Shopsmith Forums

I'm working on restoring a shopsmith mark 2. I should note that this is my first time working with a motor, so please forgive me if my terminology isn't accurate.The motor had worked ok, but it wasn't consistently turning on (it would hum, but not start turning) and I figured out it needed a new start capacitor. I figured I should also replace the plug-in wiring while I was at it. The guy who owned it before me was an electrical engineer and made some modifications, adding an additional switch (beyond the on/off) to reverse the direction on the turning. I decided I just wanted to go back to having one switch to turn it off/on. I tried to wire everything back the way he had it (minus the directional switch), but I am wondering if he made some changes to the connections that are causing problems. I did use some heat shrink covering on 2 of the wires to try to preserve them. There are 4 wires that come out of the windings- yellow (which now has white heat shrink), blue (covered in black heat shrink), red (no covering), and one more wire that is red at the base but looks like it was colored black (the majority of it is black) by the manufacturer. There is a wiring guide that I will include in the photos. I'm hoping an electrical expert will be able to help me figure out where the issue is. When I plugged it in and flipped the toggle switch on, the motor made no sound at all and the fuse blew.

The blue wire (with black heat shrink) is connected to line 1, which also has the black connecting wire that goes to the switch

The yellow wire (with white heat shrink) is connected to line 4, which also has the white connecting wire that goes to the switch.

The red wire coming from the windings, goes to the capacitor.

There is a small length of red wire that comes from the capacitor, and it is soldered to one of the brass rivets that hold the copper "c" shaped piece onto the electrical board (which is located just above and a bit to the left of the line 1).

The wire coming from the windings, that has the red base but is mostly black, is soldered to the copper post that's in line 4 (where all the white wires meet) and it runs underneath the electrical board.

I'm going to include pictures to try to show what I've described up above. I would greatly appreciate any help in getting this motor up and running. Thank you in advance for taking look and offering assistance!

The first thing needed is the make and model of the motor and hopefully there is information regarding it on line.

I keep trying to get pictures to work and am not having any success. The tag says:

Magna Motor A-C
HP: 1/2
MOD: 5KC37NG159
RPM: 1725
PH: 1
Temp: 70 degrees C
Rating: CONT
V: 115
Code: J
Amp: 9.7
CY: 60
Serial number: NRD

There is a plug on one of the end caps that has a GE logo.
I think I have the wiring guide and will try to describe the picture since I can't seem to get it to post. At the top, it says: "single-voltage connection". It has 2 sides- with thermal protection, and without thermal protection.

On the, "no thermal protection" side:
Blue or (T1) is on nut # 1
Yellow or (T4) is on nut # 4
There is a line with arrows on both ends that is pointing from line 1 to line 4, and it is labeled, "Line"

On the, "thermal protection" side:
Blue or (T1) is on nut # 2
Yellow or (T4) is on nut # 4
There is a line with arrows on both ends that is pointing from nut #1 to nut #4 and is labeled, "Line."

This link will walk you through the process of posting pictures.

https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/comm ... 19246.html

Thanks for the help, Ron! I have previously been lurking on this forum and came across your instructions. I understand the way in which they're supposed to be uploaded, but the difficulty I'm having is that I can't seem to adequately reduce the pixels and mbs, without cutting out important aspects of the photo. It seems like maybe my pictures are too detailed to fit these requirements- which is kind of funny (if it weren't also frustrating), since most of the time it seems I'm trying for the opposite effect- trying to sharpen the pictures I take for greater detail. These pics are taken on a Samsung note 9. Does anyone know of a phone app that would help with this? Thanks so much!

I don't know if this will help but here are pictures I just took of the motor info from my Mark 2. Sorry they are not the best since the motor is still mounted in the headstock.

Not a phone app but a website.

Website http://webresizer.com/resizer/

I wil attempt to decipher all this information with some 'educated' guesses.

I assume thar the reversing switch was switching the blue and yellow wires only, but was also connected to terminals 1 and 4.(four wires connected to the reversing switch)

From your description I deduce(conjecture) the capacitor is connected to terminal 1(red wire) and the other capacitor wire is connected internally to one end of the start winding.

The mostly black wire is internally connected to the other end of the start winding and the start switch(soldered connection near terminal 4). The other side of the start switch is then connected to terminal 4.

Now you inferred you replaced the capacitor?

Additionally the internal thermal switch is connected across terminals 1 and 2.

Your external power connections should be across terminals 1 and 4(that eliminates the internal thermal switch from being relevant).


If you are able to measure very low resistance, we can verify all this.

Russ- thank you for posting those pics, that is the wiring diagram I was trying to explain.

Thunderbirdbat- thank you do much for the website resizer, I think my pics might work this time!

Where is the other end of these 4 wires??? (not the end that is inside the hole where 4 wires exit)