What to do

[JamesHuntsville]

I lost the first original post before the What to do Contd. This was the original post.

On May 8 I drove to LHR and purchased a carving machine. To date I have $3004.58 invested in the machine not including the $160.00 Delta Universal stand it is mounted on. I have a total of 73 1/4 hours on the machine as of today. Up until today I had no major problems with the machine just the usual ones everyone else has had (board sensor, door not closed and a few fatal errors that cleared up). This averages out at $41.00 hour use for the machine. I purchased 3 (8' x 5 1/2" x 3/4" boards to carve some valances for my wifes curtains. Each carve took 7 hours per board. The carves were 48" long x 5 1/2" wide x 3/4" thick. I cut the boards 55" long to stay under the rollers. I had no problems with the carves except some stair stepping as shown in the pictures.
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL586/3642218/19733038/330289548.jpg

The carvings turned out really nice. I used a piece of the 41" boards that were left from the valances to carve an exit plaque for my granddaughter today. This is where the problems started. It was not due to something I did wrong. The machine went through all the measurements of the board and commenced to carve. There were no problems and the carving turned out pretty darn good. Are the sandpaper belts under the warranty since there has to be something wrong that caused the machine to start drifting the belt after 71 hours of carving without this problem before. I shouldn't have to replace the belts because I did nothing wrong to cause this. The board was not in any bind and carved through the machine like always before. This misalignment was not apparent when installing the board for the carve. The belt on the other side hasn't moved from it's track. Anybody have an idea what could have caused the machine to do this? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks

James
Huntsville, TX.

[AskBud]

I lost the first original post before the What to do Contd. This was the original post.

On May 8 I drove to LHR and purchased a carving machine. To date I have $3004.58 invested in the machine not including the $160.00 Delta Universal stand it is mounted on. I have a total of 73 1/4 hours on the machine as of today. Up until today I had no major problems with the machine just the usual ones everyone else has had (board sensor, door not closed and a few fatal errors that cleared up). This averages out at $41.00 hour use for the machine. I purchased 3 (8' x 5 1/2" x 3/4" boards to carve some valances for my wifes curtains. Each carve took 7 hours per board. The carves were 48" long x 5 1/2" wide x 3/4" thick. I cut the boards 55" long to stay under the rollers. I had no problems with the carves except some stair stepping as shown in the pictures.
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL586/3642218/19733038/330289548.jpg

The carvings turned out really nice. I used a piece of the 41" boards that were left from the valances to carve an exit plaque for my granddaughter today. This is where the problems started. It was not due to something I did wrong. The machine went through all the measurements of the board and commenced to carve. There were no problems and the carving turned out pretty darn good. Are the sandpaper belts under the warranty since there has to be something wrong that caused the machine to start drifting the belt after 71 hours of carving without this problem before. I shouldn't have to replace the belts because I did nothing wrong to cause this. The board was not in any bind and carved through the machine like always before. This misalignment was not apparent when installing the board for the carve. The belt on the other side hasn't moved from it's track. Anybody have an idea what could have caused the machine to do this? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks

James
Huntsville, TX.
My guess, by the looks of the lines, is that the steel rollers on the folding wings are set too high and the pressure change as the wood hits or leaves those rollers ic the cause of your problem. Those rollers should just "kiss" the wood after you lower the head on your wood. You probably should be able to slide a piece of paper between the roller and the wood.
AskBud

[MikeMcCoy]

I have a total of 73 1/4 hours on the machine as of today. Up until today I had no major problems with the machine just the usual ones everyone else has had (board sensor, door not closed and a few fatal errors that cleared up). This averages out at $41.00 hour use for the machine.

No consolation for your problems but years ago I had a super nice bass boat that I only kept for a couple of years. I did some rough math and came to the conclusion that the bass that I caught over that time came out to around $74 a pound.

[Jeff_Birt]

The carves were 48" long x 5 1/2" wide x 3/4" thick.


In addition to having the built in support rollers adjusted properly as other have mentioned, with that long of a board you will certainly need to have additional support rollers (roller stands) as well. When you start to carve most of the board is hanging out one end of the machine, and when you finish it will be hanging out the other end. You need to have your roller stands positioned, i.e. level, to support the board at each end.

As you the sandpaper belts. They are a consumable item. Many things can cause them to walk, like not having your out-feed rollers properly adjusted, sliding guide too tight, the head is not level, etc. They are not expensive and they are easy to change.