disappearing display

[karossii]

Hi... new to using my carvewright, though I have owned it for over a year I only now am getting a chance to use it... two carves so far; one plaque and one litho sled (cut a 11x14 rectangle 1/4" deep into a 13x24, 3/4" board; leaving in place a bit of wood the the cutting board's handle slips onto)... and since I don't yet have a head for my dust collector to run constantly, I have to stop the carve every now and again to vacuum out the unit.

I noticed on the first carve, the plaque, that after the first time I opened it (by just opening the cover, have read on the forums here it is not really any worse or better than hitting the stop button, despite some doubters), the LCD display showed nothing but a row of solid boxes on the top row and was blank on the bottom.

The carve still ran through fine, I just couldn't see how far it had gone, or if there were any error messages, etc.

For the second carve, the sled, I decided to try using the stop button instead of just opening it. At first this seemed to remedy the situation; I went through 4 stops with no problems; but after the 4th one my display again disappeared as above; top row full of solid boxes and the bottom row blank.

It was nice being able to see the % complete and whatnot, and would be nice to see some kind of message to know the carve is finished properly, not just stopped for some weird reason or whatnot when the machine stops...

Does anyone know what causes this and how I might fix it?

[cnsranch]

Check the display resolution - little black, circular knob on the keypad.

[karossii]

Should've mentioned that in the first post; the first response I had when it disappeared was to fiddle with the contrast... all I can do is make those solid boxes darker . . . or make them disappear too. It isn't a contrast issue, but the display just doesn't seem to be sending the data.

[rjustice]

I think what you are experiencing is a somewhat common issue. Like me, before knowing any better, you are getting very lucky. What is causing the problem is static discharge from your shop vac system. When you stop the machine the display is probably ok, but when you suck the dust out you are probably hearing a clicking sound, much like if you scoot your feet on carpet in the winter when humidity is very low, and then touch something and get a static shock.... It is pretty much the same thing. A couple years ago, there were many people that fried their machine from the static discharge. I was one of the lucky people that only lost my display during that carve. After turning the machine off and back on, it worked again... The second time it happened to me I saw the arc, like a miniature lightning bolt, and knew what was going on...

Hope this helps...

Ron

[Digitalwoodshop]

My thinking too... Static....

If the situation is not fixed then it will smoke the $300.00 computer....

I have a copper wire with 3 gator clips on each end... Attached to 3 places on my machine and 3 places on the dust collector ground.

AL

[karossii]

While it is certainly possibly... and probably likely given you guys' experience... well, I haven't heard or seen any static and I am using a 4" hose which is grounded by a wire going back to the DC...

But it is just an open hose with no head attachment or anything; so perhaps it is swirling dust around inside the machine and the static is building up outside of that grounded hose...?

Now I really need to get one of the several DC units which attaches to the CW... I was putting it off to save up for a rockchuck first; but perhaps I shouldn't...

[rjustice]

Hi Ken,
Do you have a bare copper wire running inside the hose of your dust collector from one end to the other, then attached to the dust collector on one end, and the machine the other ?? This is a good way to ground them to each other... Also, when this happens can you confirm whether you are blowing out, and vac'ing out the machine each time it has happened?? have you checked the readout to see if the display is still working right after you hit the stop button? If so, try starting the machine back up without vac'ing it out... see if it stays on.

Let us know how you come out...

Happy Carving,

Ron

[karossii]

I can't be sure if it happened while cleaning or if it was before/after I had the vac running... I will pay closer attention if/when it happens again.

And yes, I have a bare copper wire for static discharge...

[TIMCOSBY]

some static at the end where it first sucks. you can see the shavings standing with the magnetic fields.

[Digitalwoodshop]

Static can do STRANGE things....

Saw the story on the news this morning that NASA will be helping Toyota find the problem with the run away cars.....

I have a lot of electronic experience being retired Navy Electronics Tech and having a high interest in Electronics and Radio Frequency or RF. I also spent 8 years with SONY doing everything from making Picture Tubes to fixing Play Stations units.

My gut feeling of why the problem is happening with the Toyota Cars is all related to "STATIC CHARGE". All the different materials used to build the car like plastic and rubber acting like a insulator. Two pieces of Metal and a insulator can cause the 2 pieces of metal or 2 wires or group of wires and a insulating material to become a big capacitor..... A Capacitor will hold a charge or difference in potential or voltage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor

Like shuffling your feet on a carpet and sticking your finger out and touching metal you get a "SNAP" or discharge.....

A Glass Picture Tube in made as a Big Capacitor.... In the manufacturing process, a robot paints carbon inside the picture tube funnel. When I was making Picture Tubes at Sony, my area had 2 Fanuc Robots with a 4 inch paint roller painting carbon on the outside of the picture tube. With the glass in the middle, the 2 carbon areas became a big Capacitor.... That is why a old TV turned off for a year and touch the Anode of the Picture Tube you get knocked on your BUTT..... The inside of the Carbon holds a charge.

Static in cars has been documented in 2 areas.... Plastic Truck Bed Liners.... A Metal Gas Can sitting in the bed of a Pickup Truck on the plastic bed liner with the steel bed of the truck under it builds up a positive charge in the Metal Gas Can. Swing the grounded Gas Pump Nozzle and touch the metal gas can and a spark jumps to the nozzle as the can or Capacitor is discharged... BIG BOOM normally follows.... Bed Liners should have a warning sign on each side warning to put the gas can on the ground.....

The Second Static In Cars is while the car is getting gas pumped into it you get back into your car and wait..... You now build up a charge on YOU like the shuffling the feet on the carpet.... You step out of the car now charged and with rubber shoes you walk up and do that "SNAP" thing as you go to grab the Gas Nozzle.... Big BOOM normally follows.... They say you should touch the metal of the car to GROUND yourself far away from the Nozzle and the gas fumes..... Or just DON'T GET IN THE CAR.....

There are some great Gas Station Videos on line showing this.....

OK... Back to the run away cars..... I believe it will be found that a Static Build up between DIFFERENT sections of the CAR and the Wiring AND the SHIELDING OF COMPUTERS with METAL will hold different charges or different Voltage Potentials causing the Computers to LOCK UP or Like our CarveWright Carving Machine... DISPLAY ERRONEOUS DATA IN THE LCD after vacuuming the wood chips out of the machine or by using a ungrounded dust collection device..... IN the Car Case.... It will be One Computer Talking to another Computer and one "IGNORING" the other because the Ground Reference of the Computer is Raised to a Voltage Potential ABOVE the other.... Computers talk in Binary Language.... a 1 and a 0 or Zero... A High and a Low..... A Binary Capitol A is 01000001. That is low, high, low, low, low, low, low, high.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_numeral_system

http://www.tekmom.com/buzzwords/binaryalphabet.html

It takes 2 things for a computer to talk to another computer and it is called a Hand Shake Routine or in Human.... Outreaching Hand and a "How Are You" and another Human Outreaching Hand shaking it and saying "I am Fine".... That is a Hand Shake Routine and computers do it Thousands of times a second.... There are Timing Clocks in both computers and if the second Human was talking to another human in this example the handshake would only take place when the clock of the second human finished talking to the other person to listen and shake and respond with our example.

So back to the Toyota Cars.... I believe that is the Hand Shake Routine is being messed up between computers do to the Capacitive Charge of the different Metals and insulators of the car and when the computer is sending a "A" or 01000001 in binary and the other computer is seeing 11111111 or all HIGH.... This is because the Voltage reference is raised by the Capacitor Effect.... O' I forgot to mention Binary Logic Voltage Levels..... Back in the 70's when I first started playing around with Computers and Electronic Projects, The IC or Integrated Circuits or Chips were TTL or Transistor Transistor Logic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transis...ansistor_logic . Where 1 and Zero was a 1 = 5 Volts DC and a 0 or Zero = Zero Volts DC or .02 volts DC to be exact... Later there were CMOS Chips or Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMOS . As Computers got faster and faster it was decided that a smaller swing in voltage from the positive 5 volts to a Zero took TOO MUCH TIME.... So other "Standards were used with a lower voltage to speed things up.... Here is a Chart of Binary Logic to Voltage.... http://www.interfacebus.com/voltage_threshold.html

So to sum up this long RAINY DAY post to what is happening to the cars.... The Capacitor Voltage between the different parts of the CAR AND the Ground LOOP EFFECT are building up and preventing the computers from effectively communicating... It is like having a loud radio playing in the room and you trying to talk to someone..... Your mouth is moving but the receiver is overwhelmed by the loud radio not hearing you... With the Cars, the Computer is Overwhelmed by the Capacitive Voltages and the Car Goes OUT OF CONTROL AND CRASHES and the voltages DISSIPATE or the Radio Stops PLAYING. Now the person can again hear what you are saying as the Loud Music is GONE.... Or the Static is GONE.... That is WHY they cannot pin point the problem. As the Capacitor Parts of the car discharge and everything goes back to normal, ALL the tests show everything NORMAL....

SO until NASA attach's Data BUS Monitoring and logging Equipment to the Car or Cars AND reproduces the same STATIC CHARGES the problem won't be found..... Static and Ground Loop is a elusive problem.

That is my take on the Runaway Cars.... and my name is AL Ursich, Shohola, PA.... 3/30/2010.... Almost April Fools Day....