Shopsmith Forums

Ed in Tampa wrote:A 5000 RPM increase is nothing to a bearing. Years ago I serviced a ball bearing manufacture. The tests they put their bearings through were starling. They had a machine that would increase in speed RPM and pressure until the bearing failed. We are talking tons and tens of thousands RPM.

Interesting note they used an oil to lube the bearing during the test. One day they ran out and one of the techs had a can of ARRCO graphite oil in his car. They used it and found they could not destroy the bearing. The engineers were fascinated and studied the results for days.

Maybe this was true when quality bearings was manufactured in the USA, I did not find this was true with replacement Chinese bearings being used in later Shopsmiths. I set up a test lab around 2005 for a year just for testing bearings, AC & DC motors and 3 phase motors along with other modifications like a Quick Stop and a variable frequency power supply that I hoped to use in the Shopsmith. I found the quill bearings quickly became very noisy at above 12,000 RPM and would start to seize up around 17,000 RPM after some operating time. Same with the drive sleeve bearings. I found the Idler Sheave water pump bearing (24,000 RPM) did much better with only a couple failures during these tests. I found that when I could replace any original Shopsmith bearing (Mark V stuff) with a ABEC3 or higher rated bearing, the bearing operated much quieter with less heat buildup. I used very few motor rated bearings when I was rebuilding Shopsmith equipment.

Just asking: don't they still make bearings in Germany? Aren't German products considered higher quality than their counterparts from China? Aren't all bearings produced In metric dimensions so that they should fit into American products?

Well, here is the final story on this tale of woe and intrigue!

So shipped the head stock back at the end of December, waited through the holidays and then got antsy and called Jim McCann. He dug it out of the back room and instantly( it got a bit lost in the holiday shuffle) set to work on it and shipped it back the next day. I got it last week and managed to get it on the tubes this weekend and give it a try out.

Results:

1. The quill now moves in and out like a champ! Smooth as butter! Problem solved!

2. Vibration: It still has more vibration when extending or retracting the quill than my old headstock but in talking to Jim about the situation, what I learned is that what vibration is now left after he worked on it is a result of how the motor drive works in pulses and if I put it under load it will smooth out. Sure enough, I drilled some holes (which are perfect now) and the vibe goes away. The mistake I was making was comparing it to the old headstock. Since the drive is different, they are going to feel different in use.

So everything is working just perfectly now and I'm making scrap wood easily and with precision!

Can't say enough good about SS customer service, particularly Jim McCann! Despite the long wait to get a headstock and the 2 trips back to the factory for service, I still think it's a great tool and I look forward to years of service from it.

Thank you also to all of you who chimed in with suggestions and support!

Another happy ending thanks to the wonderful people at Shopsmith!

Glad to hear that it is finally fixed! SS may have been better doing things a little different, but the end result is what matters.

I love my PowerPro, it is a great machine. Enjoy it!

Ohgary wrote:Just asking: don't they still make bearings in Germany? Aren't German products considered higher quality than their counterparts from China? Aren't all bearings produced In metric dimensions so that they should fit into American products?

Germany has made ball bearings for years. I was fortunate to be in the Army stationed in Schweinfurt in the 1970s, which is the home of German bearing manufacturing. During WWII the USAF tried unsuccessfully to destroy the bearing factories. From wikipedia "Second Raid on Schweinfurt":

Of the 291 B-17 Flying Fortresses sent on the mission, 60 were lost outright, another 17 damaged so heavily that they had to be scrapped, and another 121 had varying degrees of battle damage. Outright losses represented over 26% of the attacking force. Losses in aircrew were equally heavy, with 650 men lost of 2,900, 22% of the bomber crews. The American Official History of the Army Air Forces in the Second World War acknowledged losses had been so heavy that the USAAF would not return to the target for four months; "The fact was that the Eighth Air Force had for the time being lost air superiority over Germany"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Ra ... chweinfurt

TomH wrote:Well, here is the final story on this tale of woe and intrigue!

Results:
So everything is working just perfectly now and I'm making scrap wood easily and with precision!

Ain't it great? We both love our new headstocks.

I had different issues with my PowerPro, but when I got it back, it is now the very best machine I've ever owned.

Seems the best thing the PowerPro has is also a source of possible frustration. Pulses!

Pulses make the motor what it is - - and also makes it sometimes perform differently than the older headstocks. Viva the differences!

I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of Shopsmith's customer service.

Where else will the 'chief engineer' perform diagnosis and 'repair' on a less than perfect product?

New to the forum, just got gifted a 1979er and have a lot of exploration to do. Was very interested in the power pro and this was a great read. Thanks to all and glad for the happy ending.

Mike, no such thing as a 1979 ER. I dont know the exact year that they stopped making the ER but is was around 1950.