Shopsmith Forums

First off let me start with a little background. I live in upstate NY with my wife and 1.5 year old son (which means not alot of shop time). I started woodworking about 5 years ago with plans of the perfect shop with the best machines. In a matter of months I had outfitted my shop with no machines, but hand tools. I am now a "hand tool only" only woodworker. Last Monday is where that changed, and where you all come in. I got home from work and my wife tells me she has a surprise for me. She said she was on her Facebook and an old friend had posted something as free and my wife being the lovely lady she is had no idea what it was, but that it was a tool and said MINE! She showed me a picture and I lost it. A shopsmith. She was told that it just needed a new belt to work. So with her birthday being on Wednesday, she told the lady we would be there Wednesday to pick it up. I did my research on how to get it home and found out it was a very early greenie. When we got there, there was the SS with the jig saw and all the normal stuff, table rip fence and all that. There was also a wood cabinet on casters full of stuff. Saw blades with arbors, a LOT of 12" sanding discs, the set of lathe chisels in the box, and alot more. I'll start to wrap it up cause I know I'll be posting alot more. First I'm wondering if someone knows the size of screw that hold the belt housing on. They were taken off and lost and I need to replace them. Also In the metal cigar box that had all the lathe centers and router bit chuck and stuff like that there was a few pieces I could not identify. There was also 2 brackets in the cabinet I'm not sure about. So I'll post pics and hope someone can help. Thanks for reading!

Welcome, lots of knowledge on this Forum.
First pic are hubs for the coupling connector that connects the head stock to accessory power tools.

Ahh that makes sense. The coupler is in the other cigar box. Thanks!

ShopSmith is a unique company. They want you to succeed and want you to appreciate and maximize your experience with these machines.
Start by looking at the "Sawdust sessions" here: http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/Sawdust_Sessions.htm

As you get familier with the SS website, you will find a lot of reference material and learning tools for using the unique Shopsmith woodworking tool.

Enjoy. There are guys here who can answer any and all questions .....

Welcome to the madness!!!

For future reference you have an "A" headstock(there are also "B" and "C" versions.

Also you likely have a "Gilmer" belt drive(cogged belt).

The belt cover screws are IIRC 8-32, but quite likely the threads in the aluminum headstock are stripped.

The two belts( a gilmer and a v-belt(of unusual size(s)) are available pretty much only from the MS(mother ship) aka shopsmith.

Those brackets are of unknown origin(at least by me).

I recommend disassembly sufficient to really get it oiled up. Being an "A" headstock casting, access is nigh impossible without dropping the motor pan and motor(not difficult).

P.S. Installing the Gilmer belt will almost require removal of all the internal parts. Might as well take them all out for inspection, cleanup etc.. If you are somewhat adventurous, there are a couple of 'modifications' to make future maintenance less cumbersome. This beast requires feeding(lubrication) every 10 hours. However they run a long time on empty but then fail prematurely(still fixable).

BTW your wife is a keeper!!!!

Fear not, we can guide thee!

Thanks for the warm welcome! I picked up the SS on Wednesday, then left for Atlantic City the next day. So I did a LOT of research mostly on this forum. While down there my wife got a message from the lady I got it from saying her husband found 2 more boxes of SS stuff. So we stopped and picked it up on our way back yesterday. The 1 box had the cigar boxes, drum sander attachment and belts, and more 12" sandpaper. The other one had alot of paperwork. All the way back to when the SS was first purchased. Along with the manual, book, and all other stuff, the guy had printed out all the PDF's available online. Oh and there was also a brand new gilmer belt and drive belt still in the package! I started disassembling today. Got the headstock and carriage off but got stuck on trying to take off the pivoting end that the way tubes go into. It seems there's a little "something" that goes into the casting and through the bar that the casting pivots on. I couldn't for the life of me get that "something" out. Any ideas would be great. (I know it's probably out there on the net, but I'm at work and am more of an immediate satisfaction guy. AKA I want to know now! Haha)

You may find some help in the revised exploded parts views that are linked at this post https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/view ... 90#p185690

You may also find the Buying a Used Shopsmith Revisited PDF helpful in visualizing what is there, could be, or perhaps should be.

One challenge is often that upgrades made part of newer machines through the years can be upgraded in the earlier machines and knowing what you are seeing can be really foundational in contemplating where to go next when you are working on something.

You may find some of that material helpful.

Everett

After looking at the parts list PDF I have, to be a little more specific, I am trying to remove #28+29 on the bench exploded view. However on the drawing I'm not seeing the little "pin" on it. It goes in at the front left of the casting (facing the headstock) and looks like a small hollow pin that can be spread open or crimped tight. It looks like it goes into part #28+29 so that it won't come out. I didn't have a small enough pair of needle nose pliers and it doesn't look like they make a size small enough to get in there. Any ideas?

Why do you want to get it out? There is really nothing in there that would need attention during a re-build. The item you are looking at is a roll pin that locks the pivot bar in position. Difficult to remove and more difficult to re-install. Unless you are doing a detailed paint job I would leave it alone.
If it were mine I would replace all bearings as well as the two belts with new stock. Bearings last longest when they are stored flat. From the way they fit in the machine yours were not stored flat. In addition, the grease will have dried out by now and the belts will also be dried out from the long term storage. In particular you should check the bearing in the end of the control sheave. Lack of lubrication on that bearing over the years will cause premature failure.
Bill V

Thanks Bill. It was mostly just me wanting to completely disable and clean but since it's such a pain I'll leave it. I planned on doing a full cleaning and replacement of essential pieces such as bearings and belts. However am I understanding correctly that you said the new belts I have in the plastic are no longer good? It had the order sheet in the box as well and I'm pretty sure it said they were ordered in 2000.