Shopsmith Forums

By way of supplying all the information on can on the subject I marked one of my knobs to see how far it turns. From locked to lock it is 1-1/2 turns.
Everyone's lift assist mounts a bit different or it at least it can. When it is mounted correctly one should be able to attach and un-attach the rod when in vertical position. On mine I had to play with it a couple of times to get it just right. Then, because I do remove it once in a while I made some spacers out of pvc pipe so I can get back to the sweet spot again with no extra effort.
Then I shot a short video of me loosening the fastener with my cell phone. Since I had to hold the phone in my right hand which is my dominate hand I was using my left hand to do the deed. It takes very little effort.

In fact other then the start (or end when locking) you can turn it with just one finger, rolling it along.

https://youtu.be/B1XS69-_UhQ

Ed

dusty wrote:

sreilly24590 wrote:While this page doesn't do a thing for showing how stiff these knobs are it does show them full in/out where they stop being less stiff, if that makes sense. Not easy to turn but doable. See http://www.astral-imaging.com/shopsmith.htm
Mouse click on the image for the largest size and use your back button to go back to the main page. I know, the whole site needs work.

Steve

I don't have my lift assist installed right now so I can not do a valid check but from your pictures it does seem as though the lift assist is too close to the knob. Not much help, I know. But hang in there, this will get resolved.

Which end of the Mark 7 do you have the list assist mounted on?

The issue is not the knob closeness to the lift assist. It is easy to turn just a little close to the lift assist. The problem AIUI is that the knobs are very hard to turn on both ends and can't be removed. Certainly not correct.

The only thing that can cause that is the threads in the pivot castings and the threads on the knobs are not the same. He says the threads look fine. To get two knobs or two castings that are defective on the same machine??? What are the odds?

Steve's first post is very confusing because he talks about several problems.

I think the only way to find out the problem is send the pivot castings to SS and let them determine the cause.

Facing the headstock the lift assist is mount to the far right. This is where it's designed to be installed and would be fully extended if you're in the drill press mode, which is what you need to do to release the piston before lifting in the opposite direction for say the shaper mode.

There is a good view of the lock knob operation with lift assist about 2.5 minutes into the following shaper video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzoTaNDxDxw .

73

The problem with this video is that he doesn't show the step that must be done before lifting the unit upright. That step is to raise it in the opposite position, release the piston from the LA, lower back down, secure the bolt again, and then lift as he does. That actually is a very important step. You can see it's been taken off the end but no mention. Otherwise when you go to lift and the piston is connected it restricts the movement.

This is actually what happened to me the first time I tried it after installing the LA. Due to the amount of pressure the piston has the only way to release it safely is when the piston if fully open (as in the drill press mode) to the right. So the proper procedure would be to loosen the left knob, make sure the right knob is all the way in and engaged, lift the unit to fully extend the LA piston, release the piston by sliding the capture ring down and pull the piston out of the capture socket. Lower the unit, tighten the left knob making sure it is fully in and under the pin, loosen the right knob, raise the unit, and then lock the unit in that position.

I have yet to see a video that shows that full procedure and it's important to follow. If someone forgets to tighten the appropriate knob, doesn't tighten it enough, and then attempts to lift the unit to an upright position they may well find themselves with a very heavy unbalanced weight that will be a big surprise. When I had my accident back in Aug 2016 it was because the knob had not fully extended itself under the pin and the entire unit rotated. I can tell you that the headstock is very heavy and although I didn't drop the unit it did come down over my left thumb causing a gash that couldn't have been cut neater with a scalpel. After stopping the bleeding you could see that I had cut down to the tendon. A quick drive to the ER or as they seem to call them now, ED, and five stitches later I was headed back home. It's amazing how many people that work at the ER remember this and mention it teasingly when I run patients to the ER. I run on my local volunteer rescue squad and end up often at the ER. The only damage to the Shopsmith was the broken piston which evidently had twisted and the end broke off. It hangs in my shop as a reminder. And there's a very faint straight scar that runs across my left thumb that you need to look for, she really did some great stitches, as a reminder. Worst part was I was showing my son how to change up modes on the SS.There's that old saying, "Do as I say not as I do".Point taken.

And just for the record, I did call SS several days ago and spoke with a nice lady who was struggling to understand the issue. I was suppose to get a call from an engineer yesterday but she called back again just to go over the issue again. I sent them an email with both a link to this forum post as well as the pictures I posted on my website. I haven't heard anything back since. I'm guessing that I'll need to rethread the base arm but have no idea how the bolts are safely removed or what thread this is. And I really don't want to alter the SS in case the day comes that I may want to sell the unit.

sreilly24590 wrote:And just for the record, I did call SS several days ago and spoke with a nice lady who was struggling to understand the issue. I was suppose to get a call from an engineer yesterday but she called back again just to go over the issue again. I sent them an email with both a link to this forum post as well as the pictures I posted on my website. I haven't heard anything back since. I'm guessing that I'll need to rethread the base arm but have no idea how the bolts are safely removed or what thread this is. And I really don't want to alter the SS in case the day comes that I may want to sell the unit.

I was hoping you would have this resolved by now. I understand the problem you are having completely because it happens to mine.

Try this and let us know what happens. Put the SS into drill press mode and while in the up position turn the knob. Does it turn easy? If so, what I found, is that I was tightening it to tight when I needed to. Just finger tight (I don't think you could even measure an inch pound torque it's that light) then drop it down again, lift up on the way tubes with the headstock at the other end and see if you can lift the piviot off the base. If you can't then it is locked. Next try to unscrew the knob, it will probably come loose.

Bottom line, don't tighten the knob, just finger tight.

JMHO

Hey Dick,

I've been down that route and it never really gets "loose" maybe just less stiff. For anyone with arthritis it would be damn near impossible. And the clearance at the LA end is all but touching but I can get both hands there to start it. Of course after my ER visit I'm way more cautious. I prefer dropping off the patients and leaving rather than staying there a while, if you know what I mean. From one of the videos, on setting up for shaper mode, it appears he simply spins the knob with two fingers. Maybe it's smoke and mirrors but even with making sure there's no sawdust or foreign material on the threads and sprayed with WD40 it's tight.

I posted a video of how easy mine turns a few posts back. It is not smoke and mirrors, after getting it stated you can spin it with just one finger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1XS69-_UhQ

No wax, no cleaning, no WD40 or other lubrication............

Ed

Not sure how I missed that, thanks Ed.