Shopsmith Forums

I bought a Mark V in what appears to be pretty good condition. From the serial number, 275542, it appears that this was made in 1954.

It runs, but the person I bought it from indicates that it had not been used in over 20 years so I thought I better at least oil the sheaves per some youtube videos that I have seen.

But my model does not appear to have an access panel as those videos describe. Is there anyway to oil this without taking the headstock off?

This is what it looks like...

Hi Scot! Congrats! I'm totally new to this too, having gotten my greenie only Monday. Mine's only a little newer -- 1960.

Since I'm new to all this, take what I'm about to say with a bit of caution and if a more seasoned member contradicts me, listen to them not me. But if you feel like you're able, I'd advise taking the headstock off and giving it a good clean. If yours is at all like mine, it was totally packed with sawdust inside. The motor was full of it! That had to have been a fire hazard. Also the ground wire on my power cord was not connected. Glad I found that!

Taking the headstock off to work on it on the bench is trivial. Unlatch the ways, lift it partially up, and put a 2x4 under the saw table posts. That will hold the ways up for you. Crank the saw table up or down to adjust. Then take off the way tube tie bracket on the end (two grub screws on the underside) and then the headstock slides right off. Crank the headstock lock lever out enough to wedge the locks so that they don't rotate once up take off the headstock. That will make it easier to reinstall later.

From that point how far you dismantle it is up to you but there are a lot of videos available, and folks here have been very helpful! At minimum I'd say vacuum out what you can, use compressed air to get what you can't vacuum, and clean anything that moves as best you're able.

Don't do what I did and overtighten the tie bar grub screws thus cracking the tie bar!

The early "greenies" did not have either the access hole behind the rear badge nor the holes in the sheave hub to apply oil.

I would recommend
1) raising it to vertical.
2) inserting the table into the carriage backwards(tilted so it creates a horizontal surface to 'place the motor upon').
3) the motor&motor pan are attached by 5 screws.
4) remove those screws and lower the motor/motor pan assembly onto the table.
5) the motor belt may need to be taken off the motor pulley. This is more easily done if the speed is set to fast. Do not adjust the speed control unless the pulleys are rotating(under power or manually turning them)
6) you should now have access to both movable sheaves that require lubrication.

Having the motor belt removed from the motor pulley eliminates the need to rotate the pulleys when adjusting the speed control. It also allows manual moving the floating sheave(motor pulley)(strong spring needs to be overcome).

By being able to manually move the movable sheaves adequate oiling of the shafts is possible.

Since it has been 'idle' for a couple of decades, the previous oil has likely become gummy and will resist sliding on the shafts.

Penetrating oil will HELP alleviate that, but it should be flushed out with new oil.

With no oiling holes, you must force distribution of the new oil by repeatedly oiling and moving the movable sheaves manually.

Special attention needs to be given to the small bearing on the end of the control sheave. It is likely dried out and only by seeping oil past the shields can that be corrected.

You ARE wise to do this at this time.

A bit intimidating perhaps, but it WILL become second nature.

Yes an alternative has been suggested. Also good advice.

That's a neat trick creating a motor cradle.

Thanks! I will give it a try.

BTW... not sure what these are going for but it only cost me $100. I figure I can put some money in on replacement parts and still be way ahead with a nice machine.

Welcome. Just to expand on what HopefulSSer said regarding the ground... Many of the older machines do not have a ground. It is best and safest to add one if yours does not have one. In some cases this has already been done by a previous owner, and it would not hurt to inspect it.

It is also important to consider that many of the earlier Marks were sold without saw guards, and they might have never been added. You should make an informed decision on using the table saw with/without. The guards are there for personal safety, there are other threads here with pros/cons of the various versions that fit the early machines. Shopsmith no longer sells them, but they are available on ebay. The current versions for the 510/520 table systems will not fit yours, but 500 models will.

Your machine looks to be in excellent condition so I'd say $100 is a great price. My Greenie ('57) was rougher than that when I bought it, and it wasn't even 30 years old back then.

- David

Yeah... I was surprised that it is not a grounded plug. So that is original. I will see what I can do when I open it up. Are there instructions on where to attach the ground wire inside the headstock if I go get a cord?

And the previous owner had two different saw guards. One still had the wrapper around the upper blade guard so he never used that. One is an older cast metal version and the other, that I assume goes with the unwrapped upper guard is plastic with the springy bit to the left. But I am not sure if the lower right is missing. There is a piece but I am not sure how it would fit.

Looks like it is one of these...

HopefulSSer wrote: ↑Wed Oct 13, 2021 3:30 pm Hi Scot! Congrats! I'm totally new to this too, having gotten my greenie only Monday. Mine's only a little newer -- 1960.

Since I'm new to all this, take what I'm about to say with a bit of caution and if a more seasoned member contradicts me, listen to them not me. But if you feel like you're able, I'd advise taking the headstock off and giving it a good clean. If yours is at all like mine, it was totally packed with sawdust inside. The motor was full of it! That had to have been a fire hazard. Also the ground wire on my power cord was not connected. Glad I found that!

Taking the headstock off to work on it on the bench is trivial. Unlatch the ways, lift it partially up, and put a 2x4 under the saw table posts. That will hold the ways up for you. Crank the saw table up or down to adjust. Then take off the way tube tie bracket on the end (two grub screws on the underside) and then the headstock slides right off. Crank the headstock lock lever out enough to wedge the locks so that they don't rotate once up take off the headstock. That will make it easier to reinstall later.

From that point how far you dismantle it is up to you but there are a lot of videos available, and folks here have been very helpful! At minimum I'd say vacuum out what you can, use compressed air to get what you can't vacuum, and clean anything that moves as best you're able.

Don't do what I did and overtighten the tie bar grub screws thus cracking the tie bar!

Unless you are 80+ and have knee and/or back problems. In this case, give some consideration to working with it in drtill press mode.

dusty wrote: ↑Wed Oct 13, 2021 4:42 pm

HopefulSSer wrote: ↑Wed Oct 13, 2021 3:30 pm Hi Scot! Congrats! I'm totally new to this too, having gotten my greenie only Monday. Mine's only a little newer -- 1960.

Since I'm new to all this, take what I'm about to say with a bit of caution and if a more seasoned member contradicts me, listen to them not me. But if you feel like you're able, I'd advise taking the headstock off and giving it a good clean. If yours is at all like mine, it was totally packed with sawdust inside. The motor was full of it! That had to have been a fire hazard. Also the ground wire on my power cord was not connected. Glad I found that!

Taking the headstock off to work on it on the bench is trivial.

Unless you are 80+ and have knee and/or back problems. In this case, give some consideration to working with it in drtill press mode.

Well, I did say "If you feel you're able...."