Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Trolley Bumpers and that Grinding Noise

As more and more people take delivery on their eCraft machines a few spot some things that don't seem quite right.  One issue that came up in the eCraft_Crafters Yahoo group was a blade trolley with irratic travel.

Fortunately, Trish C had already encountered a similar problem and was able to fix it.  It turns out the two bumpers on either side of the eCraft's cutting area are not simply passive bumpers.  They are actually switches that turn off the movement of the trolley in the appropriate direction.  I created this video to demonstrate what Trish C found.  Brilliant Find.  That is one sharp group of people.


The other issue that crops up is an occasional grinding sound.  We dealt with that a little bit earlier.  But, since I had the trusty Bloggie out, I thought I'd make a short video that demonstrates where all that noise comes from and why.



Earlier, I had thought the grinding sound was the rasp surface of the lower roller against the mterial.  But, it's better than that.  It's a design feature.  It appears to me to be a safety mechanism in case we try to load materials into the machine that might be too thick.  the pulley or whatever drives the lower roller has a mechanism that gives when the lower roller is facing too much stress.  And, while it may sound scary that is a good thing. 

I sure do wish the Bloggie had a manual focus.  It is SO convenient.  But,that constantly hunting auto focus drives me crazy!  Even so, it does the job of getting information out to you quickly.

2 comments:

BammerKT said...

Well too bad I had to find out by getting a defective switch huh!! You are great, Tom, but it was actually my very brilliant husband who figured it out. One of the many, many reasons it pays to be married to a brilliant engineer!

Trish C

Tom Meeks said...

Well, be sure to pass on our "Brilliant" to him for us!

It pays to have friends with brilliant engineer husbands.

Thanks, so much, Trish. By the way I tried to email you; but, for some reason it did not get to you. I'll try again. If it still fails, I'll write you via the eCraft_Yahoo group.