Shopsmith Forums

Thanks Bill, I was literally just looking at the 'tristateauto' auctions a moment ago and wondering about their quality, glad to hear that they're reputable.

A little off topic, I've been thinking of eventually getting a small combo mill/lathe setup - do you think that would be adequate to do most of the machine work that you do for the Shopsmith?

nsmith01tx wrote:Thanks Bill, I was literally just looking at the 'tristateauto' auctions a moment ago and wondering about their quality, glad to hear that they're reputable.

A little off topic, I've been thinking of eventually getting a small combo mill/lathe setup - do you think that would be adequate to do most of the machine work that you do for the Shopsmith?

I find my 7X10 metal lathe bed is too short for quill housings and shafts. I plan to upgrade my lathe bed to 14". Therefore, I would recommend at least a 7 X 12" as the smallest size lathe to make/machine items for the Shopsmith. Of course a 3-in-1 combo lathe would be more versatile and fun to play with. Just make sure the bed length is at least 12". This is more important then the lathe swing to me.

nsmith01tx wrote:Thanks Bill, I was literally just looking at the 'tristateauto' auctions a moment ago and wondering about their quality, glad to hear that they're reputable.

A little off topic, I've been thinking of eventually getting a small combo mill/lathe setup - do you think that would be adequate to do most of the machine work that you do for the Shopsmith?

This thread got my attention.

https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=7337&highlight=taig

That naturally led me to this!

Yep, that Taig is what restarted my metal lathe dreams. It's a bit small though, and that is what led to my question for Bill.

Truthfully it may be a long while, if ever, before I catch up on all my other projects enough to start something new, but it sure would be nice to be able to fabricate a missing or custom part.

I have not been able to work in my metal shop hardly at all this last year mostly due to spending so much time working with the horse operation. My metal lathe is one of those things where I bought the right one somewhat by accident. I just lucked into locating it. I have had it for some time (maybe 20 years) and used to use it a lot. I want to get back to more of that work.
It is a South Bend double pedestal floor model 9" X 36" with a quick change gearbox. It is not "fully tooled" but fairly decently so, at least enough for much of the work I do. It is pretty old but in very good condition and shows no bed wear like many I had looked at. It was not a near freebie ($1100) but I don't feel that it owes me anything. I used it a lot on old farm machinery over-boring and sleeving hard to find ancient parts. Suffice it to say that my lack of serious skills at maintaining extra tight tolerances did not matter much on that old machinery.

Finally finished this repair so I thought I'd give a recap:

The problem I had was that the bearing that contacts the porkchop had come apart.

I took this opportunity to go ahead and take the headstock apart and give it a good cleaning, but I didn't replace bearings as I probably ought to. Next time, when I update to a 2-bearing quill.

Instead of buying the whole sheave assembly, I bought the "SHEAVE BUTTON, BEARING AND LOOP" from tristateauto on ebay. I also bought their "POLY V AND DRIVE BELT SET". The belts are fine, I suspect I'd like the Shopsmith brand better, but I haven't seen 'em in person except the old ones. Next time I'll order them from SS.

The old bearing race came out easily enough (drove it out from behind with a 1/4" drive 11mm socket). Cleaned out the area and put in the new bearing with a little red Loctite (tip from Bill Mayo, I believe), and gave it some light taps with a punch on the old swage marks to hold it. Works like a champ.

Putting it back together I found that the wires from the motor to the switch were very crispy. Opened up the motor, took the wires back to the windings and soldered new wires in and covered with heat shrink. Finished it off with a few shots of an Amazon.com purchase, "Insulating Varnish Clear" from wesaveyou$.

Finally, just did the high speed setting using another Amazon.com purchase, "Digital Photo Laser Tachometer Non Contact Tach" from VXB Bearing.

Thanks to everyone here, couldn't have done it without you!

nsmith01tx wrote:Finally finished this repair so I thought I'd give a recap:

The problem I had was that the bearing that contacts the porkchop had come apart.

I took this opportunity to go ahead and take the headstock apart and give it a good cleaning, but I didn't replace bearings as I probably ought to. Next time, when I update to a 2-bearing quill.

Instead of buying the whole sheave assembly, I bought the "SHEAVE BUTTON, BEARING AND LOOP" from tristateauto on ebay. I also bought their "POLY V AND DRIVE BELT SET". The belts are fine, I suspect I'd like the Shopsmith brand better, but I haven't seen 'em in person except the old ones. Next time I'll order them from SS.

The old bearing race came out easily enough (drove it out from behind with a 1/4" drive 11mm socket). Cleaned out the area and put in the new bearing with a little red Loctite (tip from Bill Mayo, I believe), and gave it some light taps with a punch on the old swage marks to hold it. Works like a champ.

Putting it back together I found that the wires from the motor to the switch were very crispy. Opened up the motor, took the wires back to the windings and soldered new wires in and covered with heat shrink. Finished it off with a few shots of an Amazon.com purchase, "Insulating Varnish Clear" from wesaveyou$.

Finally, just did the high speed setting using another Amazon.com purchase, "Digital Photo Laser Tachometer Non Contact Tach" from VXB Bearing.

Thanks to everyone here, couldn't have done it without you!

Glad you are up and running and able to make sawdust. Also, I thank you for the recap. All too often there is no feedback.

I too have a tachometer and it works well. However, I have found that all the tips for setting the high speed stop (without a tach) are right on. A tachometer is really not needed to maintain the Mark V.