Shopsmith Forums

After many years of using my SS as mainly a table saw, I've finally started putting together a new shop and went to use my speed increaser and shaper for the first time in years. I've set it up as usual (also using the shaper fence and dust hood) and for the first few test cuts, it seemed to work just fine. Then I noticed it wasn't cutting evenly and I'd get "gouges" cut into my pieces. The spindle was wobbling, so I made sure it was tight. As I investigated the problem further, I discovered that the increaser was coming loose from the quill when I powered up. I'd re-seat the tool onto the quill and tighten it on, then tighten the support on the tubes, but as the shaper comes to full speed (setting U), the increaser again slides off the quill, despite being tightened on.

Any ideas as to what's wrong and suggestions on how to fix it would be welcomed. Thanks.

Don't know much about the speed increaser, but isn't it supposed to also clamp to the way tubes?

A picture or two might help with diagnosis.

I went ahead and took everything apart, including removing the spindle and put it all back together again. Not sure what made the difference, but it's working fine now. Still puzzled by what would cause it to separate from the quill like that, but I've been using for the last day and getting good results.

After using the shaper for the first part of a project, I'm now into second phase and once again the speed increaser is coming off the quill. I've noticed 2 things. Instead of the even high pitch sound of the shaper head spinning, the system develops a lower grumbling noise which precedes the speed increaser separating from the quill. The second thing is that when I take it off the quill and run my finger inside the speed increaser, there's like a graphite powder that comes off on my finger. Could some bearings or something inside be failing? I've found nothing about lubricating the speed increaser for regular maintenance, but I'm going to see if there's anything about it in the downloaded manuals. I'm going to try to video the problem with my phone and post it. If successful, that will be my next post.

Did you check the tightness of the driving hub on the shopsmith?

The black substance may have been dust from the rubber belts.

Yes, before starting to use my SS, I did all of the suggested maintenance and tightened the belt.

I videoed what's happening with my phone, but I can't find a way to attach it to a post...

Looks like I can't attach a video file (90MB, .mp4), and a still shot doesn't capture what's happening. Hmmm, what to do ...

bdegarmo53 wrote:Looks like I can't attach a video file (90MB, .mp4), and a still shot doesn't capture what's happening. Hmmm, what to do ...

Link to youtube?;)

Don't have a YouTube acct, but Google+ accepted it on my page:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/112078819437167086139/posts

All suggestions/comments welcomed. Thanks.