Then yesterday afternoon it failed when I hit the start button. It starts momentarialy but then stops as soon as I remove my finger from the button. If I hold my finger on the button it runs, but as soon as I release my finger it stops.
Axminster technical said they would send me a new switch as that was probably the problem. Then 10mins later they phoned me back and said - no, probably not the switch - best thing is to remove the motor fan cover and press the reset button...
Hmm - I removed the fan cover - no button.
I spoke to them again today and they are now going to send me a switch.
Looks to me like the No Volt thingy has failed. Is a new switch going to fix that? - I have my doubts.
Anyone any thoughts?
I hope that I don't have to send this machine back - it nearly killed me assembling it all.... very, very heavy!
Yes. The problem is that this isn't a real NVR contactor, as built the Empire, it's one of those crappy American style latching relay things, where the hold-in is semi-mechanical. These are unreliable at best, unusable at worst.
If you have this style of switch (as fitted to their mid-range machines)
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's even worse. These usually start OK, but drop out if there's any vibration. Phoning Axminster usually makes a new switch appear, because they clearly recognise that their switch spec wasn't up to the mark (thumbs up to Axminster's customer service, thumbs down to their original specification).
Personally I replace all of them with a proper isolator and NVR switch, based on a contactor. This also allows me to add simple E-stop switches with knee paddles or kick switches.
Hi, I can't quite tell from the picture the style of switch but I had a similar problem some time back and the answer was terribly simple. The on and off buttons had a clear rubber membrane over them to keep dust/moisture etc. out. The one over the off switch had indented a small amount and was putting just enough pressure on it to cause it to turn off. Probably not your problem but maybe worth a look?
Went to the machine to do the replacement - guess what - it's now working just fine.
I did have a close look at the possibility of the OFF dust cover holding the button in (as suggested by Bill) but I don't think that is a problem in this case.
Anyway - it's been working just fine all afternoon/evening.
I guess I'll just wait to se if the problem returns.
Yes - of course I will... I'm going to hang on for a bit to see if the problem show up again.
I'm probably going to visit the Axminster shop in the next few weeks to place a fairy large order for some dust extraction kit/ducting... So will probably take it with me then...
I still have no idea what was causing the failure...
Axminster is pretty expensive for decent ducting. Their clipped ducting range is a clone of Nordfab (e.g. 765020) and the branches etc. (e.g. 765031) are very high priced.
I bought some of the original Nordfab stuff for considerably less than Axminster's prices from the manufacturer. This stuff has the advantage that it can be clipped and unclipped easily if it is necessary to relayout the shop.
I took a look at Axminster's standard metal ducting range. Not too bad, but only available in 100mm.
If you are going to go for 100mm ducting, be very careful about distances. You won't get away with metres and metres of it if you are extracting from a machine producing a lot of waste such as a planer or spindle moulder. On a small one, you might get away with no more than about 3-4m of flexible hose on a medium size bag extractor.
However, Axminster's flexible hose (e.g. HOSEG4) is rubbish. It is too light in weight and the inside ends up being quite corrugated. THis wrecks the air flow. It is well worth shopping around for some decent grade industrial hose. THis has a smoother interior and makes a considerable difference. If you have Felder's catalogue, they have two types. I bought some of the better one and a similar grade from another supplier.
Don't bother with any of the 63mm plastic duct systems. They are completely worthless as a main extract arrangement. TBH, I don't know why they bother selling them.
I would strongly suggest that before rushing out and buying dust extraction equipment, you figure out the likely machine candidates and their extraction requirements. You need an extractor that is comfortably rated for the maximum that machines concurrently require, and then more to allow for duct losses. Even if you begin by not doing the fixed duct and go for flexible hose, it would be tearful if the extractor turns out to be inadequate later.
I researched all of this very carefully and did a number of complete duct designs before deciding. The Felder catalogue has some worked examples in metric units (mm sizes for duct, pascals for pressure etc.)
This is also a very good web site
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if you don't go for a cyclone extractor. There are sections on basics of extraction and how to calculate (albeit in deprecated units).
One of the key things is the air flow rate through the duct work. It needs to be high enough to maintain the chips and dust mobile. On the other hand, the duct diameter has to be adequate to take the volume of material being produced. Therefore at each point you can work out what these need to be and account for the losses.
I made the machine decisions first, although one could look at the worst cases for likely machines.
To give you a rough idea.....
- THe Felder combination machine requires 120mm duct for the saw table (plus 50mm for the guard -80mm is better); 120mm for the planer or thicknesser and 120mm and 80mm for the spindle moulder.
- I implemented hose connection points with blast gates and with 120mm and 80mm connections at the ceiling and at four drop down points around the walls. This gives me flexibility to move machinery and have coverage. There are never more than 2 blast gates open.
- The trunk ducts are 160mm over most of the area of the shop - arranged with gentle curves where possible. For the last couple of metres to the extractor, from the first branch, the duct is 180mm.
- There's a 1500W cyclone extractor.
The results are good. I measured pressures and air velocities once everything was installed and results were better than design so I was happy. Removal of waste in use works well.
Obviously a simpler system can be implemented. However, it would be really unwise to just rush out and buy something without checking carefully first. I began by mapping out some gut feel ideas and was quite a way out in terms of how it would have performed.
You seem to know a lot about this subject so I have a slightly connected question.
I am intending to make one of these
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is a panel with 2 spirals of what looks like clear ducting through which a child can drop plastic balls.
Do you have any idea where I could get clear 75mm ducting from? It is in the Axminster catalogue but no longer shown on their web site. Also How would you connect the duct to the board? I had thought of a flanged spigot but they did seem rather expensive at nearly £11 each (*).
Cheers for any help
Mark
(*) but as the price to buy one of these panels is £189.75 ex vat I am willing to spend a bit making one
Rompa do have some lovely stuff, don't they. Clearly you can make one of the Helter Skelter Loopies for a lot less than that.
For the hose, you would probably find that 80mm is a more commonly available size than 75mm (which is really American 3 inch).
At a guess, looking at the original, you would need about 4m or so? it probably wouldn't need to be the high grade stuff as long as the balls are of reasonable weight.
A Google search using keywords of {dust extrator hose 80mm} in the UK section gave a few suppliers including Poolewood.
Otherwise, you can try Dantherm Filtration in Leeds. They used to be DISA Airmaster but were sold by Maersk to private investors earlier this year. I believe they still do extraction solutions and should be able to supply hose.
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you get stuck, then I know that Felder sells 80mm hose. The cheaper one is part number 02.0.308 and is priced at £9.50 a metre inc.
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About the only reason I can think of to go to Milton Keynes :-)
As far as the attachments are concerned, I think that this needs some thought. The metal flanges are a) expensive and b) are going to have sharp edges, especially when the big Jubilee clips normally used are considered. I'm guessing that this would be undesirable in this application.
I wonder if you could contrive something using 100mm soil pipe fittings, cut suitably where appropriate and with the hose inserted inside. Some draught excluder to locate the hose plus some silicone sealant might be a good way to fix. I guess that the main challenge would be fixing the assembly to the board in a secure way.
Thanks for that Andy. I have copied a fair bit of stuff from Rompa but what really gets my goat is when they charge ridiculous amounts for stuff you can buy off the shelf from other places. An example of this is selling a spotlight for £75 +vat - I bought this instead for £20 from Maplin. I have no problem with making a profit but when you think of the target market market for Rompa (disabled kids mainly) it is a bit sad.
The vast majority of their stuff is very simple but it does take a bit of fathoming out to recreate items from easily available materials. However a mix of Screwfix, Axminster and craft catalogues usually come up with something.
I wouldn't condone ridiculous levels of profiteering as you say, although the market controls that in the end.
However, I suppose that one is in part paying for the product development and ideas (the intellectual property) as well as the item itself. This is the same argument as for computer software being more than the cost of the CD. Possibly they have higher product liability insurance costs than for other products and perhaps product volumes are relatively low and manufacturing not in a low cost place. Then there is the cost of developing new ideas and trying them out.
I just looked at their accounts and this is not really a mega-business at all. Rompa is a non-trading dormant company owned along with a a couple of others in related businesses (winslow Press and the Sensory Company) by a holding company called Talaos Ltd. Talaos is owned 85% by an American company called Flaghouse (similar business) and the remainder by a UK director. Last year, Talaos had assets of about £1.5m and made about £360k profit. They employed 58 people. The three directors, between them received emoluments of £139k. So it seems that they are basically as they say on their web site.
Generally products intended for the disabled (in whatever form) tend to be a lot more expensive than one would normally feel is justified.
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