Shopsmith Forums

Hello All!

I picked up a Shop Smith MKV a little while back for an AMAZING deal that's been sitting in my garage waiting for a project to require it. That time has come so I started to look over it only to find that it needs some work. I looked at the serial number and it was made at the tail end of 1956, much older than I thought.

1. The power cord is cracking and in dire need of replacement
2. When you turn it on you hear the motor spin but none of the drive shafts spin
3. When I opened up the casing to identify #2, I found a couple of loose items that concern me (see picture)

I identified the problem with #2 easily: There's no drive belt! I'm planning on ordering the replacement from Shopsmith and hopefully getting this thing up and running.

The loose items look like a pair of ball bearings from somewhere and the other part I have no clue about. I quickly checked the various shafts and didn't detect any play so I'm not sure what's going on with those bearings. Does anyone know what that third item is?


I'm reading up on how to restore and maintain the MKV so bear with me if these are well known parts/issues.

Thanks for any help!

My 'guess' would be that is from the end of the control sheave and is the bearing etc. that a loop attaches to. A pix of the control sheave hub would verify that.

More to come.

The first pix in the thread linked to below shows the control sheave and 'loop' etc.

https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=3769

I think you're right about that. I was just watching one of the Sawdust episodes that i found linked to and had an AHA! moment when he was going over that section. I'll take a look inside the headstock a bit more tomorrow.

Thanks for the quick reply!

Quick responses are the outstanding features of this website. And they are usually accurate!:p
Bill V

wa2crk wrote:Quick responses are the outstanding features of this website. And they are usually accurate!:p
Bill V

I had my own 'aha' moment with this. I have always thought of the button as a part that is added to a 'regular' bearing. Apparently the button was made as part of the inner race 'in the mid 50s'. I doubt I would have had that without the presence of the balls. Sure the race was apparent, but the balls made the connection easier.

Thanks you guys! I assume this means that I need to pick up a new control sheave assembly. Am I correct with that?

ithaca00 wrote:Thanks you guys! I assume this means that I need to pick up a new control sheave assembly. Am I correct with that?

Lacking pix, I think so!;)

[quote="JPG40504"]Lacking pix, I think so!]

I'm going to tear apart the whole headstock tonight so I'll be sure to take more pictures!

ithaca00 wrote:I'm going to tear apart the whole headstock tonight so I'll be sure to take more pictures!

A prudent undertaking for sure!;)