Shopsmith Forums

Here is something that I learned that has served me well. You don't need a $200 10" blade to cut a 2" x 4"... There are many jobs where you do need a good 10" blade, and at times you might wish for a 12".
For a lot of everyday stuff an 8" blade is plenty. I have a small fleet of table saws, all on wheels, that migrated to my shop and at times end up out somewhere at a job site. One I am a little fond of is an older Rockwell 8", 3/4 HP with cast iron table extensions and a "functional" fence. All good enough for carpentry and trim work. It is my "go to" in the shop if I have a setup that I still need on my main table saw but need to make a few odd one-of cuts. I have never bought a new 8" blade for it. Instead I run a new low cost 7 1/4" carbide blade on it. They now make some very nice, fast cutting and low cost blades for "electric hand saws" (AKA "Skilsaws").
You can buy them super cheap in bulk but quite reasonable in singles. I have a couple of 5/8" SS arbors and could easily keep one ready to slip on an SS. The reduced diameter is fine for most day to day work and could seriously improve your feed rate when cutting hard stuff like oak and stuff. I have a fair stash of used oak flooring that I want to recycle and it is a lot less painful to hit a nail with a very low cost blade. Those blades are also fairly tolerant of the odd nail.


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I'm definitely going to get at least a blade, an probably a 5/8" arbor or two for more choices of blades.

Lowe's had a nice looking 14 ga. replacement cord so that's what's on it now. The old cord was grounded and flexible with no cracks or nicks but it just looked tired, and it turns out it was 16 ga. so this one is a step up. As I was coiling the old one up to throw away I noticed "CRAFTSMAN" molded into the plug so clearly not original.

While I had it apart on the bench I found the sleeve of 6302 bearings I'd purchased for something else and never used so the motor got new bearings. The old ones weren't stiff but the rear (non-drive) one was a little bit notchy. The machine is quieter now for sure. Don't know yet if the power changed at all but I probably picked up a little.

New blade, definitely!

13 seconds. Probably could have gone faster

Still gonna get a new blade though

Don't forget - with great power comes great responsibility.

My Mark V is a poly V belt, so I am not familiar at all with the Gilmer belt design. I came across this past post (see below) from Bill Mayo regarding this kind of issue (losing power while cutting). What is involved in checking the Gilmer clutch and should the OP be taking a look there since he has a Gilmer belt design?

viewtopic.php?p=38720#p38720

billmayo wrote: Sat May 16, 2009 10:22 am If you have a Poly-V drive, I find that hard use can cause the Poly-V belt to get hot and slip. I would slide the belt housing back and check tension (1/8"-1/4" deflection). If you have a Gilmer drive, I find the Gilmer clutch can slip under heavy load.

I normally place the 12" sanding disk on the quill and holding the motor sheaves to prevent turning, I try to turn the sanding disk. In normally situations, you should not be able to turn the sanding disk. If you can turn the sanding disk, you should be able to see where the slipage is occuring and be able to correct the problem.

I believe that periodic application of belt dressing on both belts helps prevent noise, cracking and slipage of the belts.

edma194 wrote: Wed Nov 03, 2021 5:36 pm Don't forget - with great power comes great responsibility.

I'm probably pretty safe. I wouldn't call this great power. Kind of middle-management-grade power

RFGuy wrote: Wed Nov 03, 2021 5:45 pm My Mark V is a poly V belt, so I am not familiar at all with the Gilmer belt design. I came across this past post (see below) from Bill Mayo regarding this kind of issue (losing power while cutting). What is involved in checking the Gilmer clutch and should the OP be taking a look there?

viewtopic.php?p=38720#p38720

Thanks! I'll definitely try that test but this is really more stalling than slipping. Certainly worth checking every angle. But right now I'm putting it down to a combo of suboptimal blade and undersized power cord

HopefulSSer wrote: Wed Nov 03, 2021 5:51 pm this is really more stalling than slipping.

Not to nitpick, but what is the difference? How do you know it is one and not the other? What symptoms exactly are you observing? Does the blade ever come to a complete stop? Or does it just slow down? It seems to me that all you can really observe when making this cut is that it is slow, i.e. a loss of power. Beyond that I don't know how any of us can determine anything different while we are making a cut like that...not unless you have the headstock open and look to see if the motor shaft stalls versus a belt is slipping while making the cut. Bottomline is there are a few things that can cause the symptoms you are seeing. Many experts on the forum are trying to help, but it might be a trial and error process until you solve it unfortunately. When you are ready, the sanding disc test that the late, great Bill Mayo suggested might be worthwhile.

Well the power cord made a big improvement -- 7 seconds or more in my 1' rip test. And I base my statement that it's stalling more than slipping on the change in speed in the blade as compared to the change in pitch of the sound of the motor (i.e. surrogate for motor speed). They seem in unison and proportional and directly linked, not like a car with a slipping clutch where there might be some time delay and it's maybe a little erratic. And yes if I feed way too fast I can stop the motor (only did that once though, and not intentionally!)

I appreciate everyone's help here! Please don't think that I don't! I'll do the sanding disk test tomorrow.

Motors stall(100% rotating field slip).

Belts slip.

If stalling, the motor and belts stop.

If slipping, the motor runs and the belt may stop.(depends on what pulley the belt is slipping on.

#16 - OMG low cord power.