Shopsmith Forums

Picked up a M5 this weekend after months and months of poking around. Complete machine, even the owners manual. Good score. Serial number says it's a 1981.

Runs just fine, but experiencing what seems to be normal from what I'm reading throughout the forum...binding up when dialing down to slow speeds, along with some chattering.

I'll begin disassembly this evening, and will continue to thoroughly clean. First start up the other night resulted in a large belch of sawdust, so it's obviously needed.

Pried the cover off last night while trying to examine the binding issue. Prior to cleaning over the next few evenings, does this geometry look concerning?

One picture shows not running, the other picture is running with the attempt to dial down the speed.

https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/yWI ... Kh9LDc3TcQ

https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/GSL ... KB1mkfZ8h6

gk1206 wrote:Picked up a M5 this weekend after months and months of poking around. Complete machine, even the owners manual. Good score. Serial number says it's a 1981.

Runs just fine, but experiencing what seems to be normal from what I'm reading throughout the forum...binding up when dialing down to slow speeds, along with some chattering.

I'll begin disassembly this evening, and will continue to thoroughly clean. First start up the other night resulted in a large belch of sawdust, so it's obviously needed.

Pried the cover off last night while trying to examine the binding issue. Prior to cleaning over the next few evenings, does this geometry look concerning?

One picture shows not running, the other picture is running with the attempt to dial down the speed.

Yes, the speed control does get stiffer as you dial down in speed. That is because the belt is forcing the motor sheave open (working against the spring). Going the other direction the spring aids rather than opposing the change as the belt climbs up out of the sheave.

Yes, the geometry shows evidence of an issue but not extreme. I will post a link later that discusses the speed control and the spring loop. But, get those wires out of there. Reroute them so that they are no where near the quadrant.

This thread discusses the second concern with the speed control and a fix.
http://shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewtopic ... ol#p200566

You need to 'pull' the speed control and get it correct.

What you have is very common, the result of either changing the speed too fast towards slow and/or a sluggish floating sheave(lack of lubrication).

Most likely the quadrant gear(porkchop) has slightly mashed teeth(why it gets stiff adjusting towards slow)(the slowly reacting sheave will cause/exacerbate that).

BTW posting pix directly to this forum works better.

Whatever you do, get the power switch wires pulled away from the speed control mechanism ASAP.

The worm gear appears to be grinding away the insulation on the AC wiring.

If your machine is grounded, it will trip the breaker and if it isn't, you could be severely shocked, or killed if you touch the machine and touch a grounded appliance, pipe etc.

Everett

For the benefit of all interested readers, I downloaded, rotated, and resized your pictures for easier viewing. I agree with JPG that posting pictures directly into the forum is preferred not only for ease of viewing, but also for better odds that the pictures will remain viewable in the future, such as in the event that your photo sharing service deletes or otherwise makes photos unavailable. Learning how to post photos here is not that hard if you meet all of the size restrictions: 2050 horizontal (max) x 1180 vertical (max) x 2 MB (max)

Sorry about the pictures....first post, and uploading directly didn't seem to work. Hopefully next time.

First, excellent diagnosis. Quadrant legs were ever so slightly splayed out, and Bill Mayo's workaround should work just fine. Teeth looked pretty good.

Wires...yes. Absolutely. Removing the speed control assembly gave me full view of the backside of the wires and it looked like a rat had been in there. Pretty chewed up.