Shopsmith Forums

Yes 1 hour. For the 20 minutes did you touch you headstock? was it hot to the touch? Mine was and now, its just warm after running for 2 hours. For Dusty, yes I have adjusted the air flow from circulating to through flow for the head stock, however as far as the motor and controller are concerned the air flow is the same. And since the whole entire unit runs cooler I don't see how this will cause me to void my warranty. By the way my degree is in Nuclear engineering which deals with heat transfer and flow flow designs.

I posted this fix for people who may be experiencing a heat problem like I was. This fix worked for me, my SS runs cooler and for a longer time at all speeds. Cooler means all the components in the head stock last longer, from bearings to belts to electronics. If you don't have a problem I am glad for you you don't need to do this, if you don't agree with the fix I did, or you think it might void your warranty don't do it

I don't even have the new SS but your explanations and experience are very interesting and educational.

Thanks for sharing.

dusty wrote: Bottom Line: You may have invalidated your performance warranty.

Words to live by, words to hope by!....
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I thank dmelonson1960 for posting his fix to the PowerPro heat problem he had.

For those of us that have not had this problem it is eye opening! I also agree with him that the improvements he made will not affect his warranty. After all, his changes were only to the headstock case and not to any of the electronics. The PowerPro guts can be fitted into any of the shopsmith headstocks. His headstock case now simply has improved ventilation.

I was particularly interested in his earlier post when he said he removed the belt cover and felt quite a bit of air movement. Maybe simply removing the cover would be a short term fix for those doing a one time routing job and having the heat issue.

"#132926 by dmelonson1960 » 13 Dec 2012 08:37

Q1 yes especially at higher speeds which is good because this was where I was experiencing the high temp problem.

Q2 I did at first, but then I ran the unit with the belt cover off and felt so much air flow from the motor itself that I discarded the external fan idea."

Had to go back to my hot rodding days but would it be possible to have a good body shop punch some louvers in the belt cover below the auxiliary shaft and some additional louvers in the front of the motor pan. This may be enough to increase the air flow to a proper level. Dusty remarked that the warranty may be voided by modifying the case as SS may have engineered the air flow and considered it adequate. IMHO I don't think SS engineered the air flow at all but just stuffed the Power Pro into existing headstock design and hoped for the best.
I don't think that the warranty will be voided because the factory offers DIY kits and has no info as to the condition of the headstocks at the time of the sale.
Bill V

wa2crk wrote: IMHO I don't think SS engineered the air flow at all but just stuffed the Power Pro into existing headstock design and hoped for the best.

I concur 114%.

I concur, but would talk to the MS engineers first, many companies made Mods to things, and upgraded,modified them from customers suggestions and modifications that fixed inherent problems with them.

wa2crk wrote:Had to go back to my hot rodding days but would it be possible to have a good body shop punch some louvers in the belt cover below the auxiliary shaft and some additional louvers in the front of the motor pan. This may be enough to increase the air flow to a proper level. Dusty remarked that the warranty may be voided by modifying the case as SS may have engineered the air flow and considered it adequate. IMHO I don't think SS engineered the air flow at all but just stuffed the Power Pro into existing headstock design and hoped for the best.
I don't think that the warranty will be voided because the factory offers DIY kits and has no info as to the condition of the headstocks at the time of the sale.
Bill V

They have not redesigned the air-flow through the case since this iconic headstock design was launched with the "A" Series Headstock in the early 1950's when air-flow was far less a consideration for electronic devices.... there were no electronic devices in the headstock back then.

I have for years looked at removing the inspection port cover on the back side of the headstock and opting to install a vacuum port connection to help move out any circulating particulates inside the headstock, with the realization that if I did so, I would actually create negative pressure inside the headstock and might actually begin to pull other external airborne sawdust and particulates into it unless I created another inlet for 'filtered' air of some equivalent size.

I suspect there are many of us who have looked at that hole over the years and wondered the same thing, especially if we were about to modify an "A' headstock by creating one.

I even contemplated doing such a filtered inlet port by replacing the vent cover with a hose port, but never did it.

If we find that these are viable options to dissipate heat and collect dust, they could become a retrofit that could fit "B" and "C" series headstocks for all generations of machines.

Thoughts?

There is also the possibility that we will generate static electrical energy as those particles could produce static discharges if the case were not grounded properly that could severely impact digital control circuits.

Everett

Everett
How about something like a computer muffin fan over the inspection port. It could run anytime the AC switch is on. There would still be a requirement for creating a place where some additional air could be pulled into the headstock. However someone mentioned that the fan on the motor moves a good amount air but some cooler air has to be pulled into the interior to reduce the temp.
Bill V
PS I think that the grounding of the machine through the power cord is sufficient for static discharge protection.