Shopsmith Forums

There is a small bearing inside the control sheave that will wear out if not lubricated through the years correctly.

Easiest to just replace the control sheave with a new bearing. There is center "button" in the middle with a hole through it that allows a clip to slide over the quadrant and keep it mated to the quadrant.

The button face rubs on the quadrant as it is positioned. I will attach a picture of the headstock for you to reference.

If you will go to the My Google Drive link at https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/view ... 90#p185690

In the Bearings sub-folder read the Bearing Guide.

In the Adjustment and Alignment folder read the Bill Mayo's Headstock Improvement document.

You may also like the Buying a Used Shopsmith V2.PDF in the main folder to find your way around and get familiar with the machine in general. There is a lot of valuable information in the My Google Drive link, all free.

If you look at the oil hole, put in about 6-8 drops of oil every 10 hours of operation, then swing it into drill press mode, let it run to warm up the bearing, and the oil will rest on the top of bearing in that position when it runs down.

As it cools, overnight it will draw in some of that oil into the small button bearing. If it is worn now, oil won't fix that, but might quiet it a bit while you get a new control sheave, which is what I suspect your noise might be. It is a common issue when not oiled frequently.

3-In-One oil, a turbine oil etc. is fine. Not a fan of synthetics.

There is another oil hole on the motor's floating sheave under the spring.

If you don't remember anything else when you read the documents, do not turn the speed control with the machine not rotating either under power, or being turned by hand.

If you turn it off in High Speed as you will have to, in order to get to that lower oil hole which decompresses the spring over the hole, before you turn the machine back on, rotate the quill by hand as you turn the speed dial slowly down to slow before powering on. (use sanding disc for leverage)

It draws more current if you start it in high, which can trip breakers etc. especially in 15A circuits or if using an extension cord. If you must use an extension cord, use a strong one rated for 20A say 10 Gauge wire and it should not be a problem if is under 20 ft. long.

Turning the speed dial without the belts rotating will (over time), bend parts in the speed mechanism, or break teeth on the back side of the speed dial, or both.

Everett

Thanks for all the detailed information. In the drill press position, the noise clearly comes from the floating sheave. If I buy the:
117 504208 Floating Sheave - Motor 1 34.96
will that include the bearing?

rstahly wrote:Thanks for all the detailed information. In the drill press position, the noise clearly comes from the floating sheave. If I buy the:
117 504208 Floating Sheave - Motor 1 34.96
will that include the bearing?

No! I think ya want part #110 515556 Control Sheave Assembly ... $56.65

If the noise is from the “button bearing”, that bearing can be replaced despite what Shopsmith will tell you. You need to be “extra handy”, but it can be done. I did it on mine 4 years ago and all is still well. Then again, i’m frugal! If interested, PM me and i will give you the source for the bearing.
Chris

Either pulley may have slop along the key due to wear in the pulley groove.

This slop allows the vanes on the sheaves to flap against each other.

That be my guess with the limited input.

P.S. You might want to watch the control sheave/wire loop/porkchop at the low speed 'grind point'.

P.P.S. Did not 'see' the page two posts when I posted this.

rstahly wrote:I've oiled the sheaves. I made a video but couldn't seem to embed it.

https://youtu.be/Y9ISc52_CEM

I really appreciate all your help

The trick to making the embedded video work is to use the "youtube" button instead of the "URL" button, and to use the actual URL not the link with the dot between the "u" and the "b" in "youtube"