Shopsmith Forums

I finally have my headstock back together. Now I'm cleaning the tables and other stuff to make this a useful tool again. One thing I've noticed is that no matter where I attach the quill feed handle, it always wobbles a little no matter how hard I tighten it. While this won't really affect the operation it just seems that you would expect something that "clamps" in place to be tight. Am I missing something here?

Put some thread tape on the threads and make sure you are in a divot on the shaft when you screw it in.

Hub wobble, or handle wobble or handle shaft wobble or ?

JPG40504 wrote:Hub wobble, or handle wobble or handle shaft wobble or ?

Guess I should have been more specific. The hub fits snug on the shaft and the handle screws tight into the hub. It's just that when I tighten the handle, no matter which indentation I chose, there is play back and forth in the direction of rotation. Of course, this is with the quill locked. I suppose that when you are actually using the handle, you are always pulling in one direction and the spring tension pulls back the opposite way. Probably a non-issue.

Went out and tried both the original 1963 version handle and a newer version(longer plastic knob, but more tapered and smaller the further from the end).

Both tended to wobble in the detent when merely snugged up, but the older one with a 'fatter' handle was easier to tighten sufficiently to remove the play.

The newer handle has always been a disappointment to me as it does not allow me to apply sufficient torque to the handle. It may be the shape, or the plastic is more slippy.

I noticed the newer one had a nub on the end of the handle that I removed with a file. Doing so reduced the tendency to wobble.

Realize we be squeezing a ball shaped rod into a ball shaped cavity. Any looseness will allow the rod to 'roll'.

Using a rubber gripper between my hand and the newer handle allowed more torque and the wobble greatly diminished.

I received a handle with an old Mark V that had a nut added to the threaded area(long gone). I assume that the threaded area had been lengthened a bit to make room for the nut.

So the handle would be screwed into the hub until it bottomed out in the indentation, then the nut snugged down against the hub. It's been a while, so I don't remember how well it worked.

griffmeister wrote:Guess I should have been more specific. The hub fits snug on the shaft and the handle screws tight into the hub. It's just that when I tighten the handle, no matter which indentation I chose, there is play back and forth in the direction of rotation. Of course, this is with the quill locked. I suppose that when you are actually using the handle, you are always pulling in one direction and the spring tension pulls back the opposite way. Probably a non-issue.

I understand the issue because I have the same problem but I have no solution. I constantly fight with the loose handle (on either machine).

I'll have to try the jam nut approach.

Glad to hear you guys are experiencing this, too. Glad, because I though I had two bad tables.
The jam nut sounds like a good idea.

Gene Howe wrote:Glad to hear you guys are experiencing this, too. Glad, because I though I had two bad tables.
The jam nut sounds like a good idea.

tables????????????

JPG40504 wrote:tables????????????

Yeah. One is modified for the Jointech system. The other is not. Sometimes, I gotta switch. I go both ways.