Basic question about inherited Shopsmith.

[tbeach]

Hi
I recently was given a 510 Shopsmith by my father-in-law after he moved into an apartment. I have a basic question. He gave me a demo but as I read the instructions it looks like he was breaking some rules. In general he was particular about care and maintenance so I'm confused. . When using the table saw he used a foot pedal to start and stop the saw. The headstock is left on and the foot switch provides power or not. Should the speed dial be cranked down to low speed everytime before you cut power to the saw. That seems like a pain to me but I have no experience with it. Is it a big deal? Maybe he did that and didn't tell me.
Thanks
Tim

[garys]

Your Father-in-law wasn't breaking any rules very much. Using the foot pedal doesn't harm the Shopsmith. When using the Shopsmith mounted 12" planer, the same thing is done using the power switch in the planer and that doesn't hurt anything.
Turning the speed down to low speed before removing power matters only if there is a significant load on the unit. A saw blade puts almost no load to spin back up and I always start and stop mine between sawing jobs without turning the speed down.
Heavier loads like the belt sander can cause the motor to start too slowly and shouldn't be done at high speed, but I would never use high speeds for belt sanding. I always sand at low speeds so I can repeatedly start and stop the machine without changing speeds.

[Hobbyman2]

When I first started using the MKV I often forgot to turn down the speed , then I started using smaller dia blades and when I forgot it made a big difference on the start up , my thought is if you dont need a large blade why use one ? It may go against others opinion . JMO

[JPG]

The 'rule' regarding returning to slow is a carry over from the '50's'. Back then low housepower was prevalent. Any cause of low voltage when starting will prolong the start up cycle and when severe enough, tripped breakers, blew fuses, and damaged motors.

Also it is good practice to adjust to slow whenever concluding a session in the shop. You do not want to install the band saw and flip the switch with the speed set to saw/joint from a previous visit to the shop.

However a better practice is to ALWAYS adjust the speed appropriate to an SPT just prior to mounting it.

Yes the stuff attached to the quill shaft will affect spin up time. The steel sanding disc has a LOT of inertia!!

Today leaving the speed set to saw/joint between power on/off cycles is not likely to be an issue.

Finally long extension/inadequate wire size will make start up times longer due to the voltage loss in the extension cord.

Realize initial starting current is several times greater than run current under full load.

[jsburger]

When I first started using the MKV I often forgot to turn down the speed , then I started using smaller dia blades and when I forgot it made a big difference on the start up , my thought is if you dont need a large blade why use one ? It may go against others opinion . JMO

I am not sure what you mean by that?

Having said that I have never turned my Shopsmith's to low when I stop them. I think the SS recommendation is so that you don't over speed (safety) an SPT when you hook it up. I always look at the SS speed before I hook up an SPT and if necessary I start the SS and reduce the speed before hooking up the SPT.

As for the foot switch, there is nothing wrong with that. I used to use one all the time when making repeated sneak up cuts on dimensions. Very convenient. It does not work with the Power Pro however. I really miss that ability.

[robinson46176]

I had nearly forgotten about low line voltage problems being common. We have pretty good voltage here these days. I recall back in the 1950's when my father and I would try to avoid heavy welding jobs when folks would be coming home from church and all of the ladies around fired up their electric stoves to fix Sunday dinner. The feed from the power company was so erratic that you could hardly run a decent weld bead. If you waited until about 2 PM or so it got a lot better.
When we moved to this farm in 1951 the transformer was only about the size of a home fire extinguisher. My father kept telling the power company guys that it was too small for our needs (he was also working as an electrician at the time) but they claimed it was big enough. The people before us only used a few lights, a wringer washer and a refrigerator.
We used those and also a freezer, electric milkers, a large milk cooler, a water heater in the new milk house, a lot of heat lamps (for young livestock, especially baby pigs, chicks and lambs), crop fans and of course a busy arc welder. They had to come out and redo the big breaker at the transformer about 4 or 5 times and then the silly transformer just exploded... When they replaced it they went up about 4 sizes. It was really nice to not have the lights go real dim every time something started up... Even then the after church cooking dropped the voltage but not as bad. It was a very different time... And a time of rapid changes.My father bought his first power hand saw about 1952, a 6 1/2" Craftsman in a nice big metal case. I still have that saw and it still works. I have a batch of such saws now but back before that saw we cut everything with handsaws including trees. I spent a zillion hours working the other end of a saw cutting trees and I can still hear my father yelling at me saying "I don't really care if you pull on the saw handle or not, just quit dragging your feet!"


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[Hobbyman2]

When I first started using the MKV I often forgot to turn down the speed , then I started using smaller dia blades and when I forgot it made a big difference on the start up , my thought is if you dont need a large blade why use one ? It may go against others opinion . JMO

I am not sure what you mean by that?

Having said that I have never turned my Shopsmith's to low when I stop them. I think the SS recommendation is so that you don't over speed (safety) an SPT when you hook it up. I always look at the SS speed before I hook up an SPT and if necessary I start the SS and reduce the speed before hooking up the SPT.

As for the foot switch, there is nothing wrong with that. I used to use one all the time when making repeated sneak up cuts on dimensions. Very convenient. It does not work with the Power Pro however. I really miss that ability.

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I dont use a dedicated circuit , starting in slow speed helps when anything else is running IE freezer or extra shop lights

[Hobbyman2]

I had nearly forgotten about low line voltage problems being common. We have pretty good voltage here these days. I recall back in the 1950's when my father and I would try to avoid heavy welding jobs when folks would be coming home from church and all of the ladies around fired up their electric stoves to fix Sunday dinner. The feed from the power company was so erratic that you could hardly run a decent weld bead. If you waited until about 2 PM or so it got a lot better.
When we moved to this farm in 1951 the transformer was only about the size of a home fire extinguisher. My father kept telling the power company guys that it was too small for our needs (he was also working as an electrician at the time) but they claimed it was big enough. The people before us only used a few lights, a wringer washer and a refrigerator.
We used those and also a freezer, electric milkers, a large milk cooler, a water heater in the new milk house, a lot of heat lamps (for young livestock, especially baby pigs, chicks and lambs), crop fans and of course a busy arc welder. They had to come out and redo the big breaker at the transformer about 4 or 5 times and then the silly transformer just exploded... When they replaced it they went up about 4 sizes. It was really nice to not have the lights go real dim every time something started up... Even then the after church cooking dropped the voltage but not as bad. It was a very different time... And a time of rapid changes.My father bought his first power hand saw about 1952, a 6 1/2" Craftsman in a nice big metal case. I still have that saw and it still works. I have a batch of such saws now but back before that saw we cut everything with handsaws including trees. I spent a zillion hours working the other end of a saw cutting trees and I can still hear my father yelling at me saying "I don't really care if you pull on the saw handle or not, just quit dragging your feet!"


.

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Sounds like here , we fired up the new 14 seer Ac and the transformer across the road blew !
when I was a kid there were 2 fuses on the front porch , that was it .

[tbeach]

Thank you all for the responses. I'm looking forward to learning this thing. Tim

[chapmanruss]

Tim,
It looks like you are off to a good start on using your newly inherited Shopsmith. Do pay attention to the to the maintenance and servicing needs of you Mark V, especially inside the headstock, and you will have many years of woodworking fun ahead. These can last a lifetime. JPG who already posted here still has his "Goldie" that he purchased new and at over 55 years old is still working strong. Repeating what has already been said the foot switch is fine just remember to lower the speed when finished with the task to be ready to move to the next operation. Before I changed my Mark V to the Power Pro Headstock that is what I had the habit of doing. It kept me from starting the tool at a speed higher than required for the next task. A good safety practice. If you have any more questions feel free to ask. There are many Shopsmith users here to help.