Shopsmith Forums

Im brand new to the world of the shop smith but bought a used unit that wont get out of slow speed. Ive been reading and watching videos on how to tear the headstock down so im ready to tackle the problem.
Heres what it does turns on and as you turn up the wheel no increase in power and it also wont go all the way down to the slowest setting. After pulling the inspection cover the retaining loop with bearing is just hanging from the quadrant arm. The quadrant arm moves freely when you turn the wheel.

I put the bearing back in the whole but as soon as you turn the machine back on and turn up the speed the arm pulls the bearing right on out. I havent been able to find info if theres a bearing keeper or snap ring missing or if the bearing and shaft are one piece. Any advice would be fantastic or if theres any shopsmith gurus here in phoenix to show me the ropes that would be great. And its an 89 510 model.

sonoran591 wrote:Im brand new to the world of the shop smith but bought a used unit that wont get out of slow speed. Ive been reading and watching videos on how to tear the headstock down so im ready to tackle the problem.
Heres what it does turns on and as you turn up the wheel no increase in power and it also wont go all the way down to the slowest setting. After pulling the inspection cover the retaining loop with bearing is just hanging from the quadrant arm. The quadrant arm moves freely when you turn the wheel.

I put the bearing back in the whole but as soon as you turn the machine back on and turn up the speed the arm pulls the bearing right on out. I havent been able to find info if theres a bearing keeper or snap ring missing or if the bearing and shaft are one piece. Any advice would be fantastic or if theres any shopsmith gurus here in phoenix to show me the ropes that would be great. And its an 89 510 model.

Believe it or not, the problem is at the motor shaft. Your machine suffers from lack of lubrication(an all too common problem that is caused by a total lack of maintenance).

Both the motor pulley and the idler shaft pulley have movable sheaves that are stuck.

If you have not already seen this, check it out! http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/SS_Archives/SS111/SS111_Mark_V_Maintenance.htm

While your problem was most likely the result of "poor maintenace" and lack of lubrication, the fix is not to clean and lubricate.

That button bearing that you can not get to stay in place needs to be there in order for the speed control to work properly. There is nothing missing; that is to say there is no keeper for that button bearing. It is normally retained in the shaft by a detent.

Others have been able to reinstall that bearing and make it remain in place but I have not been successful in doing that. I suspect that you are going to need a replacement control sheave in order to fix your problem.

To help you get to that point, I recommend that you first view this Sawdust Session.

BTW, Welcome to the forum even if you do live in "Sun Devil Country". Yes, there are some members here on the forum that may be close enough to you to be of assistance.

Went through cleaned and oiled everything. The button went back in place and now the control sheave slides freely. The lower floating sheave is still locked in place so as you turn the speed up the band continues to loosen until its too loose and flops around. Any ideas to get the floating sheave to loosen up?
Thanks for the advice so far.

sonoran591 wrote:Went through cleaned and oiled everything. The button went back in place and now the control sheave slides freely. The lower floating sheave is still locked in place so as you turn the speed up the band continues to loosen until its too loose and flops around. Any ideas to get the floating sheave to loosen up?
Thanks for the advice so far.

That shaft too needs to be oiled.

What I suspect has happened is the belt somehow got too far down in the sheaves and is now captured there. You might be able to pull the sheave toward the end of the shaft (against the spring action) and release the pressure on that belt.

When working with this sheave, be careful not to let the sheave (under spring pressure) slam down on the other sheave or your fingers.

When you do get the belt loose, a thorough lub is in order (even though you have just cleaned and oiled).

If penetrating oil will not loosen the motor floating sheave, you will have to remove the motor pan and motor. I use a 1X4 24" to 30" long with a 1 1/2" drilled hole about half way through the board to hold the 1 1/4" motor washer and a 1" hole the rest of the way throught the board so you can get to the snap ring. I use the board to compress the spring and snap ring pliers to remove the snap ring. Be very careful as the spring is removed as there is a lot of tension on it. I have wooden wedges that I use to pry the sheaves apart. Metal screwdrivers and pry bars can damage the sheave vanes when prying. A stiff bottle type brush can be used to clean the inside of the floating sheave sleeve and a stiff brush to clean the motor shaft. You could use a very fine sandpaper for this cleaning if you remove any grit it left by flushing the areas cleaned.

sonoran591 wrote:Went through cleaned and oiled everything. The button went back in place and now the control sheave slides freely. The lower floating sheave is still locked in place so as you turn the speed up the band continues to loosen until its too loose and flops around. Any ideas to get the floating sheave to loosen up?
Thanks for the advice so far.

The button bearing is pushed against the quadrant by the lower belt. If the floating sheave does not 'float' the control sheave will move, but there is nothing pushing the button against the quadrant. That little loop should never have tension on it(unless slowing down too fast). It is there just to prevent the button from rotating.

If you do succeed in getting the floating sheave to 'float' freely, do plan a complete tear down(soon) to adequately clean the crud out of the bushings.

Always reduce speed control towards slow, slowly. That allows the floating sheave time to move and maintain contact of the button to the quadrant. That also places less stress on the gear teeth of the quadrant.

Got the motor pulled and taken apart the shaft needed some serious cleaning and polishing pit back together and works like a charm thanks for everyones help