeff_Birt]

bobi, that is a GREAT idea!