Shopsmith Forums

I have recently purchased model 500 Goldie and took it apart and cleaned And did some maintenance on it. Put it back together started up the motor and having trouble with the pulleys and the speed. I am a total novice here, but as I understand it the top shieve widens and the belt drops down as the speed increases, conversely the motor shieve you should do the opposite. However it stays in the widest open position. Hope I have explained adequately..thanks

It sounds like a little more maintenance is needed. Did you oil the moving sheaves of both pulleys? If the one on the motor is stuck in the widest position it would be extremely difficult to have put oil in the hole through the spring. See the maintenance section from any Mark 5 or Mark V manual for lubricating the pulley sheaves.

Just for your information a "Goldie" Mark 5 predates the designation of the original table system being called the 500.

Also make sure all parts are present. There should be a spring under considerable tension on the motor shaft trying to push that floating sheave back to maintain belt tension as you increase speed. If the spring is there and intact the sheave seems seriously stuck, you might try pushing the sheaves together, helping the spring, but avoid letting them suddenly slam together. I would remove the belt while working on this and tie a rag or something between the sheaves to prevent that slam. Perhaps penetrating oil left overnight would help. As Russ said, you're not going to have much access to the oil port if the spring is that tight. The spring is held on by a large washer and a snap ring, but it would be good to give it some thought before removing it under that much tension.

A picture would be good, especially if you're not sure what this part should look like. See thread on how to post a picture under Community, near the top.

-David

If it is stuck wide open the shaft itself is visible and accessible for oiling.

Apply oil to the shaft generously and raise the hinge end slightly so the oil will try to seep towards the floating sheave.

Rotate the shaft so the key is on top so as to help guide the oil downward.

Some pics. I am pretty sure I did oil the motor shieve. But all advice much appreciated. Thanks.

I think it is time to dig into this more aggressively.

Before doing any of this read two posts down.

Adjust the speed control to fast. If the floating sheave is indeed stuck open the motor need not be running. It also assumes the control sheave is adequately lubricated.

That will greatly slacken the motor belt. Remove it from the motor pulley.

Now again if it is truly stuck open, it will still be so. Now the belt is no longer in the way so access to the shaft is easier.

Now comes the dicey part. Stuff a rag(thick) between the floating sheave and the fan sheave. That is to prevent the floating sheave from slamming into the fan sheave when(hopefully) the floating sheave again floats.

Now starting with gentle taps around* the HUB and increasing the intensity continue until successful. Sometimes this requires considerable persuasion.

Next step if unsuccessful will be removal of the spring retaining cup. A very demanding task since the spring is already at near max tension.

* so as to prevent cocking it on the shaft

Now WTH is the third pix? It ain't the same parts as the first two.


DUH! Of course not. It is of the back side of the control sheave. Looks strange, Is that the belt?

One other question. Do the pulleys rotate with the belt? Is it possible the belt is jammed in the motor pulley.

Note that looking directly into the pulley the high spots on the (usually) floating sheave should align with the low spots in the fan sheave. This is controlled by a key, so probably correct, but the pic makes it look off to me. I'd make sure that it is aligned before tapping it very hard. If it's off it would suggest the floating sheave is somehow off the key, which is hard to imagine. But otherwise consistent with symptoms as I understand them.

With the belt off, it should be easy to determine that.(looking from the bottom of the headstock)