Shopsmith Forums

Beave2012 wrote:So after taking it apart, the fan is slightly hitting the case and causing minor wear on the tips of the fan blade. The u shaped washer will prevent it from going close to the case. I may just let it wear off the tips of those blades since it's so minor in touching and the clip will prevent the fan from going forward more.

Question is, what has changed to make the fan contact the case?

It still may be bearings('end play').

Fan? Blades on the rotor, or a separate fan? If a separate fan, has it slipped on the shaft?

Pix would help.

Here are the pictures.

The fan is on the shaft, and it may have slipped a bit. However, it did seem to be close to the windings when in place.

Some of those fans are only pressed on to the shafts. Try pushing the fan in a direction away from the contact to see if it cures the problem. As JPG said one of the conditions is not like the former. Are there bearings in that motor or only bushings? If there are bearings and they be questionable, I would get replacements. I just hate putting things back together only to have the same problem a short time later. If there is any movement of the shaft you could try a new wavy washer if so equipped or a second wavy washer.
One thing to try would be to use a sander to trim the fan blade tips back a bit to add a bit of extra clearance, but I still have my mind on bearings.
Bill V

Pics came up right after I posted. That is a fair amount of wear on the fan blades. Probably made a racket at some time. Did anything fall out of the motor when you opened it up? Was there any debris in the motor?
Bill V

wa2crk wrote:Pics came up right after I posted. That is a fair amount of wear on the fan blades. Probably made a racket at some time. Did anything fall out of the motor when you opened it up? Was there any debris in the motor?
Bill V

Just standard saw dust i blew out. Nothing else. It just started the noise recently after pulling off the pulley. It was rusted well on there and took some minor persuasion to break it free. I may just re-open it and attempt to slide the fan slightly back down the shaft. Although, I am not sure if it would say down since there wouldn't be anything holding it there.

How did you get the pulley off the shaft? Strong arm method or did you use a proper gear or pulley puller. If you used screwdrivers or some sort of pry bar then you may have put enough pressure on the motor shaft to force the fan into the wrong position. When you reassemble the motor check for lateral movement in line with the motor shaft. Look for felt washers that have may have been crushed when removing the pulley. Using a gear puller prevents these kind of problems because the shaft is not pulled back and forth in relation to the motor frame and will not not put pressure on the motor bearings and spacers.
Bill V

Have you checked to see if the fan is warped?

And where is that 'u shaped clip'?

Describe the 'persuasion' used to get the pulley off.

wa2crk wrote:How did you get the pulley off the shaft? Strong arm method or did you use a proper gear or pulley puller. If you used screwdrivers or some sort of pry bar then you may have put enough pressure on the motor shaft to force the fan into the wrong position. When you reassemble the motor check for lateral movement in line with the motor shaft. Look for felt washers that have may have been crushed when removing the pulley. Using a gear puller prevents these kind of problems because the shaft is not pulled back and forth in relation to the motor frame and will not not put pressure on the motor bearings and spacers.
Bill V

A bit of both actually... Due to the rust I was having major issues getting it off. I do not have a gear puller so i did some strong arm with some tapping with a hammer on the puller and then used a nut on the shaft with a wrench across them, and a few clamps between the ends of the wrench and the pully (essentially a crazy gear puller of sorts). My guess is that with that strong-armed approach i dislodged something, but didn't see anything really. The closest thing I can see is the fan slipped forward on the shaft before hitting the u-shaped clasp. But even if thats moved down, I dont see what will prevent it from moving back up to that clasp again.

Beave, as Jack said in "'A Few Good Men", I am just spit balling here, maybe that washer acts a s a spacer? I have not taken a motor apart, for years, and they are all different. How about changing the washer? I am sure more experienced persons here will chime in with a more specific answer. I would not run it for now, it aint going to get any better and fix itself.

The clicking noise might well be gone and if not, could be with a bit of filing BUT the fan is no longer balanced.