Shopsmith Forums

Dear forum members,

I am making some repairs on my shopsmith mark 2 GE motor. I will include the information plate from it so the specs available. I am an extreme novice with motors, so I may use incorrect terminology, my apologies.

So once the end plates are put on, there are 4 long bolts and nuts that hold the end plates in place. There is then a small/thin rubber washer that is put on, followed by one of these brown "washers". They feel almost as though they're made of some sort of compressed fiber board, and the surface looks shiny and plastic-like. These brown washers fit into a small metal dish, and then the metal clip is the last piece that clips onto the motor's metal shaft, and up against the metal dish.

I have had wiring issues and have taken this aspect apart, and put it back together to try each "fix" (which hasn't been fixed yet). It has seemed harder, each time, to get the metal clip to clip into place correctly. In fact, I don't think it was properly seated the last time. It felt like there was no longer enough length on the shaft to fit the clip on. I wonder if these brown washers have absorbed some of the 3 in 1 oil I had on the shaft, and that has caused them to swell slightly- making it difficult to get the clip seated in properly at the end.

Either the washers have swollen some, or there is some sort of trick to getting these clips to click into place (I have to admit the first few times I got the clip on, it felt like I didn't exactly know what I did right when it slipped into place)?

Can anyone confirm, or deny my suspicion about the brown washers?

Is there a name for these clips so maybe I can look them up and figure out if there's a trick to getting them seated?

Thank you for reading and offering any insights!

Sorry, I screwed up the pictures and forgot one.

Just for information purposes, I thought I'd share a bit of my experience in case anyone else comes across this.

I believe the brown washers did expand a tiny bit- you can see it in the enlarged pics of the edges of them. I had 2 of these washers in my motor, and it happened to both of them. I think it happened partly as a result of my amateur motor fixing skills. Do your best not to allow these any contact to liquids- including 3-in-1 oil, as that is what caused the swelling, I believe. Because they swelled, I was unable to get the clip on at the end as it didn't have enough clearance to be seated in properly. The only way I got around this was there was a very small rubber washer that was part of the installation, and it was roughly the same width of the swelling I had from the brown washers combined. I realize this obviously isn't ideal- but I took the runner washer out, and was able to get the clip on this time. I plan to bring this small rubber washer to ACE to see if I can find one that is slightly thinner than the one I have so I can put it back together properly. Currently, I think the clip, or the metal case for the brien washer spins a bit when the motor's on, and I know that will cause some wear and tear- so I will try to find a replacement so that won't happen.

Anyway- I hope this might help someone else who is trying to fix their motor.