Shopsmith Forums

Hi guys-
First post to the forum. I bought a 70s vintage mark V at an estate sale a few weeks ago. Has the usual stuff + planer, shaper, bandsaw, scroll saw, etc. It has some rust but spins up ok. Was only $300 so I figured that I could not loose.

So here is the problem ... I tried to attach the drill chuck to the output shaft and it wont go on ... so i thought maybe this is the wrong part ... tried a "new" universal arbor ... no luck. Well the output shaft has a little rust so I thought that maybe a little oil and a hammer would get this arbor on. Well long story short it went on. But had to use the hammer to get it off which I am sure is not good for the arbor, shaft, bearings, etc. So the question is ... are these pieces supposed to really have that tight of a tolerance? Do I need to take some emery paper/sand paper/steel wool to the shaft?

gsg5 wrote:Hi guys-
First post to the forum. I bought a 70s vintage mark V at an estate sale a few weeks ago. Has the usual stuff + planer, shaper, bandsaw, scroll saw, etc. It has some rust but spins up ok. Was only $300 so I figured that I could not loose.

So here is the problem ... I tried to attach the drill chuck to the output shaft and it wont go on ... so i thought maybe this is the wrong part ... tried a "new" universal arbor ... no luck. Well the output shaft has a little rust so I thought that maybe a little oil and a hammer would get this arbor on. Well long story short it went on. But had to use the hammer to get it off which I am sure is not good for the arbor, shaft, bearings, etc. So the question is ... are these pieces supposed to really have that tight of a tolerance? Do I need to take some emery paper/sand paper/steel wool to the shaft?

Hi gsg5,
You should never have to force anything on to your SS. I can knot see how using the hammer wood do your machine any good at all. If you are slipping the drill chuck onto the right output shaft, it should slide on easy and then you tighten the set screw. If, on the other hand, you are trying to slip the drill chuck onto the "high speed" auxilliary shaft, it will not fit and should not fit. That shaft is only for certain SPT's. That goes for the saw arbors too; they will knot fit the high speed shaft. If you are truly trying to fit the chuck on to the correct shaft, perhaps the set screw is in too far? Same for the saw arbors?

Hello, gsg5! The chuck should fit onto the spindle with little resistance. Yes it is time to get out some 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper and remove the corrosion/gunk off of the spindle.

I thought the chuck should fit all three shafts on the headstock but as Tim said, It won't fit the lower auxilliary shaft. I have used the top auxiliary shaft (the one opposite the main spindle) several times to mount the drill chuck to hold smaller sanding drums having a 1/4" shaft. Both of these shafts are the same size (5/8"). I think you said you might have a drum sander (the etc). This SPT (Special Purpose Tool) also has a 5/8" shaft running through the tool. You can (should be able to) slide your chuck onto this shaft also.

The drill chuck should easily slide on and off of the two top shafts on the headstock. First you must remove the hub from the shaft on the left side. These two shafts have a main purpose of driving a coupler that attachés to any number of SPTs. You may find that the chuck will slide onto the axillary shafts a lot easier than the main spindle. If so the reason would probably be the hubs have prevented build up of corrosion on these shafts.

It is also a great probability that your chuck and arbor both need some cleaning, but since nothing slid onto the main spindle, my best guess is the 5/8" spindle is the main culprit. Try your arbors to see how they fit onto the auxiliary shafts.

I won't try to recommend any corrosion fighting fluid (lubricant). You may not need anything.

By the way, The main spindle has a tapered flat that helps a saw blade from coming loose. All of the other spindles have flats with no taper. This means to me - Never put a saw blade on one of the other shafts.

How about the hubs from the SPTs? do they slide onto the main spindle? Also will your chuck and arbors fit onto the SPT's shafts?

The set screw is out all the way and I was using the upper right shaft. The arbors don't seem to fit on any shaft but as you can see from the pics below the shafts are a little rusty. I wonder if maybe this unit has an aftermarket shaft or has been modified?

Looks like your problem is contained in both the shafts and the chuck. A very fine grit wet/dry sandpaper or steel wool should help.

I concur with Chuck. Your problem is corrosion. As the iron in the steel becomes ferrous oxide, the new material expands as the iron atoms make room for all their new little oxygen friends. In simple terms, the shaft gets bigger and the shaft hole gets smaller. You need to shut the party down and send the little oxygen guys packing. A good chelator will help -- see http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/SS_Arch ... emoval.htm

With all good wishes,

I am in full agreement with Chuck; clean the shafts free of rust and corrosion, along with the insides of the lathe spur and drill chuck. I wood probably start with a fine steel wool first, and get more drastic if needed.

gsg5 - What do the shafts look like inside the headstock? How wide spread is this corrosion?

I have not taken the head apart to look.

I'm wondering if a product like (non-toxic) ACF-50 might be good if this is an issue in your environment.. It's an aircraft product but I've used it on car batteries that have corrosion and it just disappears (w/o need to clean up the crap left beind) and many other people use it for rust control on various things (its popular with the motorcycle crowd from what I can tell).. The stuff creates a layer that keeps it from coming back for quite some time -- similar to what you can get w/ Penetrol as mentioned elsewhere here I believe. Anyway, just passing this along as a happy user of this product for other purposes.

http://www.corrosion-control.com/acf50.html