Ready to give up!

[jonm3]

My Carve Wright machine was in October 2010. A month later I am having the same issues as I did before. I thought it was a poor grade electrical wiring, moved my machine last night from my shed to my building that has industrail electrical wiring. Same old crap, Z, X, & Y issues. When my machine is doing it homing, it goes to the back to check the lever that comes out from the side, the lever comes out a little or half way. If the lever doesn't come out all the way, like half, the bit will go all the way down and plung down and fail and come up and say Z,X,Y when it is done checking. I am DONE. I rather go back to basic wood working doing the scroll sawing than have to deal with this ZXY!!
I give up.

[dbfletcher]

My Carve Wright machine was in October 2010. A month later I am having the same issues as I did before. I thought it was a poor grade electrical wiring, moved my machine last night from my shed to my building that has industrail electrical wiring. Same old crap, Z, X, & Y issues. When my machine is doing it homing, it goes to the back to check the lever that comes out from the side, the lever comes out a little or half way. If the lever doesn't come out all the way, like half, the bit will go all the way down and plung down and fail and come up and say Z,X,Y when it is done checking. I am DONE. I rather go back to basic wood working doing the scroll sawing than have to deal with this ZXY!!
I give up.

There are a variety of reason why that lever doesnt extend all the way. But many of us have found it simpler just to take a small piece of foam and have the lever extended at all times. As long as you are not carving a 14.5" width board, this should never be an issue. I made sure my rails where clean, the lever was lubed, and all the wires where tucked away where they should be. Without the foam I was still running about 50% it worked, %50 it didnt. With the foam... never had an issue again. It may be worth a shot.

[Kazuale]

thanks for the tips and pics but I wasn't able to open them individually. I tried it again today and it worked the first time without problems, tried again with same board and got Error 400. I'm not sure how the white paper test is suppose to work. I put the paper on a board and it poked a hole it it or kept telling me to load a board. The detection errors happen when measuring the length of the board, it measures the widths fine. I also tried the masking tape and that didn't help either. When I did a sensor test it just told me if my cover was open or closed. Since i replaced the motor I don't get the Z stalls you mentioned in other postings. Is the cover you are talking about cutting off the black one opposite of the clear cover? Mine has screw holding it in with the exception for around the wires that go to the motor. I'll try getting that off today. what is you webpage address? Thanks, Bill

[jonm3]

But why doesn't that lever come out all the way like it should? This morning the lever came out enough for the machine to pass the homing, then when it went to carve, it come up with the XYZ issue. I have the lever problem no matter if it is a 11 inch or a 14 inch wide board, same old issue.0
I have had my machine since 12/2009, its been in for upgrades, 1 repair, now this problem.
I just don't know if I am going to keep my machine the way this XYZ problem goes. I know I will lose money. But I will not have the headack of this XYZ issue.
and I have kept it clean.



Ok, just got it up and running, I am doing a basic pattern so that I don't waste the wood. Running ok now.

This time when I went to clean it where sawdust sits, is right above the area of the card, I turned the machine over on its side and got out all the sawdust out this time. As of right now, it is 5% done on the carving sign. I am happy now it running.

There are a variety of reason why that lever doesnt extend all the way. But many of us have found it simpler just to take a small piece of foam and have the lever extended at all times. As long as you are not carving a 14.5" width board, this should never be an issue. I made sure my rails where clean, the lever was lubed, and all the wires where tucked away where they should be. Without the foam I was still running about 50% it worked, %50 it didnt. With the foam... never had an issue again. It may be worth a shot.

[DickB]

jonm3, there are two common causes for the lever problem. One is a pair of wires that run from the cut motor to a switch in the cover. The head can get hung up on these wires if they are not out of the way. I fought with this problem until I came up with a fix. I drilled two pairs of holes on the cover and installed zip ties through the holes to secure the wires out of the way.

(There are many little ways in which the machine could have been designed and built better in my opinion; this is one of them.) The other common problem is lack of lubrication. Spray some lube on the pivot and work it a few times.

The x, y, and z servos all get feedback information from rotary optical sensors. These sensors have covers on them but they do not seal tightly. (Again, a small detail that could have been implemented better). When I started getting Y errors I searched the forum and learned about dust getting into these sensors. I was shocked to find a good teaspoonful of dust in both the y and z sensors. I was amazed that they worked at all. I ran a fine bead of silicon seal around the covers when replacing them, which has helped. But I just cleaned all three sensors again last week and that cured a minor z axis registration problem that I was having.

Dust is the enemy of this machine and a good dust collection system is the answer. If you don't have one, get or make one. A top collection port is essential, but I also use downdraft in combination. You will be amazed at how much this improves reliability of the machine. Again why the makers don't include a dust collection port or offer one as an option is beyond me.

This forum can be your friend and in my opinion is almost a requirement to successfuly operate this machine. If you are having a problem, almost certainly others have too, and have taken the time and effort to post with solutions. I search the forum whenever I encounter a new problem, and don't stop when I find an answer, but try to find multiple answers, then see which one or ones are most like my problem.

We have all had our frustrations with this machine. Hang in there, search the forums, use dust collection, perform maintenance, and you can do amazing things with the machine and software.

[alan.galbraith]

I was having the same problem until I lubed the arm. It works all the time now. even better.

[fwharris]

jonm3, there are two common causes for the lever problem. One is a pair of wires that run from the cut motor to a switch in the cover. The head can get hung up on these wires if they are not out of the way. I fought with this problem until I came up with a fix. I drilled two pairs of holes on the cover and installed zip ties through the holes to secure the wires out of the way.

(There are many little ways in which the machine could have been designed and built better in my opinion; this is one of them.) The other common problem is lack of lubrication. Spray some lube on the pivot and work it a few times.

The x, y, and z servos all get feedback information from rotary optical sensors. These sensors have covers on them but they do not seal tightly. (Again, a small detail that could have been implemented better). When I started getting Y errors I searched the forum and learned about dust getting into these sensors. I was shocked to find a good teaspoonful of dust in both the y and z sensors. I was amazed that they worked at all. I ran a fine bead of silicon seal around the covers when replacing them, which has helped. But I just cleaned all three sensors again last week and that cured a minor z axis registration problem that I was having.

Dust is the enemy of this machine and a good dust collection system is the answer. If you don't have one, get or make one. A top collection port is essential, but I also use downdraft in combination. You will be amazed at how much this improves reliability of the machine. Again why the makers don't include a dust collection port or offer one as an option is beyond me.

This forum can be your friend and in my opinion is almost a requirement to successfuly operate this machine. If you are having a problem, almost certainly others have too, and have taken the time and effort to post with solutions. I search the forum whenever I encounter a new problem, and don't stop when I find an answer, but try to find multiple answers, then see which one or ones are most like my problem.

We have all had our frustrations with this machine. Hang in there, search the forums, use dust collection, perform maintenance, and you can do amazing things with the machine and software.

DickB,

Well said!!!

[AskBud]

My Carve Wright machine was in October 2010. A month later I am having the same issues as I did before. I thought it was a poor grade electrical wiring, moved my machine last night from my shed to my building that has industrail electrical wiring. Same old crap, Z, X, & Y issues. When my machine is doing it homing, it goes to the back to check the lever that comes out from the side, the lever comes out a little or half way. If the lever doesn't come out all the way, like half, the bit will go all the way down and plung down and fail and come up and say Z,X,Y when it is done checking. I am DONE. I rather go back to basic wood working doing the scroll sawing than have to deal with this ZXY!!
I give up.

If the Touch Plate is not moving correctly, something is dirty, needs adjustment, or needs lubed. You should turn off the unit and move the truck to the far side (it should move with no effort, after the power has been off for about 30 seconds). If you have to force it along, you know some of the things to check/correct. If movement is easy, but it is hard to operate the Touch Plate, the track may have a dust/dirt build-up, the TP may need lube, or a wire may be out of place just behind the TP (toward the back of the machine).
AskBud

[liquidguitars]

I take a saw and cut a square out of the hood to make more room.

Attachment 39985

[jonm3]

Yesturday, I was going to start my machine up, then started getting the XYZ error's. I stopped, went back and clean little heavier, getting places I may have miss. turned the machine on its side, and vacuumed the sawdust. It seem to work. My machine ran a good 4 hours and completed the project I was doing yesturday. Today, I will do the same way I did yesturday, check the area around the card. Sometimes sawdust sits there and its got to be cleaned out. So I am taking little more time before start up to run good.

DickB,

Well said!!!