Shopsmith Forums

Hello Shopsmithers,

To warn you, I am brand new to woodworking, machinery, and the like. I finally fired this thing up for the first time over the winter holidays, and it worked like a dream for about a week and half, save the immense rattling, speed, and some scary mistakes due to my inexperience.

So I am attempting to do some hollowing on some cherry, slowly realizing that this thing is going way too fast, and this thing quits on me. All its doing is making a loud humming noise from the motor. I can turn it with my hand, but that's about it.

From reading some other posts, there's a lot of big words and talk about ripping apart a motor or else replacing it, and stuff with electrical currents. I've got no clue where to start. The most I can tell you about a capacitor is from Marty McFly. And my pocket is getting pretty tired of all the costs that keep piling up with getting into the woodworking hobby world.

If any could give some advice as to where to look or what to do, that would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Ben

First, welcome to the forum!

Since you have a 10ER I assume you know that it was made in the late 40's to the early 50's making it rather old in terms of years. They are however still repairable and quite usable.

At this point don't just keep trying to turn it on. To much of that could take the motor from be repairable to being worthless.

Often there are bearing issues that should be address before getting started. The head stock and quill both have bearings that are pretty easy to replace and might well make a lot of difference for you. On my 10ER I replaced those bearings. If they are old and even not worn that bad they do dry out and might well run better afterwards.

The motor could have several issues. When I got my machine the previous owner mentioned that the motor was weak. It ran but just didn't seem to have much power, I took it anyway. When I looked at the power switch there were only a couple of strands of wire still attached, the rest had broken free so all the current had to run on just those thin wires rather then the thicker cord they should have had. That was a simple fix. I have no idea if that might be part of your issue.

Inspection of the wiring at the plug end might be worth it as often the plug is old and possible could have "wire" issues as well. This is sometimes called "Easter egg hunting" but visual inspection can often locate simple to fix situations. If this doesn't work you then have to start trouble shooting yourself or go to the experts.


Since it sounds like you may not be into trying to repair this yourself.... It is also possible that the motor could use a rebuild or maybe even be replaced. Since those old motors are reasonably simple and just about any repair shop that does motors should be able to test and tell you what it needs or if it is gone, that might be your next step.

Now it sounds like someone gave you some bad advice on woodworking being a inexpensive hobby....... that is simply not the case. If you get in to it the cost of wood alone can break the bank. But if you find you love it, like a lot of us then figure the thin wallet is something you will live with, just save enough money for food and lodging....

Now after you are back up and running come back here for advice on things like hollowing some cherry, we want you to be safe and enjoy woodworking which can be hard when you are not all that sure what you are doing.

Ed

If you are not comfortable taking the motor apart, take it off the machine and and take it to a local electric motor repair shop. It sounds as thought the centrifugal switch inside the motor did not reset. A simple fix for a reputable repair facility and should not be too expensive.
Bill V

In the Maintenance and Repair forum find the Large Format Drawings post and follow the My Google Drive link. You will find a FREE fully restored manual, as well as a 1953 Piwer Tool Woodworking for Everyone Book, written By RJ DeChristoforo using exactly your machine. Well over 300 pages, fully restored with enhanced photos, an active table of contents, and since it is in PDF format, it is word searchable and visually zoom-able.

Many other useful files, restored, original works etc. to help you. Again all FREE. I donated it to the Worldwide Shopsmith Community and no, I don’t even ask for donations. It’s yours to have with my compliments and best wishes for a safe and fulfilling Woodworking experience with the tools you have.

In the forums you will find the Franklin or A.O Smith motor discussions on how to troubleshoot and repair as well as dozens of other things you will find useful.

Kindest Regards, and welcome to the family.

Everett

Thanks for the responses you guys. I think leaving it to the motor shop is likely the quickest solution or else I'll put it away and figure things out when life slows down a bit.

One easy check you can do is the bearings. Remove the belt and check to see if the motor turns freely. If it does not the motor bearings should be replaced. To check the headstock bearings of which there are 4, two in the drive sleeve and 2 in the quill, remove the quill by extending it out with the handle after removing the stop nuts at the end of the rod attached to the quill collar. With the quill free from the headstock the spindle should turn freely. At this time turn the headstock pulley to see if it turns freely. If they do not the bearings should be replaced. Bearings not turning freely put extra strain on the motor. I also recommending replacing any original power cords and switch. being 65 to 71 years old they are generally brittle can cause a loss of power. As an example is the problem Ed described above. A plus from replacing the power cords is adding a ground wire to the machine which is a good safety feature.