Shopsmith Forums

Hello everyone. I am a new Shopsmith owner and brand new to this forum. Hopefully someone can provide insight as to why my Shopsmith has no torque.

I bought a Mark 5 (gray, from the 70s or 80s, I think) on Craigslist recently. It appeared to be in really good shape and well maintained. However the motor seems to have very little torque. I first noticed this when trying to use the drill press to bore through a piece of wood with a 1 1/4" spade bit. It generally worked fine but got bogged down a few times. More recently I tried to rip a piece of 3/4" oak flooring and it bogged down again, eventually tripping the circuit breaker. The blade seems to be plenty sharp and I can't see that it's catching on anything. Do I need a motor rebuild?

It sounds like the poly V belt may be slipping, but there are several other possibilities too, including dull bits and blades, undersized extension cord, incorrect speed setting, etc.

If you got an Owner's Manual with it, read it. If not, get one and read it. Also explore the top three "sticky" threads in the Maintenance and Repair forum for general overview of all things Shopsmith, especially for a new owner of a used machine. Learn how to lube and align everything.

Shopsmith has several Sawdust Sessions and Video Shop Tips that are also good and worth viewing, under the Woodworking Resources tab.

And search the forum using a few key words like motor bogs down, no torque, etc. and you will find what others have asked and been told before.

And of course, Welcome! There is a lot of info here for the finding.

Try turning the speed down. Slower speed gives more torque, so with the larger bit the speed should be turned down.

And for the ripping, check the alignment, blade to table and blade to fence. Misalignment can will cause binding, especially if the back of the fence is closer to the blade than the front is.

Thanks for the replies. I will check the belt to see if it appears to be slipping, and will check out the videos as well.

For what it's worth: (1) drill bit was brand new, and the saw blade feels sharp to me. I didn't get any scorching of the wood like I've experienced with dull blades in the past. (2) speed with the drill bit was already set to its lowest level. (3) I checked the alignment....might be doing it wrong....but didn't seem like anything was binding or misaligned. (4) it seemed to me like the whole unit had stopped rather than the motor continuing to rotate as would be the case if the belt were slipping. But I could be mistaken.

One last thing, maybe related or maybe not. The quill does not retract fully but extends about 1". I've seen pictures/ videos of how it should look but I can't replicate that.

dawofford wrote:Thanks for the replies. I will check the belt to see if it appears to be slipping, and will check out the videos as well.

For what it's worth: (1) drill bit was brand new, and the saw blade feels sharp to me. I didn't get any scorching of the wood like I've experienced with dull blades in the past. (2) speed with the drill bit was already set to its lowest level. (3) I checked the alignment....might be doing it wrong....but didn't seem like anything was binding or misaligned. (4) it seemed to me like the whole unit had stopped rather than the motor continuing to rotate as would be the case if the belt were slipping. But I could be mistaken.

One last thing, maybe related or maybe not. The quill does not retract fully but extends about 1". I've seen pictures/ videos of how it should look but I can't replicate that.

Could be sawdust packed into the teeth. Or the spring tension isn't adjusted properly.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZF1xvg6-NY[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbHVTwSp9DI[/youtube]

Try increasing the speed just a bit off slow to see if there is more torque. If so, take the motor / belt drive cover off and measure across the wide portion of the V-Drive Belt. If it is less than ½ inch, the belt is worn and slipping down too deep in the sheave and binding there.

A new belt will fix that. If the Drive Belt going up to the Drive Sleeve is a toothed (Gilmer) Belt, which, based on your description it should not be, then someone painted an older headstock gray and the clutch may be slipping that belt. It is designed for safety to slip should you have a bind, otherwise it should drive the quill. That may need attention, or an upgrade to the Poly-V (serpentine type)

If it is a serpentine type already as based on the description it should be, then the eccentric in the accessory end may need more tension to keep it from slipping.

When you take off the belt cover, you should be able to turn the quill assembly by hand using a sanding disk etc. and feel any restrictions in the mechanisms causing loading and lessening the available torque.

Those are things off the top of my head. Search for the free videos on Jacob Anderson's site at https://jacobs-repairshop.com/

He has 31 free videos posted on YouTube that can be of assistance. The Videos Ron posted above are from that series.

Everett