Shopsmith Forums

charlese wrote:Thought I'd mention one of the uses of turning the shaft/saw backwards.................

Hi Chuck,
Which direction wood(sp) you say that the Mark V turns? Clockwise or counter-clockwise? To me it turns counter-clockwise. I am wondering this because I noticed that in the "new" Mark V Alignment and Maintenance book, #845180 Rev B 8/01, page 35, it says "To oil the Lower Floating Sheaves, rotate the Main Spindle by hand (clockwise)........", and then again, on the same page, it says "When you've lubricated both sheaves,.....Attach the Sanding Disc to the Main Spindle and while rotating the Disc (clockwise) turn the Speed Control Dial to 'slow' speed.......". To me that is rotating it backwards. Interestingly, in my original 1995 owners manual, it does not specify the direction of rotation in either case. I would like to know what difference it makes.

Hi Tim - When I said turning the shaft backwards, I was referring to Paul's starting post of this thread. To me that means turning the shaft so that the saw blade turns backwards.

When sawing, the saw blade turns counter clockwise (or anti-clockwise). Also during sawing, the auxiliary hub is turning clockwise. Therefore, turning the shaft backwards would mean - rotating the auxiliary hub counter clockwise and rotating the spindle/saw blade clockwise.

I certainly will not (and cannot) try to explain any of the manuals.

I have to admit that I really never give much thought to turning the Mark V spindle and even less to which way I turn it. Just to satisfy myself, I went through the six Marks that we have here at the Academy and turned them all in both directions, grabbing onto either the SPT hub or the quill collar. They were all movable no matter what the speed setting; but I did make an interesting discovery. The older the Mark V was, the harder it was to get it moving. Our Mark V mini, which has a headstock from the late 70s, was the most cantankerous of them all. My conclusion is that this is one feature that Mark Vs and woodworkers have in common.

With all good wishes,

Thanks Nick. I will not worry which way I am manually turning it when adjusting the speed control then.

My guess is - the stronger the spring on the motor shaft - the harder it is to turn. The purpose of rotating the shafts, while turning the speed control is to allow the belt to climb up one set of sheaves while walking down the other. As one of the older cantankerous users, who owns a sweet 510, I can say it "don't make a damn" which direction it is turned.

a1gutterman wrote:Thanks Nick. I will not worry which way I am manually turning it when adjusting the speed control then.

That's right Tim! all that's needed is for the drive belt to walk up one set of sheaves and climb down the other.

charlese wrote:That's right Tim! all that's needed is for the drive belt to walk up one set of sheaves and climb down the other.

Yes, Chuck, you know, I never worried about it before I got the alignment and maintenance manual with the Help Kit. My original owners manual doesn't specify either direction, but the "new" manual says "clockwise", so I started that worrying thing.

You guys really should try the lathe face plate. As the old saying goes "Try it you might like it". When Max Krauss showed and told us about the faceplate at the traveling academy I really just dismissed it as not a big deal. As he worked he would spin the arbor occasionally during setups and at times point out that the faceplate facilitates the turning or the arbor.

In the turning class, when we got to use the machine, you did find yourself using and enjoying the ease of turning the arbor with the faceplate. I became hooked and do not mind removing it and replacing it with the regular coupler when I use my bandsaw. I also have to remove it when I use my sliding table. The reason for this is that my jointech sliding tables mounts to the left of the blade and I use a floating table on the main table to help support it, to get enough depth of cut on 3/4" stock you have to lower the table to a point where the faceplate will rub on the floating table. When I remove it I do replace it with the standard coupler for the reason that has already pointed out that the coupler is a heat sink.

Sometimes after these operations I do not switch back to the faceplate but you miss it and I allways end up putting it back on. So young and old give it a try!

Frank

Nick wrote: a headstock from the late 70s, was the most cantankerous of them all. My conclusion is that this is one feature that Mark Vs and woodworkers have in common.

With all good wishes,

There is a lot of truth in humor and vice versa.

Just to prove Nick's point about cantankerousity and to muddy the waters a little bit further, it seems to me that clockwise and counter-clockwise are not fixed directions like North and South, but are relative to the observer, like Left and Right. So, if you stand at the right (hinged) end of the MkV and look ahead to the main spindle when it is in motion, it will appear to move counter clockwise and although you won't be able to see the auxiliary hub, it will also be moving in the same direction, from that point of view. If you then walk to the left end of the MkV and stare at the auxiliary hub, it will be seen to move clockwise, and ditto the main hub. From a third location, the operator's position, both hubs move toward the operator and from the access port side the hubs move away from the operator. Does any of this matter? Who knows. If you want to think about what the machine is doing when you change speeds, it might be helpful to think about what is happening to the belt as it climbs up and down the floating sheave, but the direction of the hubs never changes from the motor's point of view.

In practice, I have never had to worry about any of this, other than, as has been discussed before, moving a chuck-mounted piece to the "off side" of the spindle, which permits sanding the grain "in reverse" as it were. I have found that mounting a sanding disk on the auxiliary hub is a great way to easily move the shaft and seems to work fine in either direction.

Cantakerous Ed
Idaho Panhandle
MkV 500 +/-