Shopsmith Powerpro headstock squealing

[EdinPA]

Hi everyone. I am new to the forum and this is my first post. I own a Shopsmith and upgraded the headstock to the "powerpro" in 2013. Successful upgrade and everything has been fine. I haven't been in my workshop for a while and started up again a few weeks ago. Since then I notice a "squealing" noise coming from the belt area. I took the cover off and the squealing seems to be coming from the lower drive belt. Upper belt is fine. The lower belt seems fine; there is no evidence of deterioration and tension is fine. When I rotate the shaft by hand, I can hear the noise as if the belt were squeaking as it turns. The main pulley on the motor seems fine, in that it is not loose. It may be nothing, but I am reluctant to use it until I understand what is happening. I called Shopsmith and was told I could email customer service and could expect a reply within a day. I did not and i called again and was told they are very busy. While waiting, I thought I would join this forum and see if I could get any help from any of you.
Thanks in advance.

[DLB]

Hi everyone. I am new to the forum and this is my first post. I own a Shopsmith and upgraded the headstock to the "powerpro" in 2013. Successful upgrade and everything has been fine. I haven't been in my workshop for a while and started up again a few weeks ago. Since then I notice a "squealing" noise coming from the belt area. I took the cover off and the squealing seems to be coming from the lower drive belt. Upper belt is fine. The lower belt seems fine; there is no evidence of deterioration and tension is fine. When I rotate the shaft by hand, I can hear the noise as if the belt were squeaking as it turns. The main pulley on the motor seems fine, in that it is not loose. It may be nothing, but I am reluctant to use it until I understand what is happening. I called Shopsmith and was told I could email customer service and could expect a reply within a day. I did not and i called again and was told they are very busy. While waiting, I thought I would join this forum and see if I could get any help from any of you.
Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forum! I would think a bearing is a more likely culprit than a belt, with one or both the Idler bearings at the top of the list. Being able to hear the problem turning the headstock by hand is a big advantage. IIWM I would first remove the lower belt to separate the motor from everything else and turn the headstock by hand and/or run the motor with that belt removed. This should isolate the problem to the motor, belt, or elsewhere in the headstock. You can also remove the quill to confirm/eliminate quill bearings.

It sounds like you did the DIY PowerPro mod so you probably know how to remove the lower belt. If you slightly loosen the two mounting screws nearest the pulley, one on each side, and remove the other four you can tilt the motor without impacting the belt tension or motor tilt adjustments.

- David

[edma194]

I agree with David. Perhaps the belts aren't properly tensioned anymore after sitting for a long time. I think the squealing is most likely coming from the eccentric bearing. That's how you adjusted belt tension initially, by rotating the eccentric bushing until it ran smoothly.

The belt alignment could matter. The belt can account for some amount of pulley offset but that can result in the the belt acquiring a shape after sitting for a time. That usually will work itself out by running at moderate speed for a while.

Glad to hear from another PowerPro user. Sorry to hear Shopsmith hasn't provided prompt service to you but we'll try to help.

[EdinPA]

Thanks to you both for the tips! I read you messages this morning and went right down to my basement shop. Removed the bottom cover and removed the lower two screws on each side of the motor and loosened the top two. Removed the lower belt. The shieve on the moter is fine. Not loose and no sounds when the motor shaft is turned. An examination ot the lower belt revealed that on the side of the belt close to the moter assemble, it had started to fray. There were two thread that had started to peel away from the belt. I trimmed those and reinstalled the belt after flipping it. No sounds at all! Runs quiet. The belt itself is sound and other than the two loose "threads" that I trimmed, it is sound. I will monitor, but at the moment, I don't believe I need to replace the belt.
Thanks again for the quick response. You steered me in the right direction.

[edma194]

I will monitor, but at the moment, I don't believe I need to replace the belt.

Glad to hear you're up and running, the supply of parts is limited and there's waiting time when these systems fail. There's also an information shortage when it comes to the internals of the components. Yours is one of the success stories so far though.

Those belts are incredibly tough, those threads may never have been significant, just an artifact of trimming the product in manufacturing. Shopsmith charges $30 for a replacement, not cheap, but if I didn't have a replacement on hand I'd needlessly fret about it. That's just me though. Shopsmith can probably get you that part in a day or two if you really needed it. You can probably get the equivalent (or even identical) belt for a few bucks less elsewhere.

Sounds like you did a self-upgrade like I did. Others considering this might look to spend a little more and buy a complete PowerPro headstock. That will leave them with a fully working conventional headstock as a backup to the PowerPro. You can get a Shop Deputy to easily mount the second headstock for a second bench machine.

[EdinPA]

i performed my self upgrade about 10 years ago. I actually enjoyed doing it. A few months later I upgraded my 500 to a 700 model (I think I have the models right.), Better miter gauge, fence and extended tables.

[bainin]

I would rebalance the tension now that it is working again, and put an order in from some backup belts.

b