Shopsmith Forums

Greetings

My name is Rick McMullen and I am a new 10ER (R64622) owner from Idaho Falls, ID. My grandfather had an early Mark 5/V that I remember fondly from my childhood. Dad has it now as a dedicated bandsaw and sanding station. I saw the ad and thought I would try the older version for myself. I recently picked it up through craigslist (down in Ogden, UT, for the curious) and brought it home. I have the table assembly, miter, jigsaw, large sanding disc, 3" faceplate, several arbors, two chucks, lathe centers (live and dead), and (happily) a fully functioning speed changer (missing only the "knurled nut" to be complete). About two weeks prior to getting it, I missed one that was much closer but generally poorer condition, so I think I ended up with a better deal overall. My primary intention is/was to use it as a sander and lathe for odd little jobs since I already have a floor stand drill press and high quality radial arm saw (yes, I know, but it is still a better saw than the Shopsmith).

Pile of disassembled components:



Box of accessories. Those are Jacobs chucks, a 3326 on the left and a 3B on the right:



Any idea what these are? They are seriously sharp blades:

The DPO or his predecessor had seriously buggered the pulleys. There were multiple fractures (see photos) on both of them and I have no idea how he did it. I put the bearing puller on them and they came right off. I am beginning to suspect that he failed to remove the set screws before he tried. In any event, it was off to the bearing supply store for replacements. The 5/8" was a piece of cake but the 13/16" was of course not. Fortunately, the counter man gave me a tip: Idaho Falls has an old school foundry and machine shop (Filthy black floor, piles of metal shavings, stench of cutting oil: It's perfect!) that would be happy to bore a 3/4" out to 13/16". I took my new pulley over there and $10 and 10 minutes later I had a perfectly machined replacement for the headstock pulley.



One of the things that contributed to the low price was this gem:



I have no idea how or when it got broken, but I am astonished that they tried welding it back together. I can't imagine that the repaired joint has much strength. Since I want to use it as my lathe tailstock, this was pretty disappointing. However, I found a replacement on ebay that will be here Monday if my luck holds out. I think I will move this one to the other end and mount the table extension on it.

The machine was/is in relatively good repair. The motor is clean and smooth running. The wiring has been upgraded to modern high quality conductors. The way tubes have only light surface oxidation (hard to really call it rust) and will only need superficial cleaning. They are, however, disappointingly thin-walled. I have a single thick wall tube that I will store until I can find another or I give in and attempt a shorty.





The paint is generally good, with limited rustiness and general age-appropriate wear. I had no intention of messing with it but once you get the restoration bug, it sort of develops into mission creep. I'll be stripping and prepping for painting this winter.

Since I have taken everything apart for painting, I am of course going to completely tear down and refurbish the innards:
The one-piece wedge locks and their associated handles need polishing/cleaning so they turn more easily.
The table lifter needs some TLC.
The quill is covered with some nasty greasy residue, as is the pinion drive on the quill feed assembly.
The ends of the quill feed shaft (where the handles go) are corroded.

Since I have it apart, I am going to go ahead and replace the quill (sound good) and drive sleeve (rough and crunchy) bearings. I will check with my local supplier but are there any good recommendations for an online vendor? I found a place in Michigan which seems to have good prices ($20/per for the quill and $25/per for the drive) but their shipping is a bit pricey.

I'll be floating around with more questions. Stand by.

The two items with three wings each are shaper cutters.

2 can be obtained for less than $8.
http://www.vxb.com/page/bearings/PROD/Kit487

fixit wrote:Appears we have another spammer.
I've added him to my ignore list.

I agree with your assessment. All five of his posts have the same basic SPAM structure. I used the tattle function ("report post") for one of them but I don't think anything has happened yet. Being relatively new here, I have no idea how active the moderator staff is. Hopefully someone will see the report and clobber his account.