Flex shaft assembly

[SallyAWesen]

I was running a project today and I went into to check it and the machine had stopped and it said : ERROR 236 - Z AXIS STALL, then I noticed that the flex shaft assembly was disconnected and torn and wires were exposed and it didn't look good. Anyone know what might have caused this? Thanks, Sally

[TerryT]

If your machine is new, maybe it wasn't inserted completely. I just had a similar problem with the flex shaft pulling out of the z truck. The metal end of the shaft was worn were the ball bearing locks it into the z. But my machine has a lot of hours on it.

[SallyAWesen]

Terry,
Yes my machine is fairly new, bought it in February. My husband installed the flex shaft and he is very savvy on this stuff. He said it clicked when he installed it. Maybe we think there was a metal burr inside that caused the problem from when it was built. Of course CW is out of the flex shaft assembly, so hopefully they will get them in this week and we can install the new one next week. Thanks for the reply.

[forqnc]

Sally have you/did you Lubricated the shaft with Moly, some people are doing this as soon as they get a new one for piece of mind.

[SallyAWesen]

Thanks for the reply...
I will check with my husband to see if he did. How often should Moly be applied?
Thanks,
Sally

[forqnc]

Thanks for the reply...
I will check with my husband to see if he did. How often should Moly be applied?
Thanks,
Sally

Originally LHR was recommending every 20hrs, only later they found this could cause over lubricating problems, which could allow the Moly to run into the head bearings and damage them.
Check this thread, its long but a lot of info can be found regarding lubricating the flex shaft
http://www.carvewright.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1470

Most of us now, just monitor the temperature of the shaft when carving, it will get too how to touch with the hand and that's when I lube.
Good Luck

[Digitalwoodshop]

Can you post pictures of the damage?

I have 2 extra metal flex drive shafts but no spring or outer rubber if it would help. Not sure how long they would be out.

AL

[ScottS]

I have a fairly new machine @ a month old . will on the phone with tech support a week ago he had me remove the top cover. I noticed the whole flex shaft and casing feel out from the cut motor . He mentioned they did not have any and it was not under warranty . Well I looked closer and noticed the glue that was installed between the sheeting and plastice notiched piece that locks into the cut motor was not much there. I applied Some 5 min epoxy sparingly and reinsterted the cable shething in to plastic fitting and let it sit. Prob solved.

When I talked to tyhe tech he talked like it would be mid June before they got any flexshafts in stock. Hopefully for you I am Wrong.


ScottS

[ChrisAlb]

Most of us now, just monitor the temperature of the shaft when carving, it will get too how to touch with the hand and that's when I lube. Good Luck

I too use the heat of it to let me know when to lube. I have no fancy tools to do this. I use my hand to feel it when carving. In my opinion however, if it get "too hot to touch" it's "past" time for lube.

I use an engine pre-assembly lube for camshaft bearings. It contains 40% molly. I have over 45 hours cut time since the last lube and the shaft gets just barely warm to the touch. Running smooth as silk.

[SallyAWesen]

CW finally got the flex shaft assembly in. So I ordered 2 of them. You know I really enjoy the machine, but when something like this goes wrong and CW doesn't have the part it get's pretty frustrating!! Thanks for everyones replies hopefully this won't happen again. I'll be sure to monitor the cut motor more closely, CW really doesn't give you any guidelines if your new to the machine as far as lubing and problem prevention. I'm a firm believer in preventive maintenace.

[jspringertx]

I was 1.25 hours into a project and all was going well. I noticed a black lubricant coming out of the top flexshaft so I stopped the project and cleaned up the lubricant. I then resumed the project and all was going well until the last two letters to carve stopped. I received an error that the back of the board was jammed. I lifted the heads, everything seemed okay and resumed carving. The letter "T" was half finished when the machine jammed and I lost the project,

I then noticed that the black lubricant was oozing out of the flexshaft so I removed it to check what had happened. I discovered that the spring had broken so at that point I removed the shaft, the spring, and decided to call LHR to order a new flexshaft.

I am hoping that the flexshaft replacement will cure my problems. I am experiencing high noise levels since I replaced the chuck and when I contacted LHR to ask them if they had fixed the problem with out of balance chucks...no reponse.

[larry711]

good morning all.

i tried to lube my flex shaft with molly. the metal iner part wont come out of the moter. lhr said use pliers and pull it .i tried but did want to use to much force. still wont come out. anyone had this happen? if so what was the answer?

:confused:

[hotpop]

Larry,

When you have the shaft held with pliers. Instead of just pulling try giving it a snapping motion.

Worse case: Remove the top cover. Loosen the screw holding flexshaft into the motor. Do your lube but reverse the inner shaft when you reassemble.

If you see any kinks call LHR and get a replacement.