Shopsmith Forums

I have a 1956 shopsmith that was given to me many years ago. I have been using it over the years with very little thought of maintenance, my bad.

I recently started thinking about a little oil as the speed control started to bind up a little. I mostly use the jointer and lathe. I don't think I have ever hooked up the saw blade because I have a table saw.

I went to take the emblem off to oil the belt drive and to my horror found there was no opening as shown in most of the online shopsmith parts diagrams.

Last night I pulled the cover and the motor off to get access to the drive belt pulley. I added a little oil to the pulley and some grease in choice spots where the control arm touches and the gear. All is much better.

I was wondering what advice there is on what else I should look at? I have put at least 100 hours on it from when it was given to me. There seems to be no real problems yet. I was a little surprised to find out how old it really was!

This unit was owned originally by Robert (robin) Moore the writer or his father and then given to my wife's uncle. I don't think my wife's uncle ever used it and then it was given to me in early 90's.

Just want to say thanks to all the posts here as I have found this a great resource and I have only scratched the surface.

Welcome to the funny farm. Before you know it you will have at least 3 SS's and more accessories than you can shake a stick at. Step 2 is adding on to your shop. It may be by building structure, stealing laundry space from your wife or power tools in the living room.


.

welcome ! You will find a wealth of information, help and just good fun here.

Ditto!

BTW did you also add oil to the motor shaft pulley?

A 'few drops' was probably less than needed.

If you have the "A" headstock(no access hole) you probably do not have the oil hole in the control sheave hub either. Makes the job difficult at best, but, the motor off provides better access to the shaft than the 'access hole'.

Grease not best(affinity for saw dust), graphite 'gooder'!

My neighbor just gave me his Mark V Greenie, produced in March 1955.

No openning under the emblem either.

I started the headstock before I found this website. The headstock tripped my 15A breaker. I then decided to open the speed control when I tried to turn the dial without turning the motor on.

Many thing had gone wrong before I found this forum.

cllib wrote:My neighbor just gave me his Mark V Greenie, produced in March 1955.

No openning under the emblem either.

I started the headstock before I found this website. The headstock tripped my 15A breaker. I then decided to open the speed control when I tried to turn the dial without turning the motor on.

Many thing had gone wrong before I found this forum.

For now, lower the speed setting while rotating the shafts by hand(a 12" disc sander helps).

Make sure NOTHING else is being powered by the circuit the SS is plugged into.

Turn it on(briefly[< 5 seconds]) and report back!


Keep the faith!!! We can help!! Just ask!:)

Thanks JPG for your quick response.

When I first tried the Mark V on Sunday, it tripped my 15 A breaker three times.
it took 3 to 4 second to trip.
I then moved to 20A circuit. It did not tripped. The headstock was runing slowly in the beginning then the going to higher speed. I then found the speed dial " stuck", when the motor was not running. :-(.
I decided to open the speed dial to clean and lubricate. The square " ring" was not attach to the end of the control sheave. it came out with the speed quadrant. :-)

After I "lubricate" the worm gear with thick engine oil I bought for my mixer gear box. I put the speed dial back in. The first time the motor totally stuck.
Then I repeated the process, took the dial off and put back in. It seemed
the headstock can run from high to low then low to high speed. I don't know
if it can go to highest at 5200 RPM or lowest at 700.

After watching the Sawdust video I have more confidence to take the headstock appart. But I am thinking of should I take the time to do it or should I buy a " newer" version of headstock which is at 1-1/8 HP and has an opening to lubricate.

I am happy that I can get so much information here. I also am wondering my woodworking enthusiasm become mechanical one. :-)

I'm happy and confident with my 1955, I have no reason to upgrade to a newer headstock or motor.

But this is just me.

tazdevil, cllib Welcome to the forum.

cllib wrote:Thanks JPG for your quick response.

When I first tried the Mark V on Sunday, it tripped my 15 A breaker three times.
it took 3 to 4 second to trip.
I then moved to 20A circuit. It did not tripped. The headstock was runing slowly in the beginning then the going to higher speed. I then found the speed dial " stuck", when the motor was not running. :-(.
I decided to open the speed dial to clean and lubricate. The square " ring" was not attach to the end of the control sheave. it came out with the speed quadrant. :-)

After I "lubricate" the worm gear with thick engine oil I bought for my mixer gear box. I put the speed dial back in. The first time the motor totally stuck.
Then I repeated the process, took the dial off and put back in. It seemed
the headstock can run from high to low then low to high speed. I don't know
if it can go to highest at 5200 RPM or lowest at 700.

After watching the Sawdust video I have more confidence to take the headstock appart. But I am thinking of should I take the time to do it or should I buy a " newer" version of headstock which is at 1-1/8 HP and has an opening to lubricate.

I am happy that I can get so much information here. I also am wondering my woodworking enthusiasm become mechanical one. :-)

"Dry" lubricant, like graphite.

Sheaves = 'thin' machine oil (#10).