Shopsmith Forums

epodietz wrote: ↑Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:25 am Thanks again, David. I did look at Jacob's videos, and it seems that in order to remove the control sheave in order to replace the button bearing that I will need to do about 2/3 of an entire teardown. Any shortcuts come to mind? Not that refamilarizing myself with teardown is a bad thing..

You already have the speed control out. Make sure the machine is unplugged. You might get away with leaving the electrical connections on the motor, but you'll need to separate the motor with housing from the headstock. If you have to remove the electrical note/photograph wiring connections and harness routing for re-assembly.

Also - is seizing of the button bearing necessarily a result of insufficient lubrication of the sheave mechanism, or is just bound to happen eventally b/c owing to regular old wear and tear on the small bearing? I think I've been a bit tardy on following Shopsmith's recommendation of lubricating control sheaves for every 5 hours of operation, but maybe I'm learning a lesson here..

IMO, bearing failure is not closely related to sheave lubrication. Shopsmith considers all ball bearings in the headstock to be permanently lubricated. And I think that is consistent with the ball bearing companies for both shielded and sealed bearings. They all lose lubrication at some point and should be replaced. But of all the bearings in the headstock this one seems the most likely to seize. Bound to happen eventually is a good description. Catching it soon after failure is good.

I checked out Bill Mayo's article, and while I haven't absorbed it entirely, one thing that stood out to me where he seemed to disagree with Jacob Anderson: Bill seemed to be stressing the importance of the control screw tracking in the center of the worm gear while Jacob seemed to say that it was OK if it tracked a bit to the left. Perhaps I have interpreted both of them incorrectly...any thoughts on the subject?
The BIll Mayo improvement, IMO, yields a better than new speed control. The two legs are tied together by a screw, so they can't splay and it takes way more force to bend them. It also eliminates the roll pin used as a hinge pin which, over time, seems to enlarge the holes in the legs. I haven't looked at Jacob's closely. Bill's method solves both of the problems I've ever had with speed controls and seems to last.