Shopsmith Forums

My dad had a Shopsmith in his shop for many years of trouble-free usage, and he gave it to me last weekend (I used it for many years when I was a kid). He packed it in his truck and drove it 8hrs.

Upon setting it up, I was going through the various tools with my kid. The bandsaw and disk sander worked great...not much to see. Then we set up the belt sander and ran it a couple of times, and it seemed fine, so we moved to the drill press. All good.

Then we went back and wanted to use the belt sander, and after about 5 seconds of spinning (we were not sanding anything or putting any load on the sander), the coupler broke (the one my dad had used for years). Upon inspection, when I slide the headstock right up to the belt sander's input shaft, there is about a 1/8-inch offset.

I suspect something was tweaked while it was transported. It was strapped down quite firmly, not sure if anything could have been bent.

Where do I start to correct this?

Depends on age and versions of the equipment, but you most likely have eccentric mounting tubes on your bandsaw and belt sander. The set up is similar, here is a link to a bandsaw manual: https://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/manuals/845539.pdf See pages 8 and 9. The belt sander has longer eccentric tubes and the setscrews are more accessible, otherwise the same principle.

Note - if you do not have eccentric mounting tubes you probably have straight mounting tubes. Completely different, so let un know and we'll try again.

- David

hucker233,

First welcome to the Shopsmith Forum.

Did you check the alignment of the Belt Sander by sliding the Headstock hub next to the Belt Sanders Hub prior to running it the first time? If not, did it look like the Coupler was straight running the Belt Sander prior to going to Drill Press mode? When going to Drill Press mode did the Tie Bar release easily from the Headrest or move out of alignment when raising it? Did the Tie Bar come back down from Drill Press mode directly into the Headrest aligned? I ask these questions in order to try to find out where the alignment problem occurred. If it is raising up and returning down going in and out of Drill Press mode without any problem, it is likely a mis-alignment problem of the Belt Sander. Since the Coupler is the one your dad had used for years, it may have been enough stress on the old coupler to break it. Hard to say.

Have you checked the alignment of the Bandsaw by sliding the Headstock hub next to the Bandsaws Hub?

It may be worthwhile to check the Bench and Way Tubes for any bends. You could use a long straight edge like 4' held several spots around the bench tubes to check that it is straight. A shorter straight edge would be needed for the Way Tubes with the Carriage and Headstock moved to the ends to check part of the tubes at a time. This will not be as accurate as checking nearly the full tube at a time but is any problems show up you can remove the Headstock and Carriage to check further.

Also, is the offset in the vertical or horizontal direction? Perhaps a photo can help us understand

I was not expecting so much response! I'll get more detail when I get home tonight, but I did take a picture this morning.

The offset is in the horizontal direction.

Hucker - just for kicks, can you mount the belt sander on the other end of the SS, rotated 180 degrees and see if the wheel lines up with the quill? This isn't intended for use but just to check alignment.

That said, the coupler does have a rubber end to accommodate just a small offset like this. I say this because sometimes I'm a bit sloppy with the jointer and don't get the height dead on and the coupler compensates for it. I probably shouldn't so that, come to think of it.

I have the belt sander so let me get in my shop and see if i can notice any alignment adjustments

Thank you for all of your help.

I loosened the set screws on the eccentric posts on the belt sander and got it very, very close to aligned. It is ever so slightly out, I'm guessing it is on the order of 0.050in. My new coupler should arrive tomorrow, so I'll test it.

When I spin the sander 180, it looks good too. It also looks good when mounted on the other end. It is slightly different but WAY better than before.

For what it is worth. All of the accessories and the M5 were a set for many years, so "nothing changed" other than the 8hr transport trip.

The band saw was also slightly out, so I aligned it. It needed to go up about 1/8th. I have slight suspicious that the band saw might not be part of the original "set"

The one thing that is left is that it is not as easy to remove the bandsaw/belt sander as it was before. It was pretty effortless before, and now need to jiggle and lift more than I should...which tells me my alignment, while aligned...isn't that well aligned...

hucker233 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 19, 2022 12:53 pm For what it is worth. All of the accessories and the M5 were a set for many years, so "nothing changed" other than the 8hr transport trip.

Did you get a manual for it? If not, hopefully someone can post a link here for it. I wouldn't trust it after transport. There are many alignments that should be done on it and you will need to repeat these from time to time, i.e. things don't stay in alignment forever on a Mark V. All of the alignments are detailed in the manual.

hucker233 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 19, 2022 12:53 pm The one thing that is left is that it is not as easy to remove the bandsaw/belt sander as it was before. It was pretty effortless before, and now need to jiggle and lift more than I should...which tells me my alignment, while aligned...isn't that well aligned...

Is the SPT lock loosened?

hucker233 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 19, 2022 12:53 pm
The one thing that is left is that it is not as easy to remove the bandsaw/belt sander as it was before. It was pretty effortless before, and now need to jiggle and lift more than I should...which tells me my alignment, while aligned...isn't that well aligned...

Did ya wax the posts and hole they insert into?