Very old shopsmith

[JPG]

Nice restore! I've said it many times and will say it again: the Greenies are the best looking Shopsmiths of all and if I ever need to repaint my 520 it is going to end up with Greenie colors.

Humph! No accounting for taste!

At least you got the first letter and last two letters correct.

[greasemonkey2275]

I've had a very old shopsmith in my garage for the last 13 years. The SN goes back to 1957 and as far as I can tell its unmodified. I do know the owner history, its an original Mark V, with the 3/4HP motor. It was owned by a retired WWII merchant marine ship captain and he apparently used it mainly for building ships in bottles and hobby type crafts. He was a friend of my dads so I knew him slightly. He died in 1990 and just prior to his death, his health declined (he was 100+), gave it to my Father who promptly stored it in his garage and never did anything with it. In 2002 Dad gave it to me when I indicated an interest in getting into woodworking. Dad wanted to clear his garage but like most depression babies has a real problem getting rid of things. Anyway I helped him with his guilt and took it off his hands. I still had kids in school/HS/college and work etc with no time or $ for a hobby so it's sat in a corner of my garage since. The kids are on there own now, so I can now get started. I'm doing a some evaluation of what I have vs what I want/need/afford and the shopsmith is part of that evaluation.

My dad actually had the original documentation and promo the shopsmith promo pamphlet from when it was bought new. The cost was $279.

Anyway I took a good look at it last weekend and it appears to be the swiss army knife of basic power tool wood working. You can buy things that can do each of the tasks better but the shopsmith does them all pretty good. It appears that the ship captain had most of the add-ons for using it as a table saw, and lathe, disk sander. After taking a look at it, I'm thinking if I keep it to use it for things like turning, morticing, horizontal drilling. I don't think Ill use it for a bandsaw, joiner or router as I don't have the add-ons and from the shopsmith prices for those add-ons I think I can do better pricewise/quality with a standalone. I'm a little nervous about using it as a table saw.

In any case I plugged it in last weekend and flipped the switch. It started up and beyond some squeaks when I first flipped it on, it sounded fine, no funny smells. It does have some bearing rattle that you hear from old steel bearings but there is no side play in the spindle. I ran the spindle speed up and down most of the way with no problems that I could see or hear. It worked fine for some 1/2" holes I drilled in a 4" X 4" the just to load the motor down a bit. The motor seemed to have no difficulty under a mild load.

OK given that this thing has been sitting in garages and not touched for 30 years besides general clean up what should I do to resurrect this thing or should I bring it someplace and have them tune it up.

Sorry kwalmsley, I didn't mean to steal your thunder on this post; I just wanted you to see what a little time, money, and motivation will do. God luck with your restoration and post some pics when you get a chance.

[JPG]

I've had a very old shopsmith in my garage for the last 13 years. The SN goes back to 1957 and as far as I can tell its unmodified. I do know the owner history, its an original Mark V, with the 3/4HP motor. It was owned by a retired WWII merchant marine ship captain and he apparently used it mainly for building ships in bottles and hobby type crafts. He was a friend of my dads so I knew him slightly. He died in 1990 and just prior to his death, his health declined (he was 100+), gave it to my Father who promptly stored it in his garage and never did anything with it. In 2002 Dad gave it to me when I indicated an interest in getting into woodworking. Dad wanted to clear his garage but like most depression babies has a real problem getting rid of things. Anyway I helped him with his guilt and took it off his hands. I still had kids in school/HS/college and work etc with no time or $ for a hobby so it's sat in a corner of my garage since. The kids are on there own now, so I can now get started. I'm doing a some evaluation of what I have vs what I want/need/afford and the shopsmith is part of that evaluation.

My dad actually had the original documentation and promo the shopsmith promo pamphlet from when it was bought new. The cost was $279.

Anyway I took a good look at it last weekend and it appears to be the swiss army knife of basic power tool wood working. You can buy things that can do each of the tasks better but the shopsmith does them all pretty good. It appears that the ship captain had most of the add-ons for using it as a table saw, and lathe, disk sander. After taking a look at it, I'm thinking if I keep it to use it for things like turning, morticing, horizontal drilling. I don't think Ill use it for a bandsaw, joiner or router as I don't have the add-ons and from the shopsmith prices for those add-ons I think I can do better pricewise/quality with a standalone. I'm a little nervous about using it as a table saw.

In any case I plugged it in last weekend and flipped the switch. It started up and beyond some squeaks when I first flipped it on, it sounded fine, no funny smells. It does have some bearing rattle that you hear from old steel bearings but there is no side play in the spindle. I ran the spindle speed up and down most of the way with no problems that I could see or hear. It worked fine for some 1/2" holes I drilled in a 4" X 4" the just to load the motor down a bit. The motor seemed to have no difficulty under a mild load.

OK given that this thing has been sitting in garages and not touched for 30 years besides general clean up what should I do to resurrect this thing or should I bring it someplace and have them tune it up.

Sorry kwalmsley, I didn't mean to steal your thunder on this post; I just wanted you to see what a little time, money, and motivation will do. God luck with your restoration and post some pics when you get a chance.

Ditto re the apology!

As has been mentioned yours is indeed is excellent shape. Yes the belts are likely dried out, but you might try some belt conditioner before tearing into it to replace them(when one breaks is time enough for that!).

Main thing at this point is to get some oil on the pulley shafts so the sheaves will slide easily.

[kwalmsley]

No need to apologize,part of the fun of this is the back and forth. The unit originally lived in SoCal, it spent a dozen or so years in West Tx in my Dad's garage and then moved back to SoCal so its never really been in high humidity. I think that accounts for the small amount of rust.

As I said Im just getting into wood working and I need assess this thing for what I want it do vs what it can do. For example I think using it as a table saw would make me pretty nervous, but based on some things Ive read and youtube entries, I think it might be a good morticer, drill press and lathe.

In any case the first thing to be to order the manual, hopefully it will show me what I should expect to see when I lift the cover off.

Let me buy the manual and see where I get to. Based on what Ive read so far in answer to my questions are I think the general path ahead is;
(a) general exterior cleanup
(b) clean out and grease the bearings
(c) Assess the belts and replace/rejuvenate them


I'll post back when I get into questions (note that I said when not if ).

Thanks again
Ken

[JPG]

No need to apologize,part of the fun of this is the back and forth. The unit originally lived in SoCal, it spent a dozen or so years in West Tx in my Dad's garage and then moved back to SoCal so its never really been in high humidity. I think that accounts for the small amount of rust.

As I said Im just getting into wood working and I need assess this thing for what I want it do vs what it can do. For example I think using it as a table saw would make me pretty nervous, but based on some things Ive read and youtube entries, I think it might be a good morticer, drill press and lathe.

In any case the first thing to be to order the manual, hopefully it will show me what I should expect to see when I lift the cover off.

Let me buy the manual and see where I get to. Based on what Ive read so far in answer to my questions are I think the general path ahead is;
(a) general exterior cleanup
(b) clean out and grease the bearings
(c) Assess the belts and replace/rejuvenate them


I'll post back when I get into questions (note that I said when not if ).

Thanks again
Ken

(a) fer sure. Get some Johnson's original paste wax.

(b) oil, not grease the shafts. Greasing the bearings be a mite much at this point.(requires complete disassembly)

(c) Yep You might consider having new ones on hand for when they 'go'.

[JPG]

No need to apologize,part of the fun of this is the back and forth. The unit originally lived in SoCal, it spent a dozen or so years in West Tx in my Dad's garage and then moved back to SoCal so its never really been in high humidity. I think that accounts for the small amount of rust.

As I said Im just getting into wood working and I need assess this thing for what I want it do vs what it can do. For example I think using it as a table saw would make me pretty nervous, but based on some things Ive read and youtube entries, I think it might be a good morticer, drill press and lathe.

In any case the first thing to be to order the manual, hopefully it will show me what I should expect to see when I lift the cover off.

Let me buy the manual and see where I get to. Based on what Ive read so far in answer to my questions are I think the general path ahead is;
(a) general exterior cleanup
(b) clean out and grease the bearings
(c) Assess the belts and replace/rejuvenate them


I'll post back when I get into questions (note that I said when not if ).

Thanks again
Ken

(a) fer sure. Get some Johnson's original paste wax.

(b) oil, not grease the shafts. Greasing the bearings be a mite much at this point.(requires complete disassembly)

(c) Yep You might consider having new ones on hand for when they 'go'.

Since yours is an early model, the sheaves do not have oiling holes in the hub. That merely means lubricating(oiling) it is a mite more difficult.

[greasemonkey2275]

I think there is a 'Whoops' with the left caster.

It turns out the not only did I have the foot pedal on the wrong side but I also found out that it was out of time. When I took it back off and flipped the rod I still had the same problem I did before: the first setting was the highest. After trying changing the cams around a couple of times and noticing that didn't help I realized that the foot pedal itself was what as out of time! It was 180 degrees out. I knocked out the roll pin, spun the foot pedal 180 degrees, pounded the roll pin back in and now everything works like it should. So for any of you that seem to have your foot pedals out of time when you add casters onto a machine that never had them, check the foot pedal itself...it may be the culprit.

Jake

[JPG]

I think there is a 'Whoops' with the left caster.

It turns out the not only did I have the foot pedal on the wrong side but I also found out that it was out of time. When I took it back off and flipped the rod I still had the same problem I did before: the first setting was the highest. After trying changing the cams around a couple of times and noticing that didn't help I realized that the foot pedal itself was what as out of time! It was 180 degrees out. I knocked out the roll pin, spun the foot pedal 180 degrees, pounded the roll pin back in and now everything works like it should. So for any of you that seem to have your foot pedals out of time when you add casters onto a machine that never had them, check the foot pedal itself...it may be the culprit.

Jake

You found the one way of four that was correct.