Shopsmith Forums

Thanks to all who responded! Great information! I went back and took a good look at the arbor and set screw and discovered the screw was broken in half. I think that's why it was not locking down on the shaft like it should've. Got a new set screw and some blue Loctite, hopefully this problem will not arise again. I'm famous for over-tightening things and twisting them in two, lug nuts, drywall screws etc. Better stick with the SS T-handle wrench! Again, thanks to all!

I had that problem I was dadoing out some grooves to put shelf holders in. The router arbor kept Working loose and the router bit went deeper into the wood. The bit could not come out since the bit shaft and arbor was long enough that drive arbor remained in the bit bit arbor. It almost ruined my project. No matter how tight I tightened the arbor after a few minutes of routing and it would be loose.
My solution. Bought a hand router with a fence so I could cut dados without using the Shopsmith.

That's exactly my worry, Ed. I'm hoping some Loctite will do the trick. It's supposed to hold up to vibration.

The Shopsmith has been around in one form or another for over 60 years. Loosening arbor set screws has never been an issue except for some apparently. I would be looking for the root cause and not buying a router or Loctite to solve the problem. Something else is going on!!!

I would bet on either a worn set screw- they are "consumables" - or perhaps the wrong set screw is being used. I believe that Dusty has posted a chart listing all the set screws offered and their correct application.

That's the one, thanks Beeg!

ChrisNeilan wrote:That's the one, thanks Beeg!

Just to keep the record straight - that link takes you to some excellent data that I can take no credit for. It is not my list of setscrews.

Sorry Dusty, thought you were involved in that.

IIRC MickyD created that. Partly from input from Dusty earlier.

He works for a screw distributor so had access to the examples in the pix.