Shopsmith Forums

paulrussell wrote: ↑Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:22 am Dusty
Yes. Without the spring it is tricky. WIth a spring it pops right off -- at least on my machine. It was a really tough design decision as to how snug the couplers should fit, especially since I believe they will loosen up a bit after some use. One of my pet peeves of the later white couplers is that I found them a bit loose compared to the vintage editions.
However, I might need to rethink how snugly these the fit as I get more feedback.

Think long and hard before you make that change. I sorta like them snug (as this one is).

dusty wrote: ↑Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:25 am I sorta like them snug (as this one is).

Me too.

Also, the couplers have a _very_ slight taper (0.5 degrees) to hopefully maintain a snug fit over time.

I suggest increasing the clearance on the larger id areas and leave the smaller id(nubs so to speak)tight. The nubs will wear quickly whereas the larger id areas will wear slowly.

JPG wrote: ↑Sat Jan 16, 2021 1:05 pm I suggest increasing the clearance on the larger id areas and leave the smaller id(nubs so to speak)tight. The nubs will wear quickly whereas the larger id areas will wear slowly.

Great suggestion, thank you.

Received mine today Paul. It will take me a little while to get back on my feet and actually use it. When I do I'll take a spring from another one and just start using this for everything for a while and just find out what happens.

I like the look and feel of it.

One of Paul's couplers has been driving my Shopsmith bandsaw for a while now. There's really nothing to say because it's working just fine, I wouldn't know it wasn't a Shopsmith part.

While digging my down through boxes of parts and tools I ran into some older couplers and figured this is as good a place as any to post a picture of them for comparison.
The one at the top came with my first Shopsmith, a 1954 Greenie I acquired in the early 90s. That may be the original box.

I too have one that is doing its job with absolutely no problems. Mine does not have a spring but I do not see that to be a problem.

Same here, but I bought a spring to use in mine. Spring probably isn't needed though unless the coupler fits super tight on the hub.

All:
Thanks for the feedback I'm really happy to hear that they are meeting expectations.

Ed,

The box in the picture above is the original box the top coupler would have come in minus the insert and 4 hubs. Thought you might like to see the different couplers used over the years.

_ _
Notice that the original coupler (top) attached directly to the shafts without hubs.