Shopsmith Forums

I think I figured out a new trick with the Gilmer Drive I had a piece of scrap wood and I took a 1 inch speedbor bit and drilled a hole in the center of it, then I stood the Gilmer drive up between my legs and used the piece of wood like a handle on a cartoon Dynamite box and it pushed down when I did that it compressed everything and got the c-clip to click into place.

Well I got the shopsmith all back together and it seems to be working pretty good. I only have two questions. One is I ended up with a wavy washer leftover I'm not sure what that's from do you guys know? And two I don't think I have my speed control set right. I tried to set it the way shopsmith tells you to where are you have a 16th to an 8th of an inch clearance from the edge of the pulley when I did that if I set the machine up to high speed the sheaves would come too far apart and the machine would jam and trip the circuit breaker. So what I ended up doing was turning the speed adjustment until I got the highest speed I could just before it would jam then I turned it back slightly and then spun speed to the maximum fast position put the knob back on and tighten the set screw. Is there a better way to do this? The only side effect I see is at low speed I hear something rattling from inside the shopsmith it almost sounds like change, qnd if i set it below the C speed on the jig saw setting the motor starts to struggle and the speed control is difficult to turn, and I'm not sure if I'm getting as high of RPM as I used to at full speed.

What size is the wavy washer? If 5/8" it likely is from the quill lock. It goes between the sleeve and the wing nut.

Is the control sheave bearing/loop etc. intact?

You were right about the wavy washer thats exactly what it's for.

Are you referring to the loop that clips over the pork chop? That is in good shape. I figured out why it failed the keyway in the "sheave shaft" had come out of its channel and bent slightly I bent the key way back and now the sheaves move smoothly. So I put a new Loop and new roll pin in my existing bearing and it seems to be working really well.

APerna1985 wrote:You were right about the wavy washer thats exactly what it's for.

Are you referring to the loop that clips over the pork chop? That is in good shape. I figured out why it failed the keyway in the "sheave shaft" had come out of its channel and bent slightly I bent the key way back and now the sheaves move smoothly. So I put a new Loop and new roll pin in my existing bearing and it seems to be working really well.

The key in NOT supposed to be removable without first removing the idler sheave. The key is intentionally 'bent' and that crook is supposed to be in a deeper spot at the end of the keyway inside the hub of the idler sheave. The idler sheave causes the key to be held captive.

I'm sorry I don't totally get what you mean? If i was holding the half of the sheave that has the shaft built into it and the other sheeve that has the bearing and clip on it was removed, the keyway was only sitting in the groove about half way up the shaft, so I bent it so it sat completely in the groove from top to bottom? Is that incorrect? Once I did that the sheeve that is meant to slide on the shaft moved freely in and out, but when the keyway was bent I could barely get it to move at all.

APerna1985 wrote:I'm sorry I don't totally get what you mean? If i was holding the half of the sheave that has the shaft built into it and the other sheeve that has the bearing and clip on it was removed, the keyway was only sitting in the groove about half way up the shaft, so I bent it so it sat completely in the groove from top to bottom? Is that incorrect? Once I did that the sheeve that is meant to slide on the shaft moved freely in and out, but when the keyway was bent I could barely get it to move at all.

The idler pulley consists of two sheaves. The idler pulley is attached to the shaft(it IS removable from the shaft) and the key should NOT be removable without first removing the idler sheave from the shaft.

The second sheave is the movable control sheave. It also has a keyway that the key rides in. The purpose of the key id to prevent the two sheaves from rotating on the shaft independantly from each other.

IF(and I believe that is what you had) the key is NOT installed properly the crook in the end will indeed bind the control sheave from sliding on the shaft.

Yes, I think that's what was causing all the problems initially with the machine.

The bent end of the key sets in the hole at the end of the keyway:

Wow thank you for the picture, someone apparently put that key way in rotated 90 degrees. The keyway was sticking out to the side instead of down into the shaft. It was extremely difficult to get the sheeves apart. I'll take it back out and bend the end down into the shaft like the picture.

So glad it helped you! I'm lucky mine was put in the right way or I would have been confused too. Products like the Shopsmith have the engineering that won World War II. In this day an age there's not a lot of knowledge around it or familiarity. Without this forum we wouldn't have a chance.