Shopsmith Forums

Bandsaw Tire Warehouse on ebay normally has bearings and belts. Some parts are only available new from Shopsmith.

An "A" headstock )very clean!!!)

Wire loop looks A-ok.

PO may have intentionally used the poly-v belt since it appears the drive sleeve is not clutched.

Earlier bearing info should be correct. Measure what you have.

JPG wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 8:14 am ...Wire loop looks A-ok.
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To my eye the wire loop / button looks to be missing the roll pin (aka spring tension pin). Did early Greenies have one? (Mine didn't, but was well used when I got it. I added one much later.)

- David

JPG wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 8:14 am An "A" headstock )very clean!!!)

PO may have intentionally used the poly-v belt since it appears the drive sleeve is not clutched.

I was thinking the same thing, but since I’m new to these machines I questioned whether a poly-v could even be installed over the gilmer gears and then get the the idler shaft installed. I suspect it would be very difficult to get that to work.

Because that drive shaft is not the clutched version, I would consider my options, and would likely upgrade to either the clutched gilmer drive shaft or change to the poly-v shafts. But I would certainly be asking you all your thoughts on that since it seems to me that having a correctly “geared” gilmer belt on the gilmer shafts, more power would be delivered from the motor to the drive shaft.

I would most likely upgrade because I think the current belt/shaft configuration would sap power from the saw blade, or from whatever tool is attached. I think power would be lost due to both excessive tension on the belt, and from the decreased surface area between the grooved poly-v belt riding on the gilmer’s geared shafts. I would also guess that both exposed shafts on the left side would be hotter than normal because of this.

As for the button bearing, I do not remember what mine looked like, but the OP’s bearing is certainly different from photos I’ve seen of the bearing. Mine seemed to be good so I did not concern myself with it. Below are photos of what I think is the current version of that bearing and of the OP’s bearing; you can clearly see how different they look.

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I believe, even with that early of a Mark 5 Greenie it should have the roll pin as part of the wire loop for the button bearing. The roll Pin is not a tight fit in the hole of the button bearing. As already stated you have a Gilmer Drive without the clutch. As already recommended, I too would change the drive Sleeve Assembly to either a clutched Gilmer Drive or change all to a Poly V Drive. Considering you need to change the bearings for it anyway it may be a good time to consider the Poly V upgrade. If it is not torn up from trying to run on a Gilmer Drive you already have a Poly V belt. It will cost more to upgrade but you may find it worth doing.

Magna Engineering Corporation, the company that originally made the Mark 5 quickly found that the Gilmer Drive without a clutch could easily damage belts when a jam occurred. The belt being the weak link in the drive system. That change was one of the earliest changes made to the Mark 5 along with bearing retainers added to hold the Idler Shaft Bearing in place. The picture of the Drive Sleeve doesn't show low enough to see if you have bearing retainers added to your Mark 5 but since the bearing is not all the way in place correctly I assume it does not have bearing retainers unless it was removed to remove the belt. A word of warning, the clamp part of the headstock casting that holds the Idler Bearing in place is not sufficient by itself to hold the bearing in place against the force pushing and pulling it to change the speeds. This is why the bearing retainers were added and later was changed to a screw in the casting and a screw in the eccentric bushing to keep them in place. Some eccentric bushings use a set screw to attach them to the bearing. Do not over tighten the clamp of the headstock casting around the Idler Bearing or you could break the casting.

One of the upsides of changing to the poly-v drive is that you can then easily upgrade to the dual bearing quill.

Majones1 wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 12:49 pm One of the upsides of changing to the poly-v drive is that you can then easily upgrade to the dual bearing quill.

Thank you all for the advice!
If I do change to the Poly-V belt drive sleeve, do I need to do anything else to the quill or headstock? Or is it kind of an easy swap? I am not ready to upgrade the quill just yet. To be honest, I have never even used a lathe before, I got this to have fun and experiment. Just want to get it up and running.

Thank you all again!

Converting from gilmer to poly-v drive requires replacing the drive sleeve, the idler sheave in addition to the quill itself. And then the belt.

Not an inexpensive endeavor!

P.S. the square looking button is typical for that vintage control sheave. Yes the tension pin is missing.

Not sure if this pics adds any info to the discussion but here's the button from my 1960 greenie for comparison. I presume it's original but who knows....

I saw this gilmer drive shaft on e-bay earlier this morning, and I believe it has the clutch. It’s much cheaper than converting to the poly-v drive which, if I remember correctly, is close to $400 if you bought all new parts. I have bought parts from this seller before.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Shopsmith-Mark ... 632-2357-0

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