Feed rate control help

[Peter Drouin]

Buy 4

[Magicman]

I only keep one because they are kinda pricey plus you get an indication with irregular feed when they are about to croak. 

[caveman]

MM, I appreciate you describing how they fail.  This may be on the list of parts we might be replacing soon, based on your description.  I'll have to check our spare parts to see if we have one on hand.  If not, we should probably order one.  They are $63.72 today.

[bigblockyeti]

That's a bunch of $$$$$$$$$$ for a $5 potentiometer!

[Peter Drouin]

I have a bunch of parts on hand, I lot of $$$ tied up, but, when you can't cut, That's more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Out of your pocket.

[YellowHammer]

I'll buy "emergency" repair parts from WM because they are expensive but will work and they ship fast.  I do the same with all my other equipment to get back up and running.  Then when the parts come in, I will cross reference it with the actual manufacturer part number (WM doesn't build them, they buy them and resell) and sometimes I can get the same exact part at a huge price discount.  I don't thanks it's a WM markup, I think it's whoever supples the parts to WM, some have a big markup, some don't.

Either way, if a part has failed once, it will fail again.  The price will go up the next time I need and order it, and if I already have a spare in my cabinet, then it's pretty quick shipping.  Sometimes, the part I think is bad isn't the problem at all, so I can immediately proceed with the troubleshooting process.

I hope you get up and running quickly.   

[GAB]

I hate paying more in freight than for parts.  That is why I ordered two potentiometers when mine failed.
When one of the four little drum switch springs failed I ordered more than one.
GAB

[Percy]

Read the whole thread here. Can't say for sure what your problem is but if it is infact the speed control pot, the same pot exsists in the control panel of the WM drag sharpeners. Dont know if you have one but when mine died many moons ago and I was still running a drag sharpener, I had enuff blades to get me by so I robbed that one......

[Bruno of NH]

I'm just getting the inventory built up of extra parts 
This I didn't have

[Bruno of NH]

The mill needs an h bridge
I don't care for the WM electrical techs 
They are always rude to me.
My WM saved my life but I'm only taking x amount rude talk.

[Magicman]

Since you were "dead in the water" with power feed travel, I was afraid from the beginning that you may have an H bridge issue but I was hoping not.  Potentiometer problems are normally intermittent and erratic.

I have never experienced any of the rudeness that you are describing??  They have always been above and beyond being helpful to me.

[YellowHammer]

H bridge.  Not good.  Sorry to hear that.  

[Dan_Shade]

Here is a link from @MartyParsons where he provided troubleshooting tips a few years ago.

Feed module troubleshooting

Hope this helps.

[Bruno of NH]

The part going bad doesn't bother me as much as the rudeness. 
I don't treat my customers like that so it's hard for me to swallow. 
This was more than the first time it happened to me .

[beenthere]

For sure, we don't know what the conversations were like. But sometimes it is a two-way street. Wish you better luck from here forward. 

[Bruno of NH]

I'm always polite 
There is more to my story with a problem I had a year into my mill.
It's a long story but was left on my own to figure it out.
It could have cost me my mill to a electrical fire.

[Bruno of NH]

When I got switched to the electrical tech I let my good friend and hired man handle it . I never told him about them and he brought it right up to me when he came in the sharpening shop.
Sheila says I'm polite to a fault.

[Southside]

I find some of those types are blunt and to the point, not much of a bedside manner. It's the nature of their personalities, extremely detail focused, can sit there and read literally thousands of wiring diagrams while trying to explain to some folks how to turn on their multi-meter, while four more lines are flashing with customers on hold. 

They aren't trying to be rude, they just have a different job to do and maybe it dosen't come across as unicorns and rainbows. 

Put yourself in their shoes and try to diagnose electrical issues over the phone with someone on the other end who doesn't know a relay from a diode. 

When I was in Kansas we had an oil pressure problem with a walk in freezer in Virginia. Had to walk my guy through everything, even checking the engine oil level. At one point he said "Where is the dipstick?", and I really wanted to respond that "it's on the phone" by that point, but I knew he was trying and was doing something he had zero experience with. 

It's hard to be cheerful when you are working under those conditions. 

[Hilltop366]

At one point he said "Where is the dipstick?", and I really wanted to respond that "it's on the phone"

My next question would have been "which end?"

Hope you get the mill up and running soon.

[Bruno of NH]

When the h bridge was ordered they took all my mill information from my customer card given to me when the mill was delivered. 
Thanks to Kevin member Crossroads reaching out to me today about my problems.  I realized they were sending me the wrong h bridge one for accuset 2 , I have simple set.
Had to call Indy and get that straightened out.
Extreme growth of a company sales in a matter of 2 years puts  to much of a strain on operations .