So...was doing a long carve

[Geophyrd]

The board was 52", 14.5" wide, comprised of two narrower boards glued together. The carve got to around 85% and it sounded like something was straining. Then I got a z truck failure and when I removed the board, noticed that there was a grayish powder on the wood surface. Any idea what this is? I'm concerned I may have damaged my machine!

[henry1]

To bad you don't have a pic of it could be anything a screw rubbing or a bearing look for loose screw and check the bearing also, how many hr on the machine are you in the USA I can give you a call send me a private message for me to call you

[chief2007]

With the machine off and unplugged first thing I would do is disconnect the flex shaft and remove the core Inspect it for and signs of damage. Rotate the spindle and see if it rotates freely. There should be no binding.
If that checks out, then slide the Z truck up and down and the Y truck left and right again to make sure the move freely with no binding.

If all checks out If that checks out then run the user test for the X, Y, and Z motors.

Questions would be how many cut hours on the machine? CarveTight, Quick Change or Rock adapter?

[unitedcases]

Cut motor brushes? When I change mine I always find a little of that powder in the cut motor.

[Geophyrd]

I'm not sure how to check the hour so the motor (something in the menus on the machine?). I have the regular chuck not the one that popps out, the one you tighten carefully with the red handled hex wrench.

When I took the board out, it popped free. I sort of suspect there was a wider variation near the bottom of the board and it got stuck as it progressed. Going to set up another board (glue and all) and try again today. Not good as its 12" wide quarter sawn red oak...around $80 for a 10 foot board.

I'll pull the cable out and put a dab of lube in there...but what is a cu motor brush? How do you check for that

[unitedcases]

The cut motor has 2 caps. One on the top easily reachable and one underneath not so easily reached. Use a flat screwdriver and unscrew the top cap and you will see the top one. Pull that brush out and see how wore it is. Do a search on here as well as Al has posted many pictures of brushes. If the top one is wore down more than likely the bottom one is wore down as well.