A New C Machine with a problem

[Capt Bruce]

Morning Team,

Well my new C version machine is here, set up and had the chance to run a familiar MPC in a known jig yesterday to test it out. 5 1/2 hour carve in dry poplar two sided. Have not installed a dust collector hood yet so I had to stop about every 1/2 hour and vacuum. I didn't want to immediately modify the clear top hatch.

I'm not a happy camper right now and this may just be my chance to vent/complain before I get down to diagnosing the root cause (probably excessive dust) and see if a cure is at hand before LHR opens again Tuesday morning 1/17/12.

Everything went well for CW registration, unlock and set up. Started running after checking head pressure and all the usual steps. Inserted a known accurate jig and it measured right on the money. Man is there a lot of dust when you carve at optimal cut. This badly needs a Ringneck Blues DC. The C Machine ran quieter than my B model and appeared to be running fine.

In the end most of the plate surfaces were horrible compared to the same MPC run on my B machine. Dimpeling, excess fuzz, tear out etc. Not at all what I expected from the brand new latest model, rubber belts, Carvetight, new bits etc of the 5 Year Anniversary package. And worst of all the two trucks, moved by hand, now feel like running a car with no suspension over two miles of rocky road. As a final insult the new 1/8" CT cutting bit snapped shortly after starting a 0.16" steps outline cut. It was time to walk away from it all for the night, feeling lucky I'd bought the one year warranty.

Okay, now it is a new morning and I'm going down now to thoroughly clean the new machine, the rails and the roller surfaces and see if that step makes them move a smoothly as my 2 year old B machine or the way they felt upon start-up. Then I'm going to run an MPC in pine with some simple shapes and precise surfaces as a cross check.

I'd appreciate any thoughts you can offer or if you've had a similar experience with a new machine let me know what to check or investigate. Thanks for listening to my complaining. Hope we'll all be having a better day later on. Sigh

[mtylerfl]

Hi Bruce,

Sorry to hear your story regarding the new machine.

I 'never' get as good a result when carving Poplar as I do on almost any other wood...Poplar always fuzzes and needs a lot more sanding after-the-fact to get a "clean" finish. Might be a regional thing - I've talked to a lot of folks who love Poplar and report very good results. Not me though, and I try to avoid it. I've got a couple Poplar boards left in the shop and am just waiting to use them on a project or two that would be easy to sand, because I know it's going to need it! After that, I probably won't buy any more.

You mentioned your trucks are moving "roughly". First thing I would check is the bearing adjustments and the Y-belt tension to see if any "slop" is coming from either or both of those two areas. Any 'wobble' from the trucks during the project run could also account for the bit breaking as well.

Hopefully you'll be back in good shape shortly.

[Digitalwoodshop]

One check I would do first is to hold the Z Belt by pushing on the top Motor Cog pulley to lock the Z Belt and try to pull and push the Z Truck up and down. You are looking for the 2 screws being loose in back of the Z Truck holding the belt to the Z Truck. This would cause all the above including the broken 1/8 inch bit.

Good Luck,

AL

[Capt Bruce]

Hello again Forumites

We'll I'll post the third response to my own post and say that now I'm a happier camper. I now put the key problem of "rough riding trucks" down to operator caused error for trying to run that project without dust collection installed. The last two hours spent cleaning out all the recesses of the CW have given me the best possible "lesson learned" of why my original B CW has run so dependably and with such minimum required maintenance over the last 2 years and 418 hours of carving. Floyd if you're reading, I'll be on line today to order another RNB DC hood.

Simply wiping off the C CW rails and bearings with an alcohol soaked cloth took off some heavy deposits of brown scum that used to be the dark poplar dust and then blowing out everywhere else toward an open 4" DC hose probably took out about a pound of dust total.

I'm thinking this accumulated dust also may have caused the broken cutting bit by jamming a bearing or pulley but that's just another symptom to get past now that the trucks move smoothly again.

I find it hard to believe I used to carve for the first 3-6 months on my B unit without a DC setup, but then that was primarily vector carving and Centerline letters on sign blanks. Big wood chips by comparison to the talcum like dust these deep contour poplar and tigerwood best/optimal quality carvings are producing.

This time it was just another ID-TEN-T error. That should be spelled out as ID10T for yours truly.

Well I'm now having a better day, how about you folks?

[mtylerfl]

Great news, Bruce...glad you're up and running alright. Hey, it's been over five years and I still don't run any dust collection (shame on me, I guess). NOTE: I DO clean my machines thoroughly after each project...as well as the shop floor around the machines!

[Smoken D]

Yep! Took a year for me to find out, a clean machine is a HAPPY machine.

[fwharris]

Capt. Bruce,

Yes we get spoiled with the dust collection and not having to spend all that time cleaning up the machine! Will be waiting on your order!!

[cestout]

I am cumming up on 500 hrs on this (B) machine and had well over 200 on each of the first 2 that Sears took back (an A then a B) and have only used a downdraft. Poplar is what I use frequently with a 180 grit mop cleanup. But I vacuum at intervals on large carves and at flips, then vacuum and blow after each carve of any size. I have had jerky Y travel on bit checking, but wiped and lubed the rails the clear the problem.
Clint

[Capt Bruce]

Thanks for that Clint,

I had experimented with downdraft when I first got the B unit since it always worked with my tablesaw, but it just didn't work well on wide one sided carvings. Tried inventing my own design, went over to Floyd's unit as soon as I could afford one and I have been using it every since. This little incident humbled me, cost me a large part of my otherwise productive weekend and has taught me to stick with what works so Floyd has another order.

When it arrives I'll install it and try carving the Scottish Shortbread plate again to give the new C machine a fair test rather than choking it up with fine (and copious amounts of) dust. Hope you're having a great weekend Sir.

[liquidguitars]

The fuzz is a wood and grain direction problem most of the time. If you can see the grain pattern on the surface of the wood run the grain direction v facing into the unit this could help.

Since you snapped a 1/8" bit i recommend redesigning the pattern to use the 3/16" mill bit LHR sells, frankly the 1/8" seems a little dated unless you need the tight radius cut outs.