Shopsmith Forums

Fellow ShopSmith Geniuses!
I thought I would toss this down before I tear my arm off. What is the best way to set up an arbor to remove the blade? I am not real strong so I need a solid solution to make this easy. I even had put on my pair of Gauntlet welding gloves. How do I make this easy and fast. I own three arbors and a stack of Systematic blades.
Thank You,
Thom Schuck
Portland, OR

Thomschuck wrote:Fellow ShopSmith Geniuses!
I thought I would toss this down before I tear my arm off. What is the best way to set up an arbor to remove the blade? I am not real strong so I need a solid solution to make this easy. I even had put on my pair of Gauntlet welding gloves. How do I make this easy and fast. I own three arbors and a stack of Systematic blades.
Thank You,
Thom Schuck
Portland, OR

I finally broke down and bought a 2nd arbor wrench from Shopsmith to make it easier. I would recommend either this or getting suitable aftermarket open end wrenches. I guess as an alternative you could make a jig/fixture to hold the blade and arbor to make it easier. I believe some prefer to leave the blade and arbor installed on the headstock spindle to make it easier to wrench on (see link below)...

https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/view ... ch#p260852

I take the blade and arbor off the Shopsmith, and then clamp the arbor flats in my bench vise. Then there’s only one wrench to deal with. The Shopsmith arbor wrench is OK, but a real combination wrench is better. A pretty good individual one can be had for about $10, but they’re cheaper in sets. Like this one from Harbor Freight, which is pretty decent.

Which arbors.

I use a box end wrench on 'nuts'. An exception is the left hand nut which needs an open end wrench to mount/unmount with the arbor/blade mounted to the quill shaft.

I use an open end wrench on 'flats'.

But then I do have wrenches that include the sizes needed.

Hi Thom,

The suggestion from Dennis using a bench vice, if you have one, may be a good one for you. I have done it that way and use either the Shopsmith Wrench or a 12" Crescent Wrench which with it's longer handle gets my hand further away from the blade. You still might want to keep those gloves handy to protect from accidental slips since you could be working at a bit of an odd angle with the vice. If that won't work for you than I would suggest having the arbor and blade on your Shopsmith without the blade guard to hold it while you use two wrenches (1 on the base, 1 on the nut) to loosen or tighten the arbor nut.

I keep four blades mounted on their arbor adapters. To change blades the adapter goes in a metal working vice and, I use a 12" Crescent. I find the bench vice too awkward to use for this. Changing blades while mounted to the spindle, for me , is too cumbersome. YMMV, though.

This is how I always change blades and have from 1976 when I got my first shopsmith.

You need to have the blade uncovered, as in not in the table or with a guard in place.
The blade can be mounted on either side but is best done on the normal location.

You can take a rag and fold it over several times if you think you might come in contact with the teeth. And yes they deserve respect.
Location of the headstock can be over the carriage or not.

Next a scrap of wood either one by or 2 by and a couple of inches wide and say 2 feet long works nicely. You slide in place and then lever up into the blade. The teeth dig in and hold the blade from turning.
Taking the wrench of your choice you just turn the nut to loosen then do the rest with your fingers.
You can gain more advantage by using a longer wrench or at least using the length you have if needed. I have my grip shorten up to get the picture.

When you put the blade back on do not tighten like a gorilla, snug is good enough.

Ed

I've always found it an easy task. I have the arbor mounted on the Shopsmith. Make sure it is unplugged. I have a cheap set of Harbor Freight adjustable wrenches that fit any arbor. Then, I simply hold the arbor with one wrench and loosen or tighten the nut with a second one.
It is about as simple a mechanical step you can do.