Shopsmith Forums

I've had my Shopsmith since 1980, and purchased the Do-It-Yourself PowerPro Upgrade Kit for myself as a Christmas gift. Because my Shopsmith is in a poorly heated garage, I chose not to install it in the winter. Then by spring I had several "have to do" and "seriously want to do" projects, so decided to take care of them before putting the Shopsmith out of commission for any period of time. During the past 6 months I've watched the DIY DVD several times as well as having gone through the written directions many times. Now I'm ready time wise, but am getting cold feet. While not "Mr. Engineer," I have disassembled, repaired and reassembled many tools, appliances, and pieces of equipment over the years. Also I tend to read and try to follow directions. Naturally threads here dealing with installation concern problems that have occurred, often sounding fairly scary. I suppose I'm looking for reassurance. What are the chances for an average person with fair/average mechanical skills to do the installation in a relatively brief amount of time and be as successful as if I'd purchased a new power head? Are there any tips I should know about that aren't in the instructions or are there but more or less glossed over? Thanks in advance for any information!

rwyoung wrote:I've had my Shopsmith since 1980, and purchased the Do-It-Yourself PowerPro Upgrade Kit for myself as a Christmas gift. Because my Shopsmith is in a poorly heated garage, I chose not to install it in the winter. Then by spring I had several "have to do" and "seriously want to do" projects, so decided to take care of them before putting the Shopsmith out of commission for any period of time. During the past 6 months I've watched the DIY DVD several times as well as having gone through the written directions many times. Now I'm ready time wise, but am getting cold feet. While not "Mr. Engineer," I have disassembled, repaired and reassembled many tools, appliances, and pieces of equipment over the years. Also I tend to read and try to follow directions. Naturally threads here dealing with installation concern problems that have occurred, often sounding fairly scary. I suppose I'm looking for reassurance. What are the chances for an average person with fair/average mechanical skills to do the installation in a relatively brief amount of time and be as successful as if I'd purchased a new power head? Are there any tips I should know about that aren't in the instructions or are there but more or less glossed over? Thanks in advance for any information!

You are wise to be cautious but do not be fearful. There are many members of the forum who have installed the DIY upgrade. I am sure that a large percentage are no more experienced at this sort of effort than you are.

I do not have the PowerPro and have not installed one but I am sure that before the day is out you will have reassurance from those who have.

Good Luck and Congratulations.

PS You are one really fortunate dude. With Bill Mayo just down the road you have it made. I am envious.

RW young
I bought the factory assembled headstock so I could have the old headstock as a spare "just in case".
The way I look at is that SS has designed the DIY kit so that everything is assembled. That is that all bearings are on the shaft etc. I have repaired/ rebuilt about 30 headstocks so far. Fair mechanical skills are all that should be required. Just go slow and if you don't finish in 4 hours take 8 if necessary.
As Dusty said several folks here have done this so you will have help.
Bill V

Not to worry. I did the DIY powerpro upgrade on my SS (1957 Mark5).
I too had the same apprehension. However, once started it went smoothly. I just followed along step-by-step with the DVD and printed manual.
Six hours latter, up and running. Very happy with the results.

rwyoung wrote:I've had my Shopsmith since 1980, and purchased the Do-It-Yourself PowerPro Upgrade Kit for myself as a Christmas gift. Because my Shopsmith is in a poorly heated garage, I chose not to install it in the winter. Then by spring I had several "have to do" and "seriously want to do" projects, so decided to take care of them before putting the Shopsmith out of commission for any period of time. During the past 6 months I've watched the DIY DVD several times as well as having gone through the written directions many times. Now I'm ready time wise, but am getting cold feet. While not "Mr. Engineer," I have disassembled, repaired and reassembled many tools, appliances, and pieces of equipment over the years. Also I tend to read and try to follow directions. Naturally threads here dealing with installation concern problems that have occurred, often sounding fairly scary. I suppose I'm looking for reassurance. What are the chances for an average person with fair/average mechanical skills to do the installation in a relatively brief amount of time and be as successful as if I'd purchased a new power head? Are there any tips I should know about that aren't in the instructions or are there but more or less glossed over? Thanks in advance for any information!

Please Email me as my shop is just east of Tampa and will be happy to assist you with your Shopsmith equipment and answer your questions. I have many opinions and ideas along with knowledge working with Shopsmiths. Thanks.

billmayo wrote:Please Email me as my shop is just east of Tampa and will be happy to assist you with your Shopsmith equipment and answer your questions. I have many opinions and ideas along with knowledge working with Shopsmiths. Thanks.

That would be an excellent move!

Kudos Bill for offering your assistance!!!!!:)

Hi RW! All you need to do is follow instructions. I got my DIY from the very first offering. At that time there was a minor problem with the ground wire being too short, but a trimming of the rubber shield around the cord fixed that. I even countersunk two of the motor holding holes from the inside of the headstock case. I was lucky that those countersinks were on the spindle side- no pressure from tilting the motor. I did countersink from the outside of the case with no problems concerning hole size.

My biggest problem was in viewing the DVD- had to ask (Shopsmith I think) and they told me to click on the red wording at the beginning.

I Don't see where you could have a problem other than folding the wireing in order to fit it behind the motor. With study and watching the DVD you can solve this issue.

Best Wishes!

RW,

I was concerned as well when I did my own upgrade. Best advise is to read the directions a couple of times, then jump in. As always, SS have put together an excellent package - instructions and equipment.

Steve

So after about 8 hours over two days, meticulous attention to the written instructions and going along step-by-step with the DVD in a portable player right on the shop bench (which by the way, leaves out things discussed in the written instructions as well as does some steps out of order) I achieved success... or so I thought.

I can't begin to describe the feeling that comes over one when after all the time, attention to detail, anxiety over maybe making a mistake or something not fitting correctly, you finally get to the step where you plug in the new headstock for the first time and turn it on... and nothing happens. I mean nothing happened, no musical notes like in the DVD, no hum, no smoke, no smell of burnt electrical wires, no nothing. Then you start thinking if the outlet works... quick, plug something else in... praying that you've lost power to you whole house... nope, the fan works just fine.

Here is about where I normally begin to throw things that are expensive and remember my best Army vocabulary for the whole neighborhood to hear. But somehow I resisted all those very deep seated urges... I started to count up how much money I spent when I bought the PowerPro upgrade along with the Mark 7 upgrade and the 520 Upgrade, I think over $2K in the Fall of 2011. The Mark 7 and 520 upgrades I did pretty quickly but I held off on the Power Pro for just this kind of fear... what if it doesn't end up working right. It's quite an interesting engineering approach, no way to determine if you have an issue until you're completely done and it either works or it doesn't... BTW, there is no mention of any troubleshooting steps in the instructions if it doesn't turn on.

Well here I am... trying to decide if I should tear it all apart and start over (you can imagine how much fun that will be along with no guarantee that I'll have a different outcome) or close it up and send it back to Ohio for the minions at Shopsmith to work some magic or, and this is my leading contender right now, grab my 10 lbs sledgehammer and work it over until I can't lift the hammer up any more and wheel the remains to the curb for the garbage man.

So back around... maybe others have had a positive outcome with their DIYs but I haven't and for the money spent, it hasn't made me a happy, satisfied customer. I'm left with several poor choices and a bad customer experience. Who says woodworking helps relieve stress...

DON'T PANIC!!!
Go back over it very slowly. No start and no lights and no sound probably means no power. Check to make sure that a wire did not come loose when you closed things up. A wire may have pulled off the on off switch or some other silly thing.
Between the people here and the factory it WILL run.
Bill V