Flex Shaft Melt Down

[ekimnamyr]

Thanks Bergerud.. Takes the mystery out of that one.

The wrong size message just means the machine measured the board front to be a little different size than the back. This can happen, for example, if the edges of the board are not square. Sometimes it can happen just because the board sensor is a bit inconsistent. It is a little worrisome if you want a perfect line up but I do not think it is a real problem.

[CarverJerry]

In reference to Liquid Wrench changing their lube, I found a can of chain and rope lube but it says it has synthic moly, does anyone know if this will work?

[bergerud]

No. It is the synthetic stuff that was no good. The original had organic moly. (The can says "Improved formula" and that is bad.)

[robboz4]

I had my relatively new flex shaft get hot and separate from the cut motor coupling. I asked LHR if this was a defect but they said not. However, the sheath of the flex shaft was not cut straight and the amour wiring was a sticking out. I trimmed it and used some epoxy and reassembled it. I did two carves successfully, although the were simple 1/8" channels out of plywood. The shaft gets warm but not as hot as it did on the meltdown. When I tried a new carve of a more complicated design, I'm getting all sorts of random stall errors. I sometimes have to power cycle the machine to get it back to working. I haven't had a good chance to talk to support yet. They recommended calling over my email request. I plan on doing a quick maintenance before the call. Just haven't got to it yet. But a question for you guys: Do you think my flex shaft repair may be the problem?

Merry Christmas!


Dave

[rmock]

I just had a brand new flex shaft do the same thing about 2 weeks ago. It had maybe 8 hrs on it. I replaced the old one because the inner core actually snapped in the middle but the casing was still good. I put the new core in the old casing and have been running for two weeks without any issues. Makes me wonder if there was a problem with some flex shaft casings that were sent out.

[bergerud]

I had my relatively new flex shaft get hot and separate from the cut motor coupling. I asked LHR if this was a defect but they said not. However, the sheath of the flex shaft was not cut straight and the amour wiring was a sticking out. I trimmed it and used some epoxy and reassembled it. I did two carves successfully, although the were simple 1/8" channels out of plywood. The shaft gets warm but not as hot as it did on the meltdown. When I tried a new carve of a more complicated design, I'm getting all sorts of random stall errors. I sometimes have to power cycle the machine to get it back to working. I haven't had a good chance to talk to support yet. They recommended calling over my email request. I plan on doing a quick maintenance before the call. Just haven't got to it yet. But a question for you guys: Do you think my flex shaft repair may be the problem?

Merry Christmas!


Dave

I do not think the random stall errors are to do with your flex repair. More likely due to something that got changed during the repair. Did you abuse the flat ribbon wire that connects to the carriage? Different random errors occur when that ribbon gets damaged. Is the top of the flex clearing the top cover of the machine?

[robboz4]

I replaced the ribbon cable a while back along with a new Z chuck. The new one looks fine, but I'll double check it when I do the maintenance checks.

Thanks

[robboz4]

I suggested that to LHR support when I saw the state of the flex shaft. It looked like a badly cut sheath and very little glue on the holder. Need more QA perhaps? Or something changed in the manufacturing process. I've seen things like this happen in my previous jobs. A small insignificant change is made without really doing a full analysis and all of a sudden you have 1000+ defective parts out and need a recall. But if there is only two of us, it just might be a hiccup

Thanks
Dave

[gapdev]

But if there is only two of us

I think if you took a poll of ALL users, not just the ones that read these Forums, you would find that quite a few of us have had this happen.

I've had a brand new machine blow a Flex Shaft on its first use and I've had brand new Flex Shafts blow up. I'm not happy about the Zero Day warranty on these (not even sure if that is legal), but that's the way it is and nothing I can do to change it, so I have a stock of Flex Shafts to draw from when needed.

Also, I always clean and lube brand new shafts. I even clean the sheaths out with a Rifle Cleaner and you wouldn't believe the crud that comes out of new sheaths.

Kenny

[CarverJerry]

Thanks Bergerud, thought I'd be safe rather than sorry.