Shopsmith Forums

Start and finger tighten the 4 bolts that hold the front and rear end caps together. When installing the bolts, make sure each bolt goes on the outside of the wire bundle to prevent squashing the wires. Two of the bolts will probably require some sort of thin, DULL, reaching tool to manipulate the wire bundle behind the bolt. After all 4 bolts are started, triple check the alignment of the reference marks and tighten the bolts.





Reinstall the centrifugal weight mechanism.

Re-install the centrifugal switch. It would be a good idea to go ahead and lightly sand and clean the corrosion, if any, on the contact points of the switch (3rd picture). Re-install the rear cover. Decide where you want to mount the forward/reverse switch. Trim the motor wires to the appropriate length and attach female connectors. Connect the motor wires to the forward/reverse switch as shown in the diagram below.





Once you have the motor wired up for a test run, check the motor shaft. The shaft on my motor could use a little polishing. 1000 grit sand paper with the motor on polished it right up.

The motor sheaves can be testy to install and keep them quiet. Install the key into the keyway, both sheaves together, and start the set screw. It is important to position the sheaves so they are centered with each other. If the sheaves are misaligned, the motor will scream like a banshee.





I was getting a lot of excess noise where the spring rubbed itself at the top under the washer and the floating sheave spindle. My solution was to heat-shrink a piece of 1" tubing over the spindle. I cut the bottom on 2 opposite places roughly 1/8" high so it would flay out over the lip. I cut away the tubing covering the oil hole. I also put heat-shrink tubing on the top of the spring under the washer for the first 2-3 turns. This prevented any metal on metal contact anywhere on the spring. I coated the heat-shrink tubing covering the sheave spindle in 3-in-1 oil to help the spring slide over without tearing.





With good bearings (I used NTN) and correct installation / tweaking, this motor can be extremely quiet. Below are screen shots of an iPhone app that I used to get decibel readings at 3'. The first is background noise with the motor off, the second is running forwards, and the last is reverse. Literally the only sound to be heard was the air being pushed by the vanes. I couldn't believe how quiet this thing could be!

Reserved for pictures of final installation...coming soon.

A special thank you goes to:
Skip Campbell at MKC Tools for replacing the bearings with me. This gave me an idea of how to disassemble / reassemble the motor for the reversal. Great guy with great products.
JPG, who checked over this guide to find any errors. He found quite a few =)
Dusty for numerous posts in other threads with all the information that anyone could ever need.
Culprit, for this and that.
Bill Mayo for PM's along the way

This is a very informative and well done photo presentation. It will likely become a "go to" thread for anyone with an AO Smith motor problem. Thanks for the time and effort that went into its production.

Awesome job, Josh! Nicely done and thank you.

I'm looking forward to seeing a picture of the reverse switch location.

Excellent posting, thanks. The problem is now I have to buy an AO Smith motor to try this!

Much appreciated, as Dusty said this posting will be a reference to consult often.

Ed

This information can be used for the GE motors. Same procedures to find the start winding wires. I find all the wires on the older GE motors will need replacing as the wire insulation appears to break down on these older GE motors. I have never been able to find the start winding wires on the 1 1/8 HP Emerson motor. Another Forum member tells me he was successful doing the Emerson motor. Pershaps the wiring locations inside this motor did change over time.

The 510 I picked up in Houston has an Emerson motor. I had planned on using it for a mini bandsaw and jointer station. This will only work for me if I can reverse it, so I'll do another thread for the Emerson motor where we will find out if and when I'm successful at it.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. There are some corrections to this thread that JPG is helping me sort out in PM. I'll update everyone once it's considered complete.

joshh wrote:The 510 I picked up in Houston has an Emerson motor. I had planned on using it for a mini bandsaw and jointer station. This will only work for me if I can reverse it, so I'll do another thread for the Emerson motor where we will find out if and when I'm successful at it.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. There are some corrections to this thread that JPG is helping me sort out in PM. I'll update everyone once it's considered complete.

I will be waiting for the Emerson motor. The Greenie I bought this weekend has a Emerson motor on it. I am going to make a Mini out of it, and reverse would be nice. Thanks for the great job you are doing,