Shopsmith Forums

I recently purchased a SS Mark V 510. It is clean and in nice condition except when I turn it on it trips a 20Amp breaker.
I removed the motor and had it inspected and it runs quiet, smooth and the shop tells me that it is in great condition.
The belts turn and the shafts turn by hand without any weird straining and I am starting the motor with the machine set at SLOW. I have rotated the shafts while turning the speed control as I set the machine to SLOW but it still trips the breaker. (Machine Turned Off while adjusting the speed control- hand rotated while adjusting the speed control)
I have tried it on different circuits and it trips them all.
At this point in reading the process for resetting the fast and slow speed setting I get confused at best.
Is there a YouTube video that shows this being done?
I have to think at this point that something is out of adjustment in the Headstock that is making it bind and trip the circuit.
Any comments or suggestions?

Have you tried turning it on without the belts attached? With adding one belt at a time, you can isolate the problem to a specific group of components. If it trips the breaker without the belts attached, I would suspect the wiring or switch to be the problem. Switches fail fairly often and would be one of the first things I would check.

How much other stuff is on the branch circuit the SS is plugged into.

i.e. how much other stuff no longer works when the breaker trips?

You want a very nearly dedicated circuit.

20 Amp breaker tripping on a machine pulling 13.5 Amps is a-typical unless the branch has other things loading it up.

A worn wall receptacle, an extension cord especially if longer and not suitably sized (12 gauge etc.), a power switch with burned contacts, etc. are the first thoughts.

A bad circuit breaker can be present, so I would try in on another circuit that you can power down other items on the circuit.

It can be a number or a combination of things in the machines.

Check the width of the drive belt. Measured across the face, it should be 1/2 wide.

If less than 1/2 the belt will often ride too deep in the sheaves 'V" formed at either end of the speed range.

Check also the Speed Control Setting to insure it is not off the range of operation designed.

That can cause a bind and heavy loading at startup.

Check the tension on the Poly-V to insure there is some give in the tension when you push on it. Perhaps 1/4", but no more.

Belt set can cause some issues, but you indicated you rotated everything by hand.

Bearings you should have been able to feel or hear as you manually rotated the assemblies, and had the motor itself removed and tested.

Those are the most common areas off the top of my head.

More typical are things that cause it to load during use such as being out of alignment, having a dirty or dull blade and trying to cut very hard wood.

Everett

Mine was doing the same thing. I got rid of the extension cord and it stopped.