Shopsmith Forums

Hello, this is my first post on the forum.

I have just Inherited a Shopsmith Mark 5 500 from my father.
He purchased the system along with the band saw attachment back in '86.
It has not run in at least 15 years, and may have been over 20.
Setting it all up is my first goal after I run power to my shop.

What do I need to check or do before firing it up for the first time?

Thanks for the help!!

First welcome to the Forum.

Here you can find help and a wealth of information an all things Shopsmith. First do you have the owners manuals for the Mark V and Band Saw? If you do not have them the Band Saw manual is available here on the Shopsmith site under Support in Online Manuals. The Mark V manual is available for purchase here on the SS website or you may find a used one somewhere. There is also a summary manual at this link https://www.shopsmith.com/getting_start ... Manual.pdf to help get you started. These are valuable references on using and taking care of your tools.

Since it has not been used in 15 years a little maintenance would be in order. Follow the lubrication instructions in the manual. Since it has been sitting awhile a couple extra drops of oil on the pulley sheaves wouldn't hurt. After maintenance, an alignment should be done. A properly aligned tool will give you woodworking pleasure and not frustration.

One thing you can do to see if things are moving okay in the headstock would be to attach the 12" Sanding Disk to the spindle and turn it by hand to see if everything is moving correctly inside the headstock before plugging it in. Always remember DO NOT TURN the Speed Control knob without the motor running or hand turning the spindle for maintenance. See the maintenance section of the manual for when and how to hand turn the drive system. If you need any help you can always ask questions here.

Thanks to both of you so far!
I have the manual for the Ban saw, but not to the Mark V.
Perhaps my dad has it somewhere I can find before buying it.

Thanks again!

I would plug it in and turn it on first and find out what it needs, if anything. Like any machine, you need to run it to see what condition it is in.
Would you buy a car and overhaul it before even trying to start the engine and drive it? I wouldn't.

Before you do anything, get comfortable with http://shopsmith.com/ss_forum/maintenan ... t7092.html

Do check out the link JPG provided. He is very knowledgeable when it comes to all things Shopsmith. He has decades of experience using and maintaining Shopsmith tools. He has seen the changes through the years first hand as they occurred. As it says at the bottom of his posts he purchased his Mark 5 Goldie new which was in the early 1960's and has had it since.

That's fantastic stuff! Thanks, I'm sure this will be exactly what I need to get started.
I'll post an update when I get power to the shop.

Tomorrow the power will be run to my shop, I am excited! I have a project in mind as my first with the ShopSmith. As soon as I have power down there I will be doing what you guys have suggested to get it ready to go. Still haven't put hands and eyes on the manual, but dad is still looking.

Thanks again!

Well, all was going well. My paste wax arrived before my oil. So I went a little out of order in the cleaning and lubrication. When I went to adjust the speed(with the motor running of course) it was tough to do. I immediately thought it must be dirty. So when the video teacher got to that part, I was excited to see all the dust in there from the past 34 years. I was going to clean it out, and notice another major difference in how it operated. But unlike my now smooth rails, it wasn't that simple.

When I took out the set screw and removed the speed dial, I noticed that the gear on the back of the dial looked a little rough. I put it aside and went ahead with the cleaning. When I went to put it back on, it would not lay flat. I turned it back on and tried repositioning it, but still it was always canted. Realized that the possible damage to the outermost gear could be the issue. So I checked the teeth.

Out of the 15 that it should have, only 4 teeth were undamaged, and only 6 could still advance the others.

From my very limited knowledge, it appears that Granddaddy didn't follow "Rule #1"


I am going to need to buy a replacement. Any advice on that?

Thanks!

Peter