Shopsmith Forums

JPG40504 wrote:The unknown here is why it is loose to the point of DANGLING???? It is not tight enough to stall the motor or smoke the belt. We do not know if it is caught in the upper sheaves.

We also do not know if the motor was smoking or the belt was smoking. If I were looking at it but not in person I would make the assumption that the motor was damaged and bid accordingly. If it turns out that the motor is OK then that would be a bonus.
We do know that all such devices operate on smoke and only have a certain amount of smoke in them from the factory. Once that smoke all leaks out that the device will cease to work.
As I look at the motor pulley in the picture I would consider that it is likely that the sheave is pushed out on the shaft and stuck from sitting. Then the seller likely turned the speed control (hopefully while turning the spindle by hand) and opened the upper sheaves making the belt quite loose.
The motor smoking may well have come from the centrifugal motor starter switch failing to make contact due to corrosion from sitting in a damp environment. The damp environment being indicated by the general rust but more so by the rust on the underside of the way tubes indicating that some condensation was heavy enough to collect under them as drops. A motor can hum a few seconds and still be OK but if it made smoke I wouldn't expect it to still be good. Then again a greenie motor on Ebay would make a cheap cure.

I took another look at the 'dangling belt'. I think Francis is more observant than I. I concluded the floating sheave was tight against the fan sheave, but after looking again I think the spring is compressed more than would be the case if that were correct.

So the dangle(looseness) is explained if the upper sheave are 'open' or the belt jammed between them. This would be good(relatively speaking) news.

BTW Has it disappeared or have I 'lost track of it'?

My buddy sent me an email saying he would have been willing to buy it for $100 but the seller had taken down the auction. But he said he's patient and will keep an eye out on eBay and CL. He's just moved and doesn't have his shop set up yet, but he said he would be setting it up with a Shopsmith acquisition in mind.

Oh, and he lives less than 30 miles from Bill Mayo and I passed along Bill's contact info, so he may be contacting Bill for some help.

I meant to add, thanks a ton for all of the suggestions, advice, theories, and general commentary! We may be back for more if he spots another one that catches his eye!

heathicus wrote:My buddy sent me an email saying he would have been willing to buy it for $100 but the seller had taken down the auction. But he said he's patient and will keep an eye out on eBay and CL. He's just moved and doesn't have his shop set up yet, but he said he would be setting it up with a Shopsmith acquisition in mind.

Oh, and he lives less than 30 miles from Bill Mayo and I passed along Bill's contact info, so he may be contacting Bill for some help.

Bet Bill has a selection of already refurbished SS to offer!;)

heathicus wrote:I meant to add, thanks a ton for all of the suggestions, advice, theories, and general commentary! We may be back for more if he spots another one that catches his eye!

Start a NEW thread IF he does.

The belt might be an after market replacement that was sized incorrectly.

heathicus wrote:My buddy sent me an email saying he would have been willing to buy it for $100 but the seller had taken down the auction. But he said he's patient and will keep an eye out on eBay and CL. He's just moved and doesn't have his shop set up yet, but he said he would be setting it up with a Shopsmith acquisition in mind.

Oh, and he lives less than 30 miles from Bill Mayo and I passed along Bill's contact info, so he may be contacting Bill for some help.

The owner that had listed the $100 Ebay Shopsmith that did not sell is now listed for $500 on Craig's List. I made a less than $100 offer but got no response. I will try again to contact the seller to see if it does sell for more than $100. I do sell rebuilt Shopsmiths with a 2 year headstock warranty on them if Heath's buddy is interested.