Shopsmith Forums

Hello:
I have purchases a Shopsmith 10E, which has brought me to this forum to see if I can sort it out into a working condition.
I want to use it as a Lathe. I am trying to get the headstock to move as my first task. The wedge that clamps the headstock in place is removed but the headstock is very hard to move. I have mixed acetone and oil and injected it on the headstock, and let it sit overnight. I can move the heasdstock with a pipe clamp but it is still quite stuck. So If I manage to move the headstock off of the pipes/rails what would be the best way to clean things up so the headstock will move more freely. Thinking emery paper and oil on the pipes and in the headstock.
I am working on photos, just some forum teething issues.
Cheers Ron.

here is a link megastevo81 a while back
it will help

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/maint ... 15974.html

MungoPark wrote:Hello:
I have purchases a Shopsmith 10E, which has brought me to this forum to see if I can sort it out into a working condition.
I want to use it as a Lathe. I am trying to get the headstock to move as my first task. The wedge that clamps the headstock in place is removed but the headstock is very hard to move. I have mixed acetone and oil and injected it on the headstock, and let it sit overnight. I can move the headstock with a pipe clamp but it is still quite stuck. So If I manage to move the headstock off of the pipes/rails what would be the best way to clean things up so the headstock will move more freely. Thinking emery paper and oil on the pipes and in the headstock.
I am working on photos, just some forum teething issues.
Cheers Ron.

Welcome aboard.

Emery paper and oil should work well, clean the exposed part of the way tubes, then move the head stock onto the clean part and then clean the rest. Once the tubes are clean it is best to use paste wax (Johnson's original paste wax, TreeWax, MinWax, etc) to lubricate the way tubes and inhibit rust), wipe on and buff off.

It may be excessive old wax that has mixed with sawdust and hardened in the bore that is making it hard to move, try some solvent to see if that frees it up.

Some useful links.

Everything E / ER - Technical info, documentation, links

Restoration Progress On My 1952 ER10

and there is a link to manuals and documents that have been restored and enhanced by Everett Davis in this thread.

Shopsmith Large Format Drawings, Illustrations and More

Thanks for the help.
I have it off and I might as well clean it up before fitting it back on. It os not real dirty but could use a little care.
Cheers Ron

As Ron said wax the parts to inhibit rust and provide lubrication. The Model 10E and 10ER Manuals recommended "a light coat of oil" but later they changed to paste wax as the recommended method of protecting metal parts. You can add this PDF supplement to your manual.

So as an update. I let the home made penetrating oil sit for 2 days. Then with a dead blow rubber hammer I slowly moved the whole thing off of the tubes. I cleaned all the junk/junk off of the whole body and parts. As cleaned the various pieces came off for further cleaning. I managed to get it cleaned to a workable state.
I sanded the tubes with wet dry 220 sandpaper and the penetrating oil left on the tubes. Some 500 grit on the places that had dents and high spots around the dints, read hammer mark on the tubes. I sanded the inside of the headstock as well. It was looking like it was mostly a matter of removing a lot of gunk probably dried lubricant and sawdust.The moment of truth came and went. The headstock slid on the tubes like a dream. I still have the speed changer to clean.
Thanks to all for their help and moral support, it is looking much better and does not seem like any of the parts are broken, a testament to this behemoth of a beast.
Cheers Ron.

Ron,
Since you have the Speed Changer to do still I would recommend reading through the topic - 10ER speed changer repair by rpd. It may give you some good insight on what to watch for when working on and using the Speed Changer. Lots of good information here and all you need to do is ask.