Shopsmith Forums

Well, she's lubed up, back together, and running smoothly with a Fenner Power Twist Link Belt. I'll use this one to do a little work on my 1955 Greenie and finish it up, then sell this one to my brother.

I will take the Speed Control apart once more to replace the roll pin with a bolt when it shows up in the mail from sunny Florida compliments of Bill Mayo.

The balancing is typical, not unusual. Most aluminum cast spinning parts have been spot faced like that.

I know it's not unusual, I guess my question was if the factory did it, or a previous owner. Not that it matters either way, I'm just curious since the sheaves on my other SS weren't balanced.

Culprit wrote:I know it's not unusual, I guess my question was if the factory did it, or a previous owner. Not that it matters either way, I'm just curious since the sheaves on my other SS weren't balanced.

That would imply they were balanced to begin with and did not need tweaking.

I think it safe to assume the tweaking was factory done.

I havent finished my first one yet either. My wife and kids are about sick of Shopsmith lol. I was only supposed to purchase one, here is my list so far

1 Greenie
1 Brownie
2 510's
5 500's
2 Mark VII's
2 10ER's
1 10E

1 Power Station
1 Power Stand
1 Double Power Stand
1 OPR (stand alone)

5 Joiners
5 Ban Saws
5 Jig Saws
3 Belt Sanders
1 Scroll Saw
1 SS Compressor

5 Sawsmith RAS's

And tons of other extras.

I started buying extra SS just for the extra accessories and was suppose to sell what I didnt need. Well the basement is full and I havent tried selling anything yet because Im having fun being addicted to buying good deals haha.

Culprit, just a word of caution about those Fenner belts, they are a bit abrasive and likely will wear on the sheaves. You'd be better off running a conventional belt. They also tend to stretch some over time.

hdoilcan wrote:I havent finished my first one yet either. My wife and kids are about sick of Shopsmith lol. I was only supposed to purchase one, here is my list so far

1 Greenie
1 Brownie
2 510's
5 500's
2 Mark VII's
2 10ER's
1 10E

1 Power Station
1 Power Stand
1 Double Power Stand
1 OPR (stand alone)

5 Joiners
5 Ban Saws
5 Jig Saws
3 Belt Sanders
1 Scroll Saw
1 SS Compressor

5 Sawsmith RAS's

And tons of other extras.

I started buying extra SS just for the extra accessories and was suppose to sell what I didnt need. Well the basement is full and I havent tried selling anything yet because Im having fun being addicted to buying good deals haha.

I think you may be addicted.

JPG40504 wrote:That would imply they were balanced to begin with and did not need tweaking.

I think it save to assume the tweaking was factory done.

Yes, in my July 2008 Owners Weekend tour at Dayton, I saw the CNC machine that balances (by this type of milling) the sheaves, bandsaw wheels, etc.

I've also noted that older SS bandsaws had wheels that were milled all around and balanced. Newer bandsaw wheels seem to be milled only for the rubber tracks and for the balancing material-removals, with the rest of the casting permitted to have some runout.

pennview wrote:Culprit, just a word of caution about those Fenner belts, they are a bit abrasive and likely will wear on the sheaves. You'd be better off running a conventional belt. They also tend to stretch some over time.

Thanks for the heads up, pennview. From what I was able to dig up searching and reading old posts, a few folks said the Harbor Freight brand belts were harder/more abrasive and would cause wear on the aluminum sheaves, but that the Fenner brand belts were better. How many hours did you put on the Fenner belt, and how much wear was on your sheaves? Pictures would be great if you have any.

Here is a quote from Bill Mayo, Aug 2010:

billmayo wrote:No wear on steel pulleys when using the link V-belt. I do get a fine aluminum dust from the headstock sheaves when using the link V-belt. I found the wear on the sheaves from the link V-belt was acceptable to me after a few hundred hours.

In fact, I find the normal V-belt appears to wear grooves in the sheaves whereas the link V-belt leaves a nice smooth finish on the sheaves. I reface all the sheaves before using them. I have switched to using a Kevlar V-belt for my personal headstocks. I need a few hundred hours on one of my headstocks to see how much the Kevler V-belt will wear the sheaves compared to normal and link V-belts.

Bill, since that quote of yours was from Aug 2010, do you have any more feedback for us on either the link belts or the kevlar v-belts? Do you have a part number/supplier for the kevlar belts if any of us want to try them?

I wanted to try the link belt because I've never used one on any piece of equipment, but everyone says they reduce vibration a considerable amount - I wanted to see it for myself.

nuhobby wrote:Yes, in my July 2008 Owners Weekend tour at Dayton, I saw the CNC machine that balances (by this type of milling) the sheaves, bandsaw wheels, etc.

I've also noted that older SS bandsaws had wheels that were milled all around and balanced. Newer bandsaw wheels seem to be milled only for the rubber tracks and for the balancing material-removals, with the rest of the casting permitted to have some runout.

Cool - thanks for the feedback.