This Mark V seemed like it was a bit more noisy than it should be, so decided to open her up for a little exploration. Pulled out the quill and found it to be the old style, and it seemed to have a little play as well as bearing noise. Decided to order a new 2 bearing quill. While I was in there, decided to go through the inspection of all the internal parts. I removed the headstock from the way tubes, and put it on my bench. First thing I noticed is there was some overspray of gray paint in a couple of the way tube holes. I have a feeling I know the answer to this, but will ask anyway. Is this normal? I have a feeling someone repainted this headstock at some point and got paint in there. I plan on removing that paint with some scotchbrite and/or very fine sandpaper, then polishing with crocus cloth. Than an application of wax to finish it off. Also polishing and waxing the way tubes.
On with the inspection. Found the insulation on the motor wires to be seriously cracked and some missing at the switch. Not good! Glad I decided to open her up. Next I removed the belt from the motor and removed the motor pan from the headstock. As most here will guess, it's a GE motor. Not feeling I wanted to tackle the motor rewire and bearing replacement myself, I called around and found a small company that could do the job. Left my name and number, but no call back from them yet. Did find an AO Smith motor on epray that looked brand new, so decided to go for that instead. Hope it's as good as it looks. I have a small business making cables for audio and home theater system, so I'm making a new 12AWG power cable to install while I'm at it. While I'm at it, might as well replace the old switch now, so ordered a new switch from Del City. (Thanks for the thread on that
The further I got into this headstock, the more problems I found. All kinds of mismatched bolts and screws. Someone had been in there before. Nuff said. found most bearings had leaked some lubricant, were making some noise and needed to be replaced. Made the decision to just bite the bullet and I've ordered everything I need to completely rebuild the headstock from the idler through the quill, speed changer, quill feed and the necessary bolts to button everything back up the way it should be. Replacing the headstock way tube locks too. They were worn WAY beyond useable.
In the meantime, while waiting for parts from Shopsmith to arrive, am cleaning and polishing everything. Hoping once I get her all back together she will be like new
Anyway, been lurking and learning for awhile now and just wanted to stop by and say hi. Thanks for all the helpful information on here. Along with the Sawdust Sessions videos, this forum has taught me a lot and I'm grateful.
Doug
