Shopsmith Forums

I've had my Shopsmith Mark V 500 for about 8 years. I'm mostly used it for the bandsaw and drill press which have worked excellantly. Soon after getting it, I'd tried using the table saw but it just bogged down in my work. But, as I had use of another table saw, that wasn't a problem.

Now we've moved and I want to use the table saw. I plugged it in and it worked fine. Later, I moved it to another location where I had more room but it tripped a breaker every time I tried using it. When I unplugged it, the cord was hot. This location was plugged into a short extension cord. At first I thought it was the motor. But I took it back to the original location and the saw works fine again (though it starts to bog if I try to feed too fast).

Is this a common issue? Does the Shopsmith require certain guage wire?

BTW, I've used tablesaws for more than 40 years, sometimes professionally. 1 + horsepower doesn't seem much for a table saw. My current usage is just cutting trim pieces for remodelling our house. I may make some cabinets as well.

hnderson wrote:I've had my Shopsmith Mark V 500 for about 8 years. I'm mostly used it for the bandsaw and drill press which have worked excellantly. Soon after getting it, I'd tried using the table saw but it just bogged down in my work. But, as I had use of another table saw, that wasn't a problem.

Now we've moved and I want to use the table saw. I plugged it in and it worked fine. Later, I moved it to another location where I had more room but it tripped a breaker every time I tried using it. When I unplugged it, the cord was hot. This location was plugged into a short extension cord. At first I thought it was the motor. But I took it back to the original location and the saw works fine again (though it starts to bog if I try to feed too fast).

Is this a common issue? Does the Shopsmith require certain guage wire?

BTW, I've used tablesaws for more than 40 years, sometimes professionally. 1 + horsepower doesn't seem much for a table saw. My current usage is just cutting trim pieces for remodelling our house. I may make some cabinets as well.

Your Mark V 500 will work best if plugged directly into a 20amp circuit, with nothing else drawing power from it. You may use an extension cord, but do knot use one with less then 12ga wire, and if it is over 50', use 10ga wire. Welcome to these forums!

You have been given valid advise but I would go one step further.

The plug (AC power source) that you had the Mark V plugged into when the circuit breaker was tripping is, in my opinion, suspect. It is probably a 15 amp circuit (that should be verified) and the Shopsmith should work satisfactorily for the type cutting that you said you were doing (small trim work). The fact that it works one place and not elsewhere is a sign that you should not ignore.

If you can avoid using and extension cord (no matter how heavy), I strongly recommend that you do that. If feel strong about that even to the point that I replaced the cord on my Mark V with one about four feet longer just so that I would not have to use an extension.

Many times, when this subject comes to discussion, the recommendation is to beef up the power service to the shop. Larger circuit breakers, heavier wire (12ga or even 10ga) and closer service panels (shorter home runs) are recommended. While I don't disagree with any of that - I caution that we might be missing something important.

The cord that comes out of the headstock. As designed and manufactured, this is a 14ga cord. Beefing up the wiring elsewhere does not change that fact. That 12' or 14' piece of 14 ga wire is still there and constitutes the weak spot in the power distribution system to your Mark V.

Let me repeat - I believe that if you have an adequate source of power to start with, the Mark V will perform normally on a 15amp circuit. Putting it on a 20 amp circuit simply allows you to load the circuit and and Mark V more heavily without tripping a breaker. It also allows you to place additional loads (like a shop fan, lights and dust collector) on the same circuit without tripping the breaker.

I know these comments will draw a lot of descending opinion but I believe that and have demonstrated it to myself many times. In the past, I have moved my Mark V into areas where 15amp service was all that I had and the Mark V worked fine.

The headstock bogging down might also be indicative of need for lubrication, sharp blades, alignment and correction of belt tension.

Overlooked in the previous two posts(which I DO agree with) is the possibility of a plug on the cord of the shopsmith that is NOT making a GOOD connection with that which it is plugged into. The fact that the cord was 'hot' when you unplugged it(was it perhaps the connector that was 'hot'?) is a clue that this may be the cause.

In any event, the warmth detected IS an indicator of a condition NOT conducive to developing full power of the motor.

What speed are you running when it 'bogs down when feeding too fast'. Is the motor slowing down, OR could a belt be slipping? Setting the speed control at a slower speed WILL increase the available power. Is the blade sharp? Right type of blade?

I agree with Dusty a 20 amp service shouldn't be needed. However I believe the line from the panel to the plug receptacle should be 12 guage. Likewise I believe the cord on the Shopsmith should be upgraded to a 12 guage wire as well. The actual breaker in the panel box I would leave at 15 amps.

The fact that your line cord was hot tells you your losing power as heat. This is caused only by drawing more power which drops the voltage which draws more amperage the line cord gets hot which drops more voltage which draws more amperage and so on.

Again I agree with Dusty this can be due to mechanical problems, alignment problems and TOO FAST A FEED RATE. For some reason many people think they should be able to cram wood into the blade as fast as they can. No so listen to the saw blade. If the pitch changes too much slow down the feed rate.

The first thing I would do is change the line cord on the Shopsmith. I know when I changed mine to a 12 gauge feed, it made a day night difference in it. And my machine cut wood just fine before I made the change. However after the change it cuts wood even better.

Hi hnderson,

Confused yet? Let me reiterate some things here:

First off, plugging your Mark V into a 15 amp circuit IS perfectly acceptable; what I said is

Your Mark V 500 will work best if plugged directly into a 20 amp circuit

I have ran my Mark V on 15 amp circuits with no complications, and 15 amp is the minimum circuit recommended by ShopSmith: On page A-3 of my Mark V owners manual, it says (highlights are mine):

...The wall receptacle and wires in the circuit must be rated for at least 15 amps...

By using a 20 amp circuit, you will have more voltage to start with, so even though you will have "voltage drop" more voltage will reach the Mark V. That can be very helpful, as the factory cord, as others have shared, is 14ga wire. This is a concern especially when using the Mark V in table saw mode.

Next, I wood like to address the topic of extension cords. Unfortunately, many people buy 100' extension cords in the 16ga wire size, and expect them to perform well for any equipment. About the only use those cords have is for lighting. If you are operating any motor powered equipment, ANY length 16ga cord is just too small! Personally, I wood knot use 14ga cords for any distance longer then 10'. When you reach the 12ga wire size extention cord, you are finally using a proper cord for motor driven equipment, but only for up to 50'. For circumstances that require the use of motor driven equipment for distances of up to 100', 10ga wire should be used. A person could go farther then 100', but the size of the wire required continues to to get larger, and it is more practical for the typical person to choose another method, such as a generator, rather then go to the expense of using such large guage wire extension cords. Many construction sites do use large guage wire extension cords. They are available. Now, here is the topper: USING THE PROPER SIZED EXTENSION CORD, IN NO WAY HARMS YOUR EQUIPMENT. In fact, creating a longer 14ga cord on your Mark V could do more harm then good (the 4' that Dusty added will probably knot make a difference, but I wood knot want anyone to get the idea that creating a 50' 14ga power cord for their Mark V, so they could run it out to the driveway maybe, is better then using a 50' 12ga extension cord). Due to voltage drop, using a 12ga extension cord is far better then using a longer (permanent) 14ga power cord (more on that subject to follow).

Another item that I wanted to offer my opinion on, is what Ed In Tampa said:

I agree with Dusty a 20 amp service shouldn't be needed. However I believe the line from the panel to the plug receptacle should be 12 guage. Likewise I believe the cord on the Shopsmith should be upgraded to a 12 guage wire as well. The actual breaker in the panel box I would leave at 15 amps.

Changing wire size could be a difficult thing to do as most wiring is "inside" your wall, but if you can change it, or perhaps just add another circuit, by all means, using 12ga wire will improve the performance of any equipment that you plug into it. Leaving the 15 amp breaker wood be acceptable for code, but I wood change it up to 20 amp too, which is the proper size for 12ga wire. BY ALL MEANS DO KNOT GO THE OTHER WAY: Do knot change a 15 amp breaker out to a 20 amp breaker, unless you have 12ga wire in that circuit. Changing the cord on the Mark V from 14ga to 12ga could be beneficial, but knot necessary. It is likely that by the time the power gets to the Mark V power cord, there has already been enough voltage drop that having the short 14ga power cord is knot harmful at all. IF you wanted to improve the performance to the degree that replacing the 14ga power cord with a 12ga one wood get you, an easier way might be to shorten the 14ga power cord to a length of inches rather then feet. That wood require that you use an extension cord, and if you were to use an extension cord of 12ga or larger, you wood have performance improvement, noticeable or knot.

As others have mentioned, there are other possible answers, but I wood first look at the wire size of your extension cord. I might be wrong, and I did knot actually come out and say this in my first post of this thread, but my guess as to the cause of the problem that you experienced is the possibility that you used an extension cord that was inadequate for the job. Using an extension cord with small guage wire wood explain ALL of your symptoms; the loss of power; the heating-up of the cord; and the tripping of the breaker.

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