Shopsmith Forums

I was well under way planing some 12 by 1 inch redwood boards down to 1/2 inch to lighten a boat carrying box I had built but found too heavy when all of a sudden it quit cutting. After taking off my ear protection and hitting the start button I heard quite a commotion in the area of the drive belts. I took the cover off and the belt had been thrown off the pulley. I also found the smaller pulley loose on the shaft. I'm at fault since I never inspected this part of the planer after I purchased it last year. I'm sure the set screw came loose and caused the pulley to move on the shaft which resulted in the belt being thrown off. The pulley seems to be damaged beyond repair so I ordered a new one today from SS. I will be sure to go through the entire machine before using it again.

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How is the shaft the pulley was on?

Ed in Tampa wrote:How is the shaft the pulley was on?

Ed, the shaft looks ok. The key is missing but a new one is on the way with the pulley.

Fred

Back in 2012, I used a stand-alone planer I inherited from my father for the first time. He had used it once on planing boards off a large picnic table without checking for any metal in the boards. As a result, the knives were chipped.

I found the planer wasn't working properly. Fortunately, I realized there was a problem and among several problems, I found there was no key like you. But no damaged had occurred and I was able to buy a replacement key.

Moral of the story: Always check out whatever you buy & never a$$ume anything…

Got new pulley installed but not sure if I installed it correctly. The set screw on the pulley tightens thru the keyway on the pulley. There is both a keyway on the cutter shaft as well as a flat side opposite the keyway. There are signs that the previous set screw was seated on the flat part of the shaft and no key in the keyway. On the motor shaft, the larger pulley seems to have the set screw seated on the key in the keyway. So, which is the correct way? Will seating the setscrew on the flat spot on the shaft, which is what I did, be ok?

Also, I was having feeding issues and found that one of the mounting bolts that holds the leading feed roller to the frame had backed all the way out. Now everything is working as it should. Should have checked all bolts and set screws before I ever used the maching the first time after bringing it home.

I find that if you can tighten the set screw againest a key vs a flat spot on the shaft, the set screw should always be tighten on the key. This provides more long term holding power than just tighten on a flat part of the shaft. The motor Fan Sheave is an excellant example of this technique. I find that using blue LocTite on any pulley set screw will help prevent the set screw from becoming loose.

I surmise the flatted/keyed shaft on the cutter was done so that a hub set screw used the flat, and the pulley set screw uses the key.

The set screw is typically over the keyway on pulleys but there may be a second set screw as well on larger pulleys.

JPG40504 wrote:I surmise the flatted/keyed shaft on the cutter was done so that a hub set screw used the flat, and the pulley set screw uses the key.

The set screw is typically over the keyway on pulleys but there may be a second set screw as well on larger pulleys.

Ah, that makes sense. I will reinstall the pulley with the set screw on the key rather than on the flat. I need to clean out the keyway on the shaft, it's been slightly flattened on the edges due to no key being installed before and the new key won't fit.