My CW "C" machine is giving me a head scratching problem. I was finishing a wall plaque carving yesterday which was carving with no issues until the last operation of using the 1/8" cutting bit to cut it out. It was a maple project and I usually do it in 3 passes. I loaded the bit and went on to something else in the shop. I heard the CW running but didn't notice it wasn't cutting. When it was done, I went over to see that nothing had been cut out and the bit was broken. Not the first time I have broken a bit, but I found it interesting that it didn't cut into the board at all. Simply saw a few tap-like marks where the path would have started. I chalked it up to a bit issue, re-programmed the mpc to delete all but the cut path, loaded a new bit and it cut out the project just fine.

A little while later, I had another project to carve which was simply a centerline text name in a board. I loaded the 90 degree bit and waited for it to start carving. There were no other elements to the project. After going through the pre-carve process, the CW said it was ready to carve. Just before it started, the CW quit. I walked over to the display and it said "check cut motor". I recently put in new brushes and did see this message occasionally before I replaced the brushes, so I simply hit enter. Even though the display said it was working the bit was simply bouncing up and down off the board. I immediately hit "stop" and finished the project on my second machine.

Today I wanted to see if this was a fluke or something real, so I loaded a new project which consisted of a flat board with a centerline message using a 60 degree bit. The font wasn't going to take it too deep, but I wanted to see if I would have a repeat of the day before. It carved just fine. No misses or unusual behavior. I chalked the day before up to gremlins (my shop was a mortuary once in its long history). I then started the next project, but before I did, I cleaned all the y and z rails, bearings and bearing covers with WD-40 and then added a light coat of 3 in 1 oil to the rails.

This new project is a memorial box for ashes and I started on one of the sides which has 1/8" deep carve area and centerline text inside the carve area. I have built a dozen of these boxes and have never had an issue. The CW carved the the 1/8" deep carve area just fine and then asked for the 90 degree bit. I put it in and off it went. The CW went through its new bit pre-carve routine and then said it was carving, but before it actually carved it stopped and I got the "check cut motor" message again. Just to see what would happen, I hit "enter" and watched. The bit moved slowly downward and started to lightly scratch the surface of the carve area while it was shuddering slightly. The display continued to read "carving project" (or whatever the exact wording is under normal conditions), but it was no where near a normal carve. I kept waiting for it to quit and give me an error message, but it never did. I finally stopped it and took the board out. It was very slightly scratched from the "V" bit, but not really distinguishable....

Sorry for the long dissertation, but I wanted to get it all down before I forgot details. Any help on what is going on with my machine would be greatly appreciated. As I mentioned it is a C machine with about 450 hours. I performed the 250 hour schedule at 400 hours (lost track of time), so it was done recently. I am running the latest designer with about all the add-ons except for DFX importer.

Thank you for taking the time to read this novel