Shopsmith Forums

For noise defferences, I suspect drive belt condition, the amount of control sheave slider wear on the shaft and key/keyway, and of course other wear (duh!):rolleyes:

I know when I temporarily used a Gates drive belt, the machine was a lot noisier.

A v-belt running on vaned pulley sheaves that themselves slide on the shafts cannot possibly run 'quietly' unless no slop and very smooth surfaces..

Add a splined quill shaft driven by a poly-v belt driven by that vaned sheave(idler) and more noise.

I agree that drive belt condition and sheave surfaces are relevant to amount of noise.

What surprises me is a worn gilmer drive(sample of one) seems to be quieter.

But then I did 'dress' the sheave surfaces with a file.

I believe most of the headstock noise is from the V-belt operating over the sheaves. I found the DC motor conversion I did was very quiet.

I have been refacing the sheaves to remove any scratches, nicks and worn areas, not to reduce any noise or vibration. The worn areas can be deep with grooves. I have to reject about 10% of the sheaves. Never really thought about noise or vibration as a reason to reface the sheaves as I have done this for years. It also makes the sheave vanes look good. Some headstocks can be quite loud at times. I find I have to try different motor belts some times to reduce vibration and noise at certain speeds. V-belts can have more effect on vibration and noise than most people would believe. The Gilmer or Poly-V belt tension also effects the noise and vibration levels. I find playing with these 2 areas helps me to reduce noticeable noise and vibration.

I thought of that after I wrote it. Vibration is tricky business to address, just ask the people who build airplanes.

One thing I noticed on my 510 that drove me crazy until I found it, was the knurled thumb screws that secure table / extension tubes to the saw. A few weren't tight and they rattled. Tightened them up and buzz/rattle stopped.

transplanted wrote:One thing I noticed on my 510 that drove me crazy until I found it, was the knurled thumb screws that secure table / extension tubes to the saw. A few weren't tight and they rattled. Tightened them up and buzz/rattle stopped.

To that list add the knob (lower saw guard) that secures the riving knife (upper saw guard) .

I suppose if we worked all the rattles out in the midst of new found quiet we would long for the good ol' days when SS rattled like a Model 'T'.

When I got my new mark 7 I found it was noisier than expected.

It turned out the jointer connection was rubbing up against the side so I just needed to move it away from the sides.

You can imagine my first reaction when a new machine made so much noise.

My A headstock Gilmer machine runs quieter and smoother with a PowerTwist Link Belt than it does with a V belt.

Culprit wrote:My A headstock Gilmer machine runs quieter and smoother with a PowerTwist Link Belt than it does with a V belt.

I would love a pic of that. Can you show?:)