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PowerPro Woes...

TomH

Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem:

Upgraded to PowerPro head stock. Works fine except in drill press mode, when extending or retracting the quill, there is a distinct vibration in the handle. Not there when motor is off or if motor is on but quill not moving.

Have spent tons of time on the phone with Shopsmith Tech support but nothing has worked. They are having me ship it back for service.

Since I had to wait 5 months to get one and Shopsmith can't tell me how long I'll be without my headstock, I'm a bit peeved. Nonetheless, curious if anyone else has had this issue?

Thanks!

wa2crk

Tom

Did you get a factory assembled headstock or did you get a DIY headstock. If you bought a complete headstock try installing your original quill and making another test. Actually whatever you bought you should have another quill to try.

You may also check the motor mounts and see if anything is not tightened properly

Bill V

TomH

wa2crk wroteTom

Did you get a factory assembled headstock or did you get a DIY headstock. If you bought a complete headstock try installing your original quill and making another test. Actually whatever you bought you should have another quill to try.

You may also check the motor mounts and see if anything is not tightened properly

Bill V

Was brand new, fully assembled head. Odd Shopsmith didn't ask me to try changing the quills or checking the mounts.

I just figure for $2,000 + it ought to work out of the box. Not impressed with QA procedures.

Thanks for the reply!

JPG

TomH wrote
wa2crk wroteTom

Did you get a factory assembled headstock or did you get a DIY headstock. If you bought a complete headstock try installing your original quill and making another test. Actually whatever you bought you should have another quill to try.

You may also check the motor mounts and see if anything is not tightened properly

Bill V

Was brand new, fully assembled head. Odd Shopsmith didn't ask me to try changing the quills or checking the mounts.

I just figure for $2,000 + it ought to work out of the box. Not impressed with QA procedures.

Thanks for the reply!

Does this vibration occur (A)under cutting load or (B)merely when advancing the quill with no load. If you do send it back, they might then inform you (B) is 'normal'. If (A) you need to check your cutting tools(bits...).

Used a drill press much?

P.S. I be curious for a description of this vibration.

dusty

Did they not offer you a loaner?

TomH

Thanks for the replies...

1. Vibrates under no load (choice b). My old head never had this issue and yes, I use a drill press quite a bit. It also doesn't retract without pushing it. They had me remove the quill and remount it, readjust the set screw and so on but it mostly made things worse. If you ignore the issues, it drills just fine, no apparent reduction in power or ability. If feels like a chatter or like it's sticking on something and gets worse the faster the motor speed.

2. Nope, no loaner but they did send a prepaid shipping carton.

JPG

I am gonna guess a 'cocked/out of round coupler' or a bent spline.

I assume it does not vibrate unless the motor is running.

TomH

That's right, it's only when the motor is running. Like I said my old head stock was smooth as silk and a pleasure to use. This was just an annoying mess.

Other than that, the PP head is great, less noisy and I don't have to keep digging the speed chart out of the mess on the bench. :D

wa2crk

I did have a problem with my factory assembled headstock when it was new. The quill did not retract the same as yours. Try removing the quill and if you can blow out the spring housing to remove any debris that may be trapped. I replaced the bearings in my original quill with high speed bearings and that quill assembly is still in my headstock.

Bill V

PS You may want to check the motor and make sure that the set screw that hold the pulley on the motor shaft is not loose or missing. Mine came loose twice and the second time I found it the bottom of the motor pan. Blue Loctite cured that problem.

TomH

wa2crk wroteI did have a problem with my factory assembled headstock when it was new. The quill did not retract the same as yours. Try removing the quill and if you can blow out the spring housing to remove any debris that may be trapped. I replaced the bearings in my original quill with high speed bearings and that quill assembly is still in my headstock.

Bill V

Bill: Thanks. I've had the quill out several times at the request of Shopsmith but never thought about trying to blow out debris. Good idea! Unfortunately it's all packed up and waiting for FedEx right now. I guess I could unpack it and give it a shot. :confused:

JPG

TomH wrote
wa2crk wroteI did have a problem with my factory assembled headstock when it was new. The quill did not retract the same as yours. Try removing the quill and if you can blow out the spring housing to remove any debris that may be trapped. I replaced the bearings in my original quill with high speed bearings and that quill assembly is still in my headstock.

Bill V

Bill: Thanks. I've had the quill out several times at the request of Shopsmith but never thought about trying to blow out debris. Good idea! Unfortunately it's all packed up and waiting for FedEx right now. I guess I could unpack it and give it a shot. :confused:

That could cause retraction problem, but not the vibration.

Doubt a new headstock would have debris problems. I am assuming a 'new' headstock has ALL new parts.

wa2crk

JPG

I had other problems with the newer pinion shaft in that if the setscrew was tightened on the housing that is next to the depth stop, the quill was difficult to move either up or down. The quill would bind up after about 20 holes when doing a production run. I was never able to determine if the spring housing was flexing when the setscrew was tightened or not but the tightness of the setscrew did make a big difference. One of these days I will pull both assemblies and try to figure it all out. If I can find it I will post a pic of the gouge in the spring housing that was caused when I had the problem. Right now the PP quill is in the PP headstock but the pinion shaft is from my original 1983 headstock.

Bill V

ChrisNeilan

TomH wrote
wa2crk wroteI did have a problem with my factory assembled headstock when it was new. The quill did not retract the same as yours. Try removing the quill and if you can blow out the spring housing to remove any debris that may be trapped. I replaced the bearings in my original quill with high speed bearings and that quill assembly is still in my headstock.

Bill V

Bill: Thanks. I've had the quill out several times at the request of Shopsmith but never thought about trying to blow out debris. Good idea! Unfortunately it's all packed up and waiting for FedEx right now. I guess I could unpack it and give it a shot. :confused:

At $2000, you should not have to.... I'm sure that Shopsmith will make it right.

TomH

ChrisNeilan wrote
TomH wrote
wa2crk wroteI did have a problem with my factory assembled headstock when it was new. The quill did not retract the same as yours. Try removing the quill and if you can blow out the spring housing to remove any debris that may be trapped. I replaced the bearings in my original quill with high speed bearings and that quill assembly is still in my headstock.

Bill V

Bill: Thanks. I've had the quill out several times at the request of Shopsmith but never thought about trying to blow out debris. Good idea! Unfortunately it's all packed up and waiting for FedEx right now. I guess I could unpack it and give it a shot. :confused:
At $2000, you should not have to.... I'm sure that Shopsmith will make it right.

Agreed, however the lady in Tech Support (Gail) has been very good about returning my calls and trying to get things fixed. So that part of SS is working, it just seems like QA department could use some work.

wa2crk

OK I'm back

I found the pic of the original pinion shaft from the PP. The original position of the setscrew is at the left in the pic and the gouge is where the spring housing rotated in the shell.

The brighter set screw mark is where I tried to tighten it in place and I got a lot of binding after. The older pinion shaft worked a lot better. There was a lot of metal filings in the spring housing and I cleaned it out using WD40 and compressed air. I left the situation where it now stands due to a conflict with D*** who had a very condescending attitude. After switching parts my PP works OK so now I will have to pull out my old headstock and put it through it's paces. It needs a lube job anyhow.

Bill V

TomH

Update on the Headstock issues...

Just talked to Shopsmith and they did receive my headstock on December 1 but it might be up to 4 weeks before they can take a look at it! :mad: And no estimate on when I might get it back! This is unacceptable!!!

Plus the person I talked to acted like I was just ruining her day by asking about my warranty return!

Now I'm wondering if there is any way to get my money back and just find an old headstock to use?

Ed in Tampa

Four weeks???????????? WoW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is Shopsmith that busy?

TomH

Ed in Tampa wroteFour weeks???????????? WoW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is Shopsmith that busy?

Heck, took me 5 months just to get it the first time. Had it for about 2 weeks and had to send it back so, yeah, not real impressed. :mad:

reible

Time to call and speak to the boss man.

I guess the issue could be the time of the year. Back when I worked a lot of people saved up vacation time for the end of the year. With the holidays and some forethought 2 weeks of vacation can get nice and long. I personally like to come in that time of year and doing things that I did not have time for the rest of the year like clean up my desk, do some reading and the like. With so few people around it was like on the job vacation. We even called it that.

In this case I would think they might not have a spare powerpro to ship out but they sure should have a regular one that they could loan you.

Some years back I began thinking hey my head stock is 25 years old. Just how long can this thing keep going without some major fault. Now what would I do while I was waiting on parts or worse yet had to send it in for repairs???? That is when I started looking for a second one so if that happened I could just keep going. I found a basket case 510 and had to spend some additional cash to get it back to good condition but it was the piece of mind of having it that mattered the most.

Then came the years when we were worried that shopsmith might one day close up and all parts would have to be gotten off ebay or other means. I stocked piled a couple of extra shopsmiths and some parts so ever that happened I would be able to keep going for a good long time. Of course that didn't happen then but I found I had more uses for the extra machines so they didn't go to waste.

This did keep me from buying a powerpro for a couple of years, the uncertainty of there business still worries me as they would be a major problem if they went away with so few powerpros sold. I over came this issue this past summer when I got a second powerpro. It took 3 months to get here but it seems to be working fine and I'm activating using both machines.

I now have the old head stock intact as a spare as I got the necessary base head stock from Bill Mayo to put the kit in.

I've been very very good to shopsmith over the years, staring with a new machine in 1976. I have a lot of money invested in there products and really hope they survive so when I pass my machines on to my kids they too can get a lot of use and enjoyment out of them.

Given the facts we have been presented here shopsmith needs to setup and take care of this issue for you. So call the boss man and see what happens.

Ed

TomH

Thanks for the great idea, Ed. Now does anyone have the big guys number?

I guess squeaky wheel gets greased in this case. Just got an email from ShopSmith saying my headstock had shipped and would be here on Monday. So much for internal communications at ShopSmith.

Hopefully this time will be the last!