Shopsmith Forums

My Shopsmith Mark VII with a Power Pro head, purchased new as a complete unit in February 2014, worked fine up through last Sunday. That evening, I shut it down and unplugged it as I usually do. Monday morning I plugged it in and flipped the switch and absolutely nothing happened. Nothing on the LCD screen, no start-up sounds, no error messages, nothing at all.

It is plugged into a proven good plug. The breaker is not tripped. Using a non-contact voltage tester, I get a "live"indication from the plug as far as the power head case. I don't get a "live" indication at the power switch.

I've been through the trouble-shooting section of the manual without finding anything for this situation. Maybe I missed it; if so, a pointer to the appropriate page would be much appreciated.

My understanding of the warranty situation on this unit is that the motor itself is still under warranty until Feb 2019, but the rest of the unit is out-of-warranty.

I've had one email exchange with customer service. Their reply to my request for troubleshooting help amounted to "check the manual." I haven't had a reply to my response, which amounted to "I can't find anything in the manual that applies--please help" as mentioned above.

Any suggestions from the assembled minds here would be much appreciated!

Bob

Call Shopsmith and talk to a technician to see if they can help. There isn't a Troubleshooting item for no power in my manual either.

By the way, Mark VII usually refers to the old Mark VII made in the 1960's. The new Mark 7 uses a number not Roman Numerals. It just makes it easier to know which one we are talking about.

Thanks! Yes, this is the new Mark 7, not the old Mark VII.

I would be suspicious of the power switch and the wiring to it and the wiring from the switch to the power supply.

P.S. WHAT is a non-contact voltage tester???

JPG wrote:I would be suspicious of the power switch and the wiring to it and the wiring from the switch to the power supply.

P.S. WHAT is a non-contact voltage tester???

This

I would be interested in learning just how they supposedly work especially when checking neutral wires.

Also what is the purpose of the pointy end if they do not require contact.

JPG wrote:I would be interested in learning just how they supposedly work especially when checking neutral wires.

Also what is the purpose of the pointy end if they do not require contact.

I was also curious. Turns out that they are either capacitive sensors that can detect an AC voltage (with your body closing the current loop), or magnetic-field sensors that detect the field from an electric current (like hooking a scope probe to it’s ground clip to make a crude loop-antenna EMI sensor). I can see where the capacitive type could be useful, as long as you understand its limitations.

http://www.homeinspect2020.com/uploads/ ... gement.pdf

BuckeyeDennis wrote:

JPG wrote:I would be interested in learning just how they supposedly work especially when checking neutral wires.

Also what is the purpose of the pointy end if they do not require contact.

I was also curious. Turns out that they are either capacitive sensors that can detect an AC voltage (with your body closing the current loop), or magnetic-field sensors that detect the field from an electric current (like hooking a scope probe to it’s ground clip to make a crude loop-antenna EMI sensor). I can see where the capacitive type could be useful, as long as you understand its limitations.

http://www.homeinspect2020.com/uploads/ ... gement.pdf

i.e. Likely worthless for this application.

Although I'm sorry that this thread is now about voltage testers rather than the problem I'm trying to solve, it does seem as though some comments would be useful.

I have the impression that the folks who have commented so far haven't used one.

It's really a very handy little device. It will tell you when a wire, a socket, a switch, etc. is hot without you having to open it up and get a contact you can touch as you would need to do with a voltmeter. In response to a previous question about what the pointy end does, well, mostly it makes it clear where you're pointing it. It's just an aid, not a magic wand or an electrician's panacea, as some here seem to expect. You still have to use common sense and allow for the fact that you might be getting a false negative. In my experience, if it tells you something is hot, it is; if it doesn't tell you something is hot, it probably isn't but you still should check further before you go and lick whatever might be hot.

I will now try to pursue my problem with my PowerPro.

Since I've now emailed Shopsmith three times without a response and called them once with the experience of "We'll call you back in ten minutes" now being two days, I think I'm probably on my own. I'll try again on Monday, but in the meantime, I might as well prepare myself for tackling this myself.

As far as I can tell, the next step, as someone has pointed out, is to open up the case and get a look at the electrical connections at the switch and at the power supply.

I have never opened up a PowerPro head and I'm not looking forward to it. I can see that there are several obvious screws holding the sheet metal on, so getting the first two or three pieces of sheet metal off doesn't look too bad.

After that point I will be in "here be dragons" territory as far as my experience and knowledge are concerned. Any tips on how to proceed with the disassembly from those who have traveled these wilds before me would be greatly appreciated!