Shopsmith Forums

This past weekend up through today, I feel more like a machine shop than a wood shop. Did a complete servicing on my Mark V on Friday and that led to finding problems and a couple days fixing/repairing.

I had thought everything was up to snuff until I removed the belt cover and opened up the inspection hole. I started the motor and blew the air compressor - found little sawdust and was happy. At least until I oiled and was in the process of turning the speed dial up and down a few times. The speed control knob was hard to turn sometimes when lowering the speed. After spying between the speed control handle and the dial, it looked like the idler gear was at an angle and could have been jamming.

Sure enough, after removing the speed control handle, I found the idler gear could be wobbled with light finger pressure. The jam nut was not tight, I could wiggle the speed stop screw. Uh Oh! Evidently I had overtightened the jam nut and stripped the threads in the speed control bracket and it waited until this time to give up. Sure enough - the threads came right out in a coil spring configuration still wrapped around the screw.

After a moment of depression, I remembered Mike's use of J-B Weld and wondered if it would work here. If it wouldn't I would just order a new part. Bought some J-B Weld and gave it a try, filling the hole. The stuff didn't get like putty very quickly. I was worried that If I let it set overnight and had to re-drill the hole, - could I get it the hole exactly in the same place it was earlier? Well, after three hours of watching the J-B stuff sag from one side of the hole to the other, the stuff finally puttied up. So took the cleaned up screw and fed it into the soft hole. Low and behold, threads appeared in the hole.

After setting overnight, the threads had changed just a little. (actually the screw had pushed a little J-B out of the hole, forming a doughnut. The doughnut sagged.) I finger fed a 1/4 - 20 tap through the hole and then re-assembled the whole thing. The screw was straight - the idler gear still was positioned correctly and the jam nut could be snugged.

The High speed was set and every thing now works like it should.

P.S. Found a few more upsetting things in my inspection of the machine, but those will have to wait for other posts. Stay tuned! More news on the Gates belt, and casters.

I'm going to "Be Prepared" (an old scout modo). I'm going to buy a tube of TB Weld and play with it, just as a learning process. Surely I'll find something to fix.

JB Weld has a very wide range of uses. My son and I just used it to glue the broken plastic "kick plate" under the door of our upright freezer.

Charlese,
JB Weld is a great repair for metal. I have a 46 Chevy Pickup and the cast iron block had a crack along the water jacket. Typical problem with the 216 engines. I used JB welt to seal up the crack and it is still there after about 10 years since the repair. I have not driven the truck for about6 years though but I bet it is still holding. Thanks for the insight on using it for the SS.

The gas tank on my '65 Ford Fairlane I had back in college started leaking once and I repaired it with some JB Weld. If I recall correctly, I stuck the JB Weld over the hole while the gas was still leaking out and it still worked like a charm.

heathicus wrote:The gas tank on my '65 Ford Fairlane I had back in college started leaking once and I repaired it with some JB Weld. If I recall correctly, I stuck the JB Weld over the hole while the gas was still leaking out and it still worked like a charm.

Yep - been there, done that. Worked great and held for many years

kd6vpe wrote: I have a 46 Chevy Pickup and the cast iron block had a crack along the water jacket. Typical problem with the 216 engines.

I've owned both a '51 Chevy Deluxe Coupe and a '53 5-window Pickup. Both with 235 engines. Both were good runners. I got the '51 in 1969, and it had 30,xxx original miles on it. It was almost like new... Wish I still had that car.

charlese wrote:...............After a moment of depression, I remembered Mike's use of J-B Weld and wondered if it would work here. If it wouldn't I would just order a new part. Bought some J-B Weld and gave it a try, filling the hole. The stuff didn't get like putty very quickly. I was worried that If I let it set overnight and had to re-drill the hole, - could I get it the hole exactly in the same place it was earlier? Well, after three hours of watching the J-B stuff sag from one side of the hole to the other, the stuff finally puttied up. So took the cleaned up screw and fed it into the soft hole. Low and behold, threads appeared in the hole.

After setting overnight, the threads had changed just a little. (actually the screw had pushed a little J-B out of the hole, forming a doughnut. The doughnut sagged.) I finger fed a 1/4 - 20 tap through the hole and then re-assembled the whole thing. The screw was straight - the idler gear still was positioned correctly and the jam nut could be snugged.

The High speed was set and every thing now works like it should.

EXCELLENT success story Charles. Always glad to hear when someone can save themselves some cash and repair it themselves. I can totally relate to the sagging drama that was going on. When I fixed my carriage housing, if you recall, it had the ~3/16" gap ward the top of the broken off piece and after mixing the J-B Weld, I applied it right away. (in my mind it was going to be like auto body filler that sets quickly) After applying it I then had to sit there for 1 hours rotating the carriage housing like a human barbequed chicken rotisserie spinning it around until it set up enough to stop sagging.

dusty wrote:I'm going to "Be Prepared" (an old scout modo). I'm going to buy a tube of TB Weld and play with it, just as a learning process. Surely I'll find something to fix.

TB Weld....will that cure tuberculosis ? Sorry dusty, I couldn't help it. It made me laugh!!