Chicago Pneumatic CP9160 questions

[Chamfer]

I bought a new Chicago Pneumatic CP9160 engraver tool from Amazon last October. It works/worked very well for removing matrix.

When I first got it, I didn't have an air drying system on my compressor, so I made sure to add a few drops of air tool oil each time I used it (per the manual). A month or two ago I added an air dryer (http://amzn.com/B00OJX6CJ2) to the system. Because of that, and the fact that the scribe kept blowing dirty oil onto the fossils (yuck!), I stopped adding oil. I typically use the scribe only once a week or so, and only for perhaps an hour, but even with that light usage, it should long since have blown the residual oil out! But it hasn't - I still get oil spatters on my specimens, as well as leakage around the O-ring.

This weekend when I tried using the scribe, it would barely start up - air would flow through, but the oscillations wouldn't start on their own. If I tapped the tip on a hard surface a few times it would eventually start up, but not always at full strokes per minute. And it would just abruptly stop very often.

So I guess my questions are:

Do others use these with an airline oiler constantly providing oil, or even just add drops as I was doing?

If you do use oil, how do you keep it from spraying all over your fossils?

Is it reasonable to run it with dried air and little or no oil?

Have I ruined my scribe by stopping oiling each session, even though it clearly still has oil that it's spitting out?

I'll be sending it in for repair, hopefully under warranty, but I'm a bit frustrated and wondered what others have experienced with this model and oil.

Thanks.

[jpc]

I only oil mine when it starts to get stubborn. Which very infrequently. For the same reason... I do not want splatters of oil on my specimens. I have not had any problems with mine and have used it for years. I do live in a much drier climate, and i suspect your air needs to be drier. Even in my dry climate, have two driers in my air line before it gets to the air scribes. Maybe it is time take it apart and clean the parts and pieces. Clean them with alcohol... The kind that is not meant to drink.

[Malcolmt]

I doubt that other than perhaps a little extra wear on the bushing you have done anything to your scribe.

I suspect that what is being blown out is mostly condenced water .

I only add 1 or 2 drops of high quality clear sewing machine oil about once a month. I have CP 9361, ARO, Pferd, Sealey and a few lesser know brands. I then let the unit run for a few minutes into a paper towel. Within 5 minutes at most of oiling I can detect no trace of oil coming out of my scribes. I have had no problems really at all with my scribes. I change O rings probably about once a year on the units that they tend to wear on. I clean my units each time I oil them. I agree with JPC when a scribe tends to stall it either needs cleaning or oiling. I cannot really say that moisture has much effect on running my scribes although I do have desiccators and in line water traps installed but during the summer up here in Canada there can be a lot of moisture in the air. But again that is mostly because I have an air abrasion unit that is very sensitive to water in the lines.

[Mike Pocock]

Hi I have the same scribe as you and I use an auto oil and air filter combo, what I found was that the oil only sprays out when the air filter was not working, I live in the UK so lots of moisture in the air.

I recently changed the needle in the pen and I don't have any problems with oil on the fossils See attached image for what I use.

Hope this helps

Regards

Mike

[Raggedy Man]

I used to have the same problems. Like the previous posts, once I added two in line water traps. You can also send your scribe to paleotools.Com and they will over haul your scribe with new parts. This will greatly improve its overall performance.

Best regards,

Paul

[Chamfer]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'm feeling a good bit less despondent now. I'll undertake to disassemble and clean the tool this weekend.

[Chamfer]

Good news! I took the scribe apart and found that the front spring was the culprit. The end of it had come off and broken into three pieces, which were bouncing around in that part of the tool and slowly being ground into metal powder. It took a good deal of time to get the debris cleaned out of the threads.

I put it back together, including the broken spring (just the last loop of it was broken off), and the scribe now works better than it did when I got it! I suspect the spring was broken from the start. I'll be contacting the manufacturer for a replacement. Should be under warranty, but even if not, a spring should be cheap.

Thanks again for the replies.

[Chamfer]

Just a followup to this that might be of interest. I sent CP photos of the broken spring and my proof of purchase. Why go through the shipping costs and time when it's such a simple issue, after all? They've agreed to send me a new spring.

However, they also wrote:

"The tool carries a one year repair warranty as you are already aware of. Unfortunately once you take the tool apart you are voiding your warranty. [...] if you have any future issues you will be responsible for the repair."


Oh really, is that a fact? Because I have the Operator's Manual for the tool right here in front of me, and the very first item listed under "Maintenance" is:
"Disassemble and inspect tool every three months if the tool is used every day. Replace damaged or worn parts."

I hope/suspect that the support person was merely misspeaking or unfamiliar with the product specifics. However, keep in mind that by following the maintenance guidelines in the manual, you may be voiding your warranty

[Mike Pocock]

Hi I had a read of my manual and I had a separate leaflet in with my tool that tells me that failure to follow standard maintenance as per the hand book will invalidate the warranty. so it would look like a catch 22, this is of course is not legal, I suspect that they would ask you if you replaced any of the parts and if you did are they genuine Chicago tool parts and if so they will then possibly give you your money back for the parts.

Regards

Mike