A Lot of Power Pro Issues?

algale · Post by **algale** » Fri Oct 19, 2018 11:24 am

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Fri Oct 19, 2018 11:53 am

Is it possible that we only hear about the ones that are causing some sort of issue and that the list of "fully functional" units is many many times longer than this. I certainly hope so.

If this list represents the failures that have occurred with 2000 PowerPro in the field - the failure rate would be < 1%. Then, what is production numbers are even higher....like 5000 built to date.

Far too much speculation just because we do not know real numbers. Maybe, just maybe this is why they no longer assign "unique serial numbers" for each machine.

algale · Post by **algale** » Fri Oct 19, 2018 2:21 pm

This list isn't the total number of Power Pro failures; it isn't even the total number of Power Pro failures that have been reported on the Forum. I only went about 3 pages deep on the community and maintenance sub-forums to compile this list. There's quite a few more.

But I readily concede that we don't know how many Power Pros have been sold or how many have failed. And even if we did, I wouldn't know what an acceptable failure rate is from a manufacturing standpoint.

But, boy oh boy, Shopsmith isn't doing itself any favors with its current responsiveness or lack thereof to these reported failures. There are a few happy endings, but over and over again, we read in these complaints about how calls and emails to customer service are being ignored.

Shopsmith may not be able to control which Power Pros fail, but they sure as heck should be able to control how they respond to customers.

If I were a potential Power Pro customer contemplating an investment and checked out the Forum before making my purchases, I would RUN in the other direction.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Fri Oct 19, 2018 5:47 pm

This saddens me... I erased a Power Pro off of my wish list a while back. I just kept reading about problems and decided that I just don't need that kind of problems.
It kind of reminds me of the fairly minor problems with the old Mark VII's. Every thing I have read says that the failure to jump in and get on top of those 2 minor problems (the speed control cam and the nylon rack gear strip) right away was what shut SS down back then. Bad word got out and sales went into the toilet. Customer service is not the place to try to cheap out even if things are tight...

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algale · Post by **algale** » Fri Oct 19, 2018 6:27 pm

robinson46176 wrote:This saddens me... I erased a Power Pro off of my wish list a while back. I just kept reading about problems and decided that I just don't need that kind of problems.
It kind of reminds me of the fairly minor problems with the old Mark VII's. Every thing I have read says that the failure to jump in and get on top of those 2 minor problems (the speed control cam and the nylon rack gear strip) right away was what shut SS down back then. Bad word got out and sales went into the toilet. Customer service is not the place to try to cheap out even if things are tight...

.

Well said.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 4:15 pm

robinson46176 wrote:2 minor problems (the speed control cam and the nylon rack gear strip) right away was what shut SS down back then. Bad word got out and sales went into the toilet. Customer service is not the place to try to cheap out even if things are tight...

.

I thought that it was because of a large law suit?

algale · Post by **algale** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 6:21 pm

beeg wrote:
robinson46176 wrote:2 minor problems (the speed control cam and the nylon rack gear strip) right away was what shut SS down back then. Bad word got out and sales went into the toilet. Customer service is not the place to try to cheap out even if things are tight...

.

I thought that it was because of a large law suit?

Naw, that lawsuit was in the 10ER days.

jsburger · Post by **jsburger** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 7:03 pm

algale wrote:
beeg wrote:
robinson46176 wrote:2 minor problems (the speed control cam and the nylon rack gear strip) right away was what shut SS down back then. Bad word got out and sales went into the toilet. Customer service is not the place to try to cheap out even if things are tight...

.

I thought that it was because of a large law suit?
Naw, that lawsuit was in the 10ER days.

Naw, the law suit was the MK V. That is why Shopsmith Inc. went away and became RFL Brands.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 11:26 pm

jsburger wrote:
algale wrote:
beeg wrote:

I thought that it was because of a large law suit?
Naw, that lawsuit was in the 10ER days.
Naw, the law suit was the MK V. That is why Shopsmith Inc. went away and became RFL Brands.

Really? I thought it was YUBA that got sued.

algale · Post by **algale** » Sun Oct 21, 2018 6:42 am

It was Yuba that was sued, JPG. It was a landmark case (for better or worse) in products liability law (let's not debate that again).

Here is the decision. https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/gre ... -inc-27186

The decision never identified what model Shopsmith was involved. Only that it was purchased at "Christmas in 1955" and that "the necessary attachments to use the Shopsmith as a lathe" were purchased in 1957.

Not being a student of early Shopsmith history, I just assumed a 10ER was involved. But now I see Mark 5s were in production in 1955 and that would seem to strongly suggest a Mark 5 was involved.

A couple of questions to close the case:

1. Did Yuba ever make 10ERs?
2. Were 10ERs still in production in 1955 or, if out of production, still being sold as the remaining 10ER stock was used up?
3. Same question for 10ER lathe parts availability in 1957?

If the answer to any of the those three questions is "no" it would seem to conclusively prove that a Mark 5 and not a 10ER (as I had assumed) was involved.

EDIT: Read footnote 1, which talks about centerless ground ways. Then read Everett's 1955 Mark 5 manual. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... SZLh9CHCsv A very similar quote is in Everett's document at page 5. So I think that's pretty good evidence it was a Mark 5

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