Shopsmith Forums

Years ago when I owned a 1954 Mark V and a 1981 Mark V, I upgraded one of these Shopsmiths to the Two Bearing Quill, I sold the 1954 to a friend that still uses it today, and of course I kept the 1981 version, my problem is, which one did I put the new quill in, I still have the old single bearing in the two bearing Quill box, other than taking my head stock apart, is there any way to determine if my 1981 SS has the new Quill?

I've got my money on the quill being in the one you have. I think the older machine has a different spine count so the upgrade will not work...... but I'm no expert on the older machines never have owned one.

It is pretty easy to pull the quill and check anyway.

Ed

The catalog says it fits all Mark V, but not ER, M2, and M7. All units built after 11-1-1984 have the 2 bearing quill.
I was just hoping there was an easy way to tell with out pulling the quill.

I'd pull the quill. Check what setscrew (NOT a cup center) you have and clean up the teeth on the gears, and of course inspect from the rear to see if you have a bearing or that metal plate thing. Given the fact this is so easy to do I find I will remove the quill and readjust the spring tension for different projects and I have even pulled the quill to change the handle locations.....

And it will need nice coat or two of wax anyway.

BTW when you get a powerpro you get a new quill.

I've heard that machines with the gilmer system have a different spline count so I don't think you can change out those quills. Someone here who deals with this older hardware will know for sure.

Ed

reible wrote:I'd pull the quill. Check what setscrew (NOT a cup center) you have and clean up the teeth on the gears, and of course inspect from the rear to see if you have a bearing or that metal plate thing. Given the fact this is so easy to do I find I will remove the quill and readjust the spring tension for different projects and I have even pulled the quill to change the handle locations.....

And it will need nice coat or two of wax anyway.

BTW when you get a powerpro you get a new quill.

I've heard that machines with the gilmer system have a different spline count so I don't think you can change out those quills. Someone here who deals with this older hardware will know for sure.

Ed

All poly-v Mark 5/V have the same quill.

The Mark VII is slightly shorter(spline shaft), but the splines are the same and they use a nylon coupler.

The gilmer drive uses a different spline shaft and drive sleeve.

I believe the model 10 is another version.

Interesting that this came up just now. I have been wondering just this week which one of mine is the one I installed a two bearing quill in during a couple of restores. I'm pretty sure I know from the amount of black finish on them but it doesn't really matter that much. Both are tight. Of course my 510 bought new in 1988 has one. It is actually very low hours. I suspect that some constant users put more run time on an SS in 2 or 3 months than I have put on that 510 since I bought it. I do love it but it is used as a table saw only rarely as I have other table saws. I also have had multiple SS's for some time now and that spreads the hours out a lot. That spreading the hours out was part of my plan. I figure that all of my SS's should long outlast me since even if I get busy I won't get many hours on any one machine. I have had no regrets at all in basing my shop on multiple Shopsmiths and a few stand-alone machines and would go the same route again in a heartbeat.
My only regret is having so little time to get in the shop. I'm supposed to be retired. Today (Saturday) was supposed to be a shop day but turned out to be a horse boarding client day... Maybe tomorrow but then I need to put a new belt tensioner on one of the mini-vans before Monday and the farm/ranch work van has a full set of new tires to be put on and then there are those 3 new horse lanes and... and... I guess I should just be glad I can still do that stuff. We are just waiting on a phone call telling me that I have lost yet again another old friend and classmate from my class of 1960. They just gave him a week 3 days ago. Maybe I don't really have any problems.

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reible wrote:I'd pull the quill. Check what setscrew (NOT a cup center) you have and clean up the teeth on the gears, and of course inspect from the rear to see if you have a bearing or that metal plate thing.
Ed

OK so I pull the quill, what am I looking for, the one that should be 2 bearing has nothing inside almost to the front, the 1 that is supposed to be 1 bearing has a purple thing about 2 inches in like a disc, same as the quill that came with the 57 Mark 5

jjbuzard wrote:

reible wrote:I'd pull the quill. Check what setscrew (NOT a cup center) you have and clean up the teeth on the gears, and of course inspect from the rear to see if you have a bearing or that metal plate thing.
Ed

OK so I pull the quill, what am I looking for, the one that should be 2 bearing has nothing inside almost to the front, the 1 that is supposed to be 1 bearing has a purple thing about 2 inches in like a disc, same as the quill that came with the 57 Mark 5

The one bearing quills need a spacer to help center the rear of the quill shaft prior to insertion into the drive sleeve/coupling. That 'purple???' thing is likely that spacer.

The 'second' bearing is closer to the output end.

With the splined shaft inserted into the coupler, does that second bearing even do anything? You can feel a lot of lateral play at the end of the splined shaft on a single bearing quill vs. a double bearing quill, but that play all but disappears when inserted into the drive sleeve. I seem to recall Nick Engler mentioning that you *potentially* had run-out up to so-many-thousandths of an inch (was it 5?), which is probably not even noticeable even *if* you had that maximum amount of run-out. I digress.

Anyway, you can insert your 5/32nd down in the back end of the quill and you should be able to use it as a rough depth gauge. If you don't bottom out (minus about 3/4" for the single bearing) then you are hitting the second bearing, if you have one. It's still pretty far down the shaft, but noticeably far enough away from the bottom that you should be able to tell it's not the one at the very end.

reubenjames wrote:With the splined shaft inserted into the coupler, does that second bearing even do anything? You can feel a lot of lateral play at the end of the splined shaft on a single bearing quill vs. a double bearing quill, but that play all but disappears when inserted into the drive sleeve. I seem to recall Nick Engler mentioning that you *potentially* had run-out up to so-many-thousandths of an inch (was it 5?), which is probably not even noticeable even *if* you had that maximum amount of run-out. I digress.

Anyway, you can insert your 5/32nd down in the back end of the quill and you should be able to use it as a rough depth gauge. If you don't bottom out (minus about 3/4" for the single bearing) then you are hitting the second bearing, if you have one. It's still pretty far down the shaft, but noticeably far enough away from the bottom that you should be able to tell it's not the one at the very end.

The 'second' bearing relieves the sleeve from minimizing wobble duty. It should be better at it. Now three things must align.(two bearings and the sleeve) A bit of a catch 22 IMHO! With a single bearing, the play in the bearing is 'centered' so to speak by the sleeve. With the second bearing they tend to both be centered by each other. That leaves the sleeve to accommodate any irregularity which is significantly reduced by the bearing 'pair'.