Le Sigh...FS41 Elite S issues?
Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 11:45 pm
I'm going to put this one out there since I'm now searching for a gremlin in this machine.
The story:
Planing the last boards for my kitchen project (a dangerous thought passed through my mind that i'd be able to wrap that project up) and I heard a loud 'BANG'. I shut the machine immediately and decide to hunt for the problem. Long story short I chased through the easy stuff and found instead that the machine's electric mechanical brake had failed. I discovered this by opening up the back of the motor and parts dropped into the fan housing. The bolt which retains the fan (which doubles as a disk brake) had snapped. I spoke with SCM technical support, they decided best to send a new motor. That arrived today. I installed the new motor.
I can turn the override switch, that opens the brake (I did this multiple times). I try and run the machine and instead I hear a noise like the motor is attempting to run, but I did not hear the 'clunk' of the brake opening. I let this stand for a moment but shut the operation down after visually confirming that the motor would not turn. There is no way to manually override the brake and then operate the machine (unfortunately) because I'd like to get this machine running again while tech support figures out the problem.
The belts are off of the motor at this point, I'm just trying to run it without a load. I did however check the top of the machine and it spins over easily by hand, so no trouble there.
I'm back to assuming there is an issue with the switch, I had kind of assumed that to begin with thinking that the switch failed (partially failed) or something failed allowing the motor to close the brake while operating. This in turn caused the bolt to snap as I assume it was not intended to stop a motor under power.
So this debunks my theory that a good deal is the cause of much grief to be had, a brand new quite expensive machine can cause headaches as well. At this point I'm damned near submitting a bill for time lost, I've dumped probably 6-7 hours into swapping parts on a new machine and I have a project in need of completion. The muscle memory for using the try plane has not been lost in these months, so I'll be back to working entirely by hand with a an expensive hunk of cast iron furniture in the garage for the moment.
The story:
Planing the last boards for my kitchen project (a dangerous thought passed through my mind that i'd be able to wrap that project up) and I heard a loud 'BANG'. I shut the machine immediately and decide to hunt for the problem. Long story short I chased through the easy stuff and found instead that the machine's electric mechanical brake had failed. I discovered this by opening up the back of the motor and parts dropped into the fan housing. The bolt which retains the fan (which doubles as a disk brake) had snapped. I spoke with SCM technical support, they decided best to send a new motor. That arrived today. I installed the new motor.
I can turn the override switch, that opens the brake (I did this multiple times). I try and run the machine and instead I hear a noise like the motor is attempting to run, but I did not hear the 'clunk' of the brake opening. I let this stand for a moment but shut the operation down after visually confirming that the motor would not turn. There is no way to manually override the brake and then operate the machine (unfortunately) because I'd like to get this machine running again while tech support figures out the problem.
The belts are off of the motor at this point, I'm just trying to run it without a load. I did however check the top of the machine and it spins over easily by hand, so no trouble there.
I'm back to assuming there is an issue with the switch, I had kind of assumed that to begin with thinking that the switch failed (partially failed) or something failed allowing the motor to close the brake while operating. This in turn caused the bolt to snap as I assume it was not intended to stop a motor under power.
So this debunks my theory that a good deal is the cause of much grief to be had, a brand new quite expensive machine can cause headaches as well. At this point I'm damned near submitting a bill for time lost, I've dumped probably 6-7 hours into swapping parts on a new machine and I have a project in need of completion. The muscle memory for using the try plane has not been lost in these months, so I'll be back to working entirely by hand with a an expensive hunk of cast iron furniture in the garage for the moment.