Originally Posted by
BCChad
Thanks for replying - and no, I haven't been using the cover to stop the motor. By the way, in my case, the motor quit but the y-axis motor continued moving, dragging the idle bit across the work piece. I thought it strange that the "cut-off" did not completely disable the machine.
A further insight - I found the cut motor switch mounting was loose - one screw only was engaged. Whether from vibration or poor manufacture/quality control, not sure why the other screw was not screwed in. So a possible theory is that the switch has been bouncing around, causing the contacts to separate slightly and arc.
Have you ever seen your machine labor harder when carving hardwood?