Shopsmith Forums

Hi,

My name's Rich. This is my first post. I have had my bench for a while but I am just getting to it. Very little sawing only has been done with this bench
It is practically brand new, except that it sat for three years before I used it (two babies kept me from it.) When I was doing my adjustments I noticed a problem.

My Mark7 has a quill that is not moving smoothly. It is difficult to extend for half the travel and then gets a bit smoother. It is substantial enough that it will not catch when the spring is retracting and causes the play to not be smooth. I have seen that others have had similar problems as I looked at old threads and have followed a few recommendations but have not had any luck. Here is what I have done so far...

I tried waxing the quill
I tried loosening the set screw on top of the
I tried removing the quill to see if the lever would move freely without the quill (it did)
I used a fine file to remove birds in the case that the quill slides
I adjusted the quill

Any other ideas? It works but not to my idea of how a drill press should be.

Thank you for your help!

Rqualls wrote: . . . It works but not to my idea of how a drill press should be.

Thank you for your help!

I think we need to know what that is.

Sometimes a small burr along the slot in the quill housing can cause problems. I had my quill move out OK and then bump to a stop when it retracted. Just a very small burr on the edge of the slot was the culprit. Also if you can remove the quill assembly and clean the teeth on the quill feed shaft and on the quill housing can sometimes improve the movement. I found the burr by sliding a micro fiber towel along the slot and inspecting the areas where the towel got caught.
Bill V

Is this machine pretty much new as in did you buy it from shopsmith?

If so and you have not used it much do you understand about the quill lock? It needs to be loose when moving the quill in and out, check to make sure it is really loose.

A cue tip can be used along any mating surfaces to check for small burrs. The cotton will pull out and it shows you right where the problem is.

It is also possible that if new it still hasn't worn in. Extend and bring it back in like 100 times and see if that might get it working easier.

You can also call shopsmith if these things don't work.

Ed

Here are a couple of videos that deal with quill and quill advance problems,

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZF1xvg6-NY[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbHVTwSp9DI[/youtube]

Thanks everyone. Yes, it is a new (well, three years old and moved from CA to TX but hardly used) from Shopsmith. I have extended and retracted many times thinking that it could be worn in.

By what I am used to in a drill press, I meant that it seemed like it should be smooth. Even if it has some resistance, it is not good to have less and more along the stroke. Seems like it would cause a problem with drilling a strait and smooth hole.

I was able to remove the quill and look for burrs. I will try the microfiber cloth and q-tip, though, that might help.

Thank you for the videos. I will take a look at them.

Like I said, it moves but is rough travel. It almost seems like the hole that it is moving through is too tight.

Thanks for your help everyone.

I was going to call Shopsmith but I