Helping my fellow Colorado carvers!
In last couple of weeks I've had the opportunity to meet 2 carvers who live in Colorado. Both found me because of this new thread (thanks Connie)!
Both ladies are fairly new to the machine. One being a bit further along (I believe she has had her machine for a little over a year) was seeking help with being able to convert an image into a 3D pattern. Her difficulty was getting all of the different heights in the image leveled out. I was able to help her with the one image she was working with but was quick to let her know that I was not the expert by any means. I told her to do some reading here on the forum and to post questions so that the experts could jump in and give her better direction.
The second lady received her machine as a present from her family this last year. She was at a coffee shop and a gentleman had come in with a litho he had just carved (ah another Co. user out there). She was amazed with the concept of being able to do something like this and in her excitement of describing it to her family they quickly ordered her the machine.
The help/direction she wanted from me was how to properly clean and maintain the machine and some direction on proper setting for doing some lithos. This past Saturday she made the hour drive with her CW to my house. We got it set up on the bench and got started. The machine is a B series with the QC and had 18 hours carve time. Her last carve was acrylic for a 5x7 litho and left it as is after the carve (no clean up). GREAT FOR SHOW AND TELL!
My first directions were on the proper cleaning and maintenance of the QC (along with the need for the upgrade to the CT). The carving bit was still in the chuck. First inspection of the bit and adapter after removing was the dreaded rust ring on the adapter. Asking a few leading questions it was discovered that she had never cleaned the QC or bits. About 45 minutes later we had the QC all cleaned out, lubed, the adapter cleaned up and a list of items she needed to get for proper maintenance.
We moved on the the cleaning and lube for the Z,Y rails and 4 corner posts. When I moved the Z truck I noticed that the Z motor was loose. It had about 1/8" wobble. She stated that there was a problem with the truck moving over to the bit plate, acted like it was hitting something but then the problem cleared. She then learned how to remove the top cover. While she cleaned and lubed the rails and posts I found the 2 mounting screws for the Z motor were loose and I showed her what needed to be done to tighten them up. With the cover off we gave the machine a thorough cleaning with the shop vac, brush and air compressor. I took the opportunity to describe the parts of the machine and their function that you do not see with the cover on.
Since we had to disconnect the flex shaft she also learned the lubing and care for the shaft. She had read the instructions in the book about the molly lube but had not bought or lubed it yet. I did lube it up with my CraneCam lube and told her where she could possibly find the Crane lube and if she could not find any to make sure she got the chain lube.
After putting the CW back together we went over the key pad functions with specifics on the user options and sensor checks. She now has a nice list of tools and items to pick up.
Just a little back ground on this lady. She is a special education teacher and has plans on using her CW as an instructional tool and fundraiser for her students. Her long list of ideas include how to spell their name, what their address is, finish and paint the items, how to measure and count the money they recieve from the items they make and sell. She said there is no greater joy than seeing their reaction when they know they were the ones who created from start to finish a product that they and their family will enjoy.
This was a very enjoyable three hours!