Shopsmith Forums

csanders wrote:Thanks. Ya, I just didn't understand that the sheeves separated like that. And I was thinking how does this thing slow down and speed up. Well, at least I can say that I will never forget it. I'll check out the wax. My dad said someone told him to put car wax on it and I said "I better check with you guys on that.

Good thing you asked 'us'.

Don't use car wax.

The paste wax leaves a slick film that reduces friction as well as preventing rust. Slick is good on way tubes and table tubes and sliding parts sand . . .

Go back and read this entire thread. Now that you have an understanding, see if there are clues to what you just said. The pulleys have a fixed and a movable sheave. That means open and close!;)

BTW my terminology although not exact separates the parts of the pulleys.

Common usage of pulley, sheave is sloppy at best. To me historically a sheave is part of a block and tackle(more nebulous terminology) set where the 'blocks' contain pulleys and are also referred to as sheaves(it may be a description of a type of pulley that consists of a center section with the grooved wheel and separate flanges(washers) mounted to the pulley shaft at the outer sides of the center section and all that inside a slot(through mortise) in the block).

More modern use includes a pulley with a movable flange that is also referred to as a sheaved pulley.

I think the ss pulleys would be better described as having fixed and movable flanges, but sheaves seems de rigor! I consider the ss pulleys to be sheaved pulleys with one flange movable each. JMHO;)

That's interesting. In hindsight, I will reread this thread. Everyone always says it will seem so simple after you realize how do this. But, honestly I do not feel too stupid since I tried to separate the motor sheave and it would not budge. I didn't want to break the motor and now that I know you do not want the spring to rebound onto the motor, I may have been right to be hesitant. I realize now that it was the lack of oil and or rust. Not sure if that type of metal can oxidize into a rust or not. These things seem extremely well built. It's not too odd to see a proud owner of a 1950's model that is currently functional. There is something to be said for a product that does not change all that much (gilmer belt) over the years. The new ones even look like the old ones.

I am glad to have found this forum and I want to say that I am very grateful to everyone who was able to bear with me. It must be hard to know that you could have acheved my 2 day repair in about 10 minutes. I am new to this, but would like to start some woodworking projects. Can anyone recommend any websites or books that can help me with some projects as well as educate me on the proper ways to use this machine. I want to be safe as well as efficient. I am finding parts with the notorious ShopSmith paint, but I don't know what they do, nor does my father.

I'd say the best place to start is shopsmith.com Go through all of the pages, look at the online catalog and see if you can figure out what some of those pieces are. Check out the sawdust sessions. Another good source is Doug Reid's channel on You Tube. Other people who post on You Tube that I like are The Teen Woodorker, Steve Ramsey, and Carl Jacobsen. Also, just going through this forum and reading threads that have titles that catch your interest is a lot of fun.

tvidnoviciii wrote:I'd say the best place to start is shopsmith.com Go through all of the pages, look at the online catalog and see if you can figure out what some of those pieces are. Check out the sawdust sessions. Another good source is Doug Reid's channel on You Tube. Other people who post on You Tube that I like are The Teen Woodorker, Steve Ramsey, and Carl Jacobsen. Also, just going through this forum and reading threads that have titles that catch your interest is a lot of fun.

PTWFE There are 5 'vintages' that I know of. They range from a 10E/ER to 520 vintage. Any one is helpful. The link below is to an online copy.

http://www.shopsmith.com/academy/welcome.htm

The sheaves do not rust(they are aluminum), but the inserts and shafts are steel which will rust(and accumulate gunk/crud that prevents them from sliding). They should be oiled every 10 (TEN) hours of use. When that is done they last a veeeeery long time. When not done, one gets to go through your recent episode but needing new parts besides!

csanders wrote:That's interesting. In hindsight, I will reread this thread. Everyone always says it will seem so simple after you realize how do this. But, honestly I do not feel too stupid since I tried to separate the motor sheave and it would not budge. I didn't want to break the motor and now that I know you do not want the spring to rebound onto the motor, I may have been right to be hesitant. I realize now that it was the lack of oil and or rust. Not sure if that type of metal can oxidize into a rust or not. These things seem extremely well built. It's not too odd to see a proud owner of a 1950's model that is currently functional. There is something to be said for a product that does not change all that much (gilmer belt) over the years. The new ones even look like the old ones.

I am glad to have found this forum and I want to say that I am very grateful to everyone who was able to bear with me. It must be hard to know that you could have acheved my 2 day repair in about 10 minutes. I am new to this, but would like to start some woodworking projects. Can anyone recommend any websites or books that can help me with some projects as well as educate me on the proper ways to use this machine. I want to be safe as well as efficient. I am finding parts with the notorious ShopSmith paint, but I don't know what they do, nor does my father.

We've all been there and done that. It will be easier next time around. When you get stuck there are people on this forum who have owned and worked on these machines for decades and know their stuff!

Welcome to the forum. I got into woodworking 2years ago and bought a SS in Feb. of last year. Everything was new to me. I felt like I needed to know everything all at once. I have made a few projects now and am getting comfortable with not having learned everything

I have been doing projects that do not need the precision of furniture making or cabinetry. This project is one I just finished making. Lots of practice making repeated rip cuts all the same width. I also did lots cross cuts to a mark for the rough size of the part, but if I missed my mark, it was OK, as I used a band saw to trim the angled cuts of the kite shape. (I had all the holes drilled in the centers of the pieces and had mounted them on the hardware kit I used). I have posted my few projects in the "Beginning Woodworking" part of this forum. Several members post there.

One thing, I saw a mention of WWMM with Steve Ramsey, which I really enjoy. But Steve does not always have the best safety practices. I am remembering a really neat trick using a drill press to cut a cube into a cube. As members pointed out here, he had his fingers too close to the business end of a Forstner bit.

I do not remember if anyone mentioned LumberJocks, a bit over whelming, but a great resource for ideas.

Enjoy the journey!!

Thanks for the info. I also feel the need to know everything at once. I have a 1977 Mark V that my father used mostly for sawing. He has now given it to me and I am going through the process of finding out what it came with and what is lost. I do not have the manual and I try my best but I realize that my father did not take very good care of it.

I was trying out the router bits that I found and noticed the control dial would turn to the highest setting, but it definitely didn't get any louder. So, I took the belt pan off and noticed the idler sheave was opened all the way. When I took the control dial down all the way it got a little quieter but the idler sheeve remained open and the motor sheeve closed of course. Now, it was working fine the last couple of day and I remembered that I oiled the motor sheeve via the oiling hole on the motor underneath the coil spring on the motor. I did this per the instructions on ss.com. Did I accidentally get oil on the belt or on the sheeves. Is this the right way to oil the shopsmith.

It may be that the belt is just too old. I can't see where a new belt would hurt, but I have seen many threads on the best belt to buy. It sounds like the original belts are sometimes better than what is available today. Can someone recommend a new belt? Or could my problem be greater? I do not understand what causes the sheeves to open and close. The gear that turns inside the idler sheeve is turning fine. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Did you also oil the control sheave? In your earlier pix it appeared stuck closed.

The pulleys have a fixed and a movable flange(sheave).

The motor pulley has the spring tensioned floating sheave. The spring is pushing the sheave closed. Belt tension causes the belt to pull into the pulley against the spring force. That movement reduces the tension. So, the floating sheave floats in/out to maintain tension. In doing so the effective diameter(circumference) is changed. This changes the belt speed.

So what else affects belt tension?

The control sheave on the idler pulley. Belt tension pushes the control sheave against the speed control arm(the porkchop/quadrant gear).

Movement of the speed control arm allows/forces the control sheave to open/close.

When opened(speed increase) the belt drops slightly into the idler pulley and that decreases belt tension. The floating sheave responds by closing the motor pulley thus restoring 'equilibrium' and the speed is increased.

When closed(speed decrease) the belt is squeezed and the control sheave moves towards a closed position. This increases belt tension so the floating sheave opens slightly thus reducing the speed.

As I have mentioned before, the sheaves MUST BE FREE TO MOVE. That is why lubricating the sheaves is so important.

I am a bit unclear as to the time of events just mentioned relative to all the activity in this thread.

Is the control sheave 'sticking' open? It should be nearer open at high speeds and nearer closed at slower speeds. The motor pulley should be doing the opposite. Earlier the control sheave was sticking closed!

I do not understand the control sheave 'remaining open' and the floating sheave 'closing' as the control was moved towards slower.

Normal movement when adjusting the speed to slower is the control sheave closes and the floating sheave opens.

No matter where I set the control dial, the idler sheeve is open and the motor sheave is closed. I set it to slow and tried to manual open the motor sheeve but it will not budge. It doesn't make any sense to me. I oiled it at the base of the motor coil spring, but I'm not sure if that is the right spot to oil the sheave.

csanders wrote:No matter where I set the control dial, the idler sheeve is open and the motor sheave is closed. I set it to slow and tried to manual open the motor sheeve but it will not budge. It doesn't make any sense to me. I oiled it at the base of the motor coil spring, but I'm not sure if that is the right spot to oil the sheave.

Time to take the belt off!:D

We need to work on one sheave at a time.

We save the motor sheave for last(it will be the most difficult).

When the sheaves are 'stuck', simply applying oil is not sufficient.

I realize you do not want to go here, but removing the motor(and pan) assembly from the headstock will make this easier. Working through that 'access' hole is a pita(but better than an "A" headstock that has none).

One concern I have is if the sheave is stuck open, what happens when you adjust the speed control towards slow? The control arm should be pressing against the button on the end of the control sheave and making it close. This may indicate a speed control problem in addition to the sticking sheaves.

Before proceding with what follows, it would be best to post a pix of the speed control and idler sheave set to 'slow' speed as viewed from the access hole and await further 'input' .

With the speed control set to fast(the control arm([porkchop/quadrant gear] is against the high speed stop). With the drive belt 'loose' you should be able to easily move the sheave to open/close the pulley. If you raise the ss to drill press position, the sheave should fall open by gravity force alone if raised closed by hand.

Since the control sheave is stuck open, the oil hole in the hub may be beyond the end of the idler shaft. That be good(sorta). It allows free application of oil(it is going into the cavity off the end on the shaft).

Put 10 - 15 drops of oil in the hole. If the sheave is only partially open, give the oil plenty of time to seep in around the key that will be visible at the 'bottom' of the hole.

Let it all soak fer a spell(over night would be good). If less patient, try moving the sheave by hand. It really really should move easily, but, will really really resist movement if crudded up. If crudded up, here is where having access from below(motor pan not in the way) will help. That allows getting both hands in thar to push/shove. If really really really stuck a stick to pry it closed may be necessary. If that doesn't get it moving, beating the hand end of the stick would be next(or a longer stouter stick).

Last(least desirable) tapping with a hammer near the hub(gently at first and gradually more aggressively). Do so while rotating the sheave to expose a new impact point between blows. A drift punch would help direct the impact(ya place the end of the punch against the hub/flange joint and hit the other end of the punch with the hammer(gently at first remember) to move the sheave towards closing.

This is likely saturating yer headspace at this point so I will pause to await seeing the view from the access port. DO take that pix and 'pause' yerself!:)