Shopsmith Forums

Well, I have a MkV that I picked up for $150... By the literature that came from it, it's late 70s vintage....

The problem?

Flipping the switch causes the lights to dim, the motor to *try* to run, and then it pops a breaker...

I opened it up and discovered that the motor runs just fine WITHOUT the belt connected...

Put the belt on... And you're back to the above...

The drill chuck turns by hand, but when trying to start the machine, the motor 'tugs' on the belt & gets stuck trying to get the rest of the machine turning... There's a good bit of surface rust on the jointer & the drill chuck, but the bearings *look* ok from the outside...

So, what am I looking at? A dying motor, or should I be thinking about pulling spindles & cleaning/greasing bearings...

Hi Dave! Welcome to the Shopsmith Forum. I don't think it's your motor that's the problem, but could be wrong, as I'm not familiar with the 70s models. Since you can get the quill to turn easily, by hand, but the motor won't turn it. Sounds to me that you are ready to do a clean up and lube job at the very least. At the low price you paid for the machine, a few replacement parts may not be unreasonable.

Go to the sawdust sessions and scroll down to watch the parts of sessions #11 and #4 that deal with lubrication and belt changes. Here's a link to Sawdust Sessions. http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/Sawdust_Sessions.htm There's another maintenance session coming up this Saturday the 12th. If you don't live on the West coast it may be easy for you to sign up and view this session live.

I'm pretty sure other folks will chime in with better suggestions for you.

Good buy. I have had this problem with worn motor belts. As the belt becomes narrower, it will fit deeper into the sheaves, until it get stuck inside the sheave tips. Using non-shopsmith motor belts causes this problem to occur more often. I recommend replacing your motor belt with a new Shopsmith motor belt. When putting the belt back on after unsticking it, keep the speed control handle at least 3 letters away from the SLOW and FAST positions until you get a new belt.

Doing a complete alignment, maintenance and sheave oiling on any newly purchased Shopsmith is always a good idea. Just follow the manual's instruction.

Bill Mayo

dave_a wrote:Well, I have a MkV that I picked up for $150... By the literature that came from it, it's late 70s vintage....

The problem?

Flipping the switch causes the lights to dim, the motor to *try* to run, and then it pops a breaker...

I opened it up and discovered that the motor runs just fine WITHOUT the belt connected...

Put the belt on... And you're back to the above...

The drill chuck turns by hand, but when trying to start the machine, the motor 'tugs' on the belt & gets stuck trying to get the rest of the machine turning... There's a good bit of surface rust on the jointer & the drill chuck, but the bearings *look* ok from the outside...

So, what am I looking at? A dying motor, or should I be thinking about pulling spindles & cleaning/greasing bearings...