Shopsmith Forums

Do not turn the speed control with the motor off. Only move it when its running. Turning the speed control when turned off can cause damage.

Looks like a great buy.

James

what about blades for the saw? Where do I get them and is there a good all purpose blade?

Thanks for the info. ACE is 1 mile down the road.

Wholeshoe, Welcome to the Forum.

Your slow and careful approach is the right thing to do. You need to follow the instructions in the owner's manual; especially for the lubrication and maintenance, alignment, set-ups and changeovers, and operating procedures. Check out the information on the links that have been shared, check out the Shopsmith's Owner site, especially the info under education (focus on the Sawdust Sessions) and use the lesson plans that you mentioned. Continue to talk about your progress and ask questions from the forum members if there are things in the owners manual that you don't understand.

Just like any other power tools, you need to understand what it is supposed to do, how to operate it safely, and how to take care of it.

Good luck with your Shopsmith, From the pictures, it looks like it is in pretty good shape. Have fun and be safe. John McCrossen

On the top of the headstock is an allen head set screw (like MOST of the others). The hex 'hole' may be filled in with 'something'. Dig it out and back the screw off slightly to see if the herky jerky stops. This screw has a projection on the opposite end which rides in a groove on the top of the quill. Crud can get in the groove as well as the screw NOT being adjusted properly. You can remove the screw completely so as to be able to 'inspect the groove. Proper adjustment is to make sure it IS in the groove, snug it up and back it off enough for the quill to operate smoothly.

Welcome to the Forum. Very nice purchase.

On the quill feed. Clean the quill and the whole machine with mineral spirits. Use a toothbrush to clean out the groves in the quill feed. You can loosen the set screw like JPG40504 provided directions to do. Just be careful when you turn the quill feed handle. The set screw keeps the quill from coming out. If you turn it too far it will come out and then you need to be careful of the spring that pulls the quill back. It will want to coil back. So be careful not to extend it too far.

Once it is clean, put some of the Jonhson's Paste Wax on it. Let it dry for 15 minutes and buff it out. Make sure all the Paste wax is buffed out of the quill teeth and slot in the top. This should make it slide in and out smoothly and with out any binding.

Use the same procedure on all of the external parts.

Next remove the Shopsmith logo on the opposite side of the speed adjustment dial. This will let you see inside and oil the internal parts. You also will need to remove the side cover (belt cover) to access the sliding sheaves. There are two places to oil inside. There is a hole on the shaft of that the sliding sheaves are on. To access it you will need to either turn the motor on and run it up to high. Or turn it shaft by hand as you turn the speed dial up slowly to high.

Now you will need to look for a hole in the sheave that will is between the spring. Place some oil in the hole and turn. The other location is on the idler shaft and is best reached from the hole in the side of the headstock where the Shopsmith logo was removed.

This will let you see inside the headstock and decide if you need to do more cleaning inside.

Inspect the electrical wires inside and out to make sure that they are OK.

Check out the Sawdust sessions on the SS web site.

[HTML]http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/Sawdust_Sessions.htm[/HTML]

http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/Sawdust_Sessions.htm

Look at sawdust sessions 1, 7, and 11. I believe that these have information on alignment, adjusting the quill feed, and maintenance and oiling. All of them are great. You will gain more confidence in how to use your shopsmith by just watching Nick work. He is a master wood worker.

Enjoy.

Welcome to the world of Shopsmith. I know you will find it enjoyable. To me a picture can be worth a thousand words. This is a link to the Sawdust sessions created by SS. Several cover maintenance and adjustment of your SS.

http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/Sawdust_Sessions.htm

is Shopsmith the only spot I can get saw blades from? Thanks for the good servicing info.

wholeshoe wrote:is Shopsmith the only spot I can get saw blades from? Thanks for the good servicing info.

No. You can use any 10" blade that has a 5/8 hole (but you need a 5/8 SS arbor; 55531 for the 500 or 55608 for the 505, 510 and 520), or 1 1/4" hole (but you need the 1 1/4" SS arbor; 505511 for the 500 or 555130 for the 505, 510 and 520). You can order blades drilled with the larger hole from some suppliers, i.e., Forrest. I also think that there is a consensus that thin kerf blades work best on the Mark V.