Shopsmith Forums

ddvann79 wrote:I feel like it's two steps forward, one or two steps back the whole way. I jump around from task to task anyway so that disorganization impedes progress as well.

Right now I'm considering what to do with the quill retraction spring. It wasn't staying on the stud on the shaft so I took it apart to find the strap spring was bent. I straightened it out but to no avail. It continues to slip off the stud without uniform geometry.

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I'm contemplating cutting off the offending end, boring a new hole and filing in a new slot. Spring steel isn't the easiest to work with and I might get a new quill feed assembly but cost is a major concern at this point. Any thoughts here on the best approach? I found dusty's post on the subject so that should help get it back together. I don't expect a loss of 3/4" would make a big difference in tension, right?

What is the potential cause of the mangled mayhem? I would like to avoid a repeat of this problem.

Based on the frustrating time I had getting the spring to attach, remain and attached and retension the spring, I would have to say that you have some challenging time ahead. Good luck.

I would NOT attempt to cut off and restructure that spring. I would straighten the bent corner and persevere until you have it hooked and re-tensioned.

Others have reported cutting and re-drilling successfully.

ddvann79 wrote:I feel like it's two steps forward, one or two steps back the whole way. I jump around from task to task anyway so that disorganization impedes progress as well.

Right now I'm considering what to do with the quill retraction spring. It wasn't staying on the stud on the shaft so I took it apart to find the strap spring was bent. I straightened it out but to no avail. It continues to slip off the stud without uniform geometry.

[ATTACH]11582[/ATTACH]

I'm contemplating cutting off the offending end, boring a new hole and filing in a new slot. Spring steel isn't the easiest to work with and I might get a new quill feed assembly but cost is a major concern at this point. Any thoughts here on the best approach? I found dusty's post on the subject so that should help get it back together. I don't expect a loss of 3/4" would make a big difference in tension, right?

What is the potential cause of the mangled mayhem? I would like to avoid a repeat of this problem.

I can't see any reason in the world to cut and start a new hole. If you form the spring steel to have the same radius of the shaft, it WILL work. It can be tough to reassemble but once it's hooked and preloaded a little, bada-bing bada-bang, it's hooked for good. I got help from LOML as a second set of hands assembling and that reduced A LOT of cursing on my part. Wish I would have videoed how I did it. Only tool used was a little flat screwdriver. My vote....don't cut it. Form it better.

I cussed out loud a lot. That helped immensely. It would not have if my wife had been home. Timing is everything.

ADDED: I agree with the previous posts. it took me more than a few minutes to get my thoughts together.

I see this type of damage when someone is trying to rehook the spring on the pin with a small flat blade screwdriver. I would just straighten out the spring end and rehook the spring. Be sure to use leather gloves when playing with the spring as it can cut when becoming uncoiled or when trying to recoil the spring again.

I move the snap ring holding the spring housing outward so the housing can be moved on the shaft so I can work over the pin location. The hole end of the spring will need to be pulled out about the width of the spring to rehook the spring. I use a long pin punch placed in the smaller slot/hole and force the larger hole over the pin. I use a larger flat blade screwdriver to force the larger spring hole down over the pin and then carefully remove the pin punch. Then works most of the time for me. I have the quill feed shaft locked in a vise to prevent the shaft from moving.

Do not attempt to remove the pin. If the drive screw/pin (41) is or becomes loose, replace the shaft and pin. I have had no success replacing this pin (even LocTite does not work).

You may need to remove the spring from the housing to drill new holes and cut the old spring end. You need a very sharp drill to bore a new hole and slot in the spring. Try to prevent the drill bit from overheat the spring as this can remove any strength from the area of the hole. This may cause the spring to break over time from this overheating.

Thanks for the thoughtful advice, everyone.

I will try to straighten it again. Third time is the charm, as the saying goes. If it doesn't stay on then, I'll cut the end off. So far, I've had decent luck getting the spring over the stud with just needle nose pliers and a dull awl. Maybe the twisting action from the pliers is part of my problem.

I tried again but to no avail.

I made a video this time. Sorry it's so blurry. Please help!

Quill Spring Video

Time to go get some religion.

ddvann79 wrote:I tried again but to no avail.

I made a video this time. Sorry it's so blurry. Please help!

Quill Spring Video

Time to go get some religion.

I watched your video and you have the procedure nailed but once hooked you must keep spring tension. If you allow the shaft to move CCW it immediately comes unhooked (as you well know).

I fought with mine for about three hours one Saturday morning while the girls all went shopping. I finally got it. The one tool that I used that really helped was a vise to hold the shaft solid.

dusty wrote:I watched your video and you have the procedure nailed but once hooked you must keep spring tension. If you allow the shaft to move CCW it immediately comes unhooked (as you well know).

I fought with mine for about three hours one Saturday morning while the girls all went shopping. I finally got it. The one tool that I used that really helped was a vise to hold the shaft solid.

Is that it? Keep tension on it? Good grief.

The method I have used, is to form the spring at the center end so that the id is nearly the same as the shaft od. The end beyond the slotted hole needs an id slightly smaller than the shaft.

This allows the end of the spring to exert a slight pressure forcing the spring to wedge under the stud.

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No pix, but the next step is to position the shaft with spring attached into the spring housing, slip the hook end of the spring slightly into its slot. While holding the housing with one hand, rotate the shaft until the spring will slide(slightly) into the housing, then push harder to get the hooked end further into the slot and the spring further into the housing. Once started, if you do not allow it to slide back out, the tension is held by the housing.

Time to walk away from it for a while.

I believe you had the correct answer about 3/4 of the way through.

You want the innermost end of the coil to match the radius of the shaft pretty closely and to be centered in the barrel or slightly too far down towards the shaft (so it will tend to push against the shaft) when the spring is at rest.

Currently the spring is trying to lift up away from the shaft so the instant you release the pressure it becomes unhooked. Once you get the thing hooked you don't want to let it spin freely as it the spring will spin the barrel until there is no more tension and then the inertia of the barrel will cause it to continue to rotate, pulling the hook out of the spring. It looks like you actually had it set a couple of times but then spun the barrel backwards causing it to become unhooked.

You might also be careful about pulling the spring out of the barrel so far while it is hooked. In the clock world this creates a "coned" spring and the distortion can cause problems.

Good luck.