Cricut Explore Air 2 does not feed, remove end covers

To get the end covers off of the Explore 2, remove 5 screws for each cover, 2 screws on the bottom at the rubber feet, 2 screws in the chamber and one screw behind the chamber back panel. The first 4 screws are easy to get to, removing the back panel is difficult but not impossible. The back panel is held in place by 4 slotted channels about a half inch long each, they slide onto four tabs 2 on each side of the chamber walls. You need to push the back panel up about a half inch to get the back panel to release from the chamber walls, to get the tabs to slide out of the channels. It is very difficult to do this but it is easier if the top cover is closed and you work only with the front cover open. Pry the back panel up by levering the bottom of the panel as close as you can to the sides of the panel. Slide as straight up as possible.

Please note that there is one of six similar screws that is shorter than the rest, please take NOTE of this location so you do not put a longer screw at the short screw location. Also NOTE that there are 7 screws on the bottom of the Explore 2 between the rubber legs, NONE of these screws need to be removed to get either end cover off.

I needed to get the end cover off to get to the gears that power the feed rollers. This is located on the left side. I found that two machine screws were missing from the motor mounting bracket, only one screw was holding the motor in place, but the one screw was not sufficient to hold the motor in the proper position so the gear from the motor was not making sufficient contact with the gear of the feed rollers. After I added the missing screws the feed rollers spun like it is supposed to. I did not find any loose screws in the motor compartment but I have a large collection of machine screws and found two that I needed to secure the motor bracket.