Crafters Station

B-RAD · Post by **B-RAD** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:15 pm

I accquired a crafters station over the weekend. During tests the saw side would start right up and the acc. side occasionally sticks and trips the breaker. Is this something that can be easily fixed or did I buy a bad unit? The orginal owner told me he never used the acc. side and with the bandsaw and jointer were not completly assembled so I tend to belive him. Could my problem be lack of use or cold tempatures.

Thanks

Brad

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:30 pm

breya wrote:I accquired a crafters station over the weekend. During tests the saw side would start right up and the acc. side occasionally sticks and trips the breaker. Is this something that can be easily fixed or did I buy a bad unit? The orginal owner told me he never used the acc. side and with the bandsaw and jointer were not completly assembled so I tend to belive him. Could my problem be lack of use or cold tempatures.

Thanks

Brad

I think that you might have purchased someone else's problem but I would not call this a bad unit.

I too have a Crafter's Station. When I got mine, it was a bad unit. It needed a lot of work - all electrical.

The only real difference between the two modes is the direction the motor turns. Of course, this reverses the direction of everything that moves, but that is all the result of motor direction.

I would suggest that you open up the transmission and remove the belts from the pulleys. This is not as easy as it sounds and you will cuss before you smile but once you have done it successfully you'll say "Hey, that wasn't as hard as I made it seem".

Once the belts are off, attempt to run the motor first in one direction and then in the other - to see if this problem is symptomatic of a motor problem.

Do you have the manual?

As a side bit of information, this is likely to be the same motor as the motor on your Power Station (if you have one). If you don't - you do now.

B-RAD · Post by **B-RAD** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:08 pm

Dusty,

I have the manual ( not much in there for trouble shooting). Could it be starting the unit in high speed instead of low? The only reason I ask is because the speed lever would not go over to (9) (5) is about as far as it would move. Could It be a bad relay? I also own a working powerstation.

Brad

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 2:32 pm

breya wrote:Dusty,

I have the manual ( not much in there for trouble shooting). Could it be starting the unit in high speed instead of low? The only reason I ask is because the speed lever would not go over to (9) (5) is about as far as it would move. Could It be a bad relay? I also own a working powerstation.

Brad

If the speed lever does not traverse full range, I would be suspicious of the belt/motor/tension adjustment.

Remove the cover over the 'transmission' to enable you to observe the action of the speed control lever. If the cause of the limited range is not apparent, take pix of the sheave/pulley at the limits of the speed lever range. Then attach them to another post on this thread.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 2:39 pm

breya wrote:Dusty,

I have the manual ( not much in there for trouble shooting). Could it be starting the unit in high speed instead of low? The only reason I ask is because the speed lever would not go over to (9) (5) is about as far as it would move. Could It be a bad relay? I also own a working powerstation.

Brad

I suppose that it could be but it seems that it would do the same thing in Accessories Mode as it does in Table Saw Mode.

But, start it in Tablesaw and turn the speed all the way down and turn it off. Then turn it on in Accessories and see.

It is good that you have a Power Station as well. This gives you two units to compare. With respect to the speed adjustments, they work exactly alike. I would take the cover off both units, set them both to low speed and compare pulleys and belt positions. You should be able to run speed all the way up.

There is no procedure written for belt tension adjustment. I suspect that the previous owner toyed with this and has the belts tensioned wrong.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 3:50 pm

FWIW The only 'adjustment', is the motor - pulley spacing. The position of the center flange is crucial.

The distance from the sheave pulley shaft and the output shaft is varied to change speed. A equal change(But opposite) is caused between the sheave pulley shaft and the motor pulley.

The speed is varied by moving the sheave pulley shaft up/down. This forces the center flange of the sheave pulley to move in/out on its shaft. This movement of the center flange creates increasing diameter(belt position) on one belt and decreasing diameter on the other belt. This is the same way that the 10e/r speed control works.

Proper motor spacing/tension requires proper positioning of both belts and the center flange.

When correct, the sheave pulley should ALMOST touch the base when set to low speed(the outer flanges also move with varying speed).

A way to do it is:

Raise the motor so as to provide slop in the motor belt.

Place the speed control lever at the lowest speed position. This places the sheave pulley shaft at its lowest position. The belt connecting the sheave pulley to the output shaft should be almost bottoming out in the pulley valley(this should be the outer most end of the sheave pulley). This forces the motor belt to the outside circumference of the inner pulley valley. It in this condition the motor spacing/tension needs to be adjusted(lowering the motor to increase tension).

BTW both belts should be IDENTICAL! They are IIRC the same as the Mark V motor belt(9/16x26.5") which is not generally available except from SS.

Verify belts b4 adjusting. If they are different, put the non-ss belt on the motor(it is adjustable).

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:30 pm

Yes, the two belts in the Crafter's Station (or Power Station) are the same. The part number called for in the parts list is 515633 and is shown as being available from Shopsmith.

The Mark V motor belt may have the same physical dimensions but it has a different part number (521682).

PS Nope they ain't identical. No where near. The Mark V motor belt measures .502" wide while the other belts in the Crafter's Station (Power Station) are .632" wide.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 6:35 pm

Evidence of the questions that I have about belt tension can be seen in the last of the following pictures.

You normally tension a motor belt for a specified amount of deflection and that amount is normally quit small (1/8" - 1/4").

In the last of the following images, you can see that I have a great deal more deflection than that. Now this image does not show the motor belt (it is out of camera view) but it deflects much the same as the one shown.

When running, these belts tend to flutter quit a bit and do make an unusual amount of noise due to that flutter. Tension on the belt shown in these images is not adjustable. It is variable, based on the speed selected, but tension shall be whatever it is as result of pulley ratios.

[ATTACH]7228[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]7229[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]7230[/ATTACH]

B-RAD · Post by **B-RAD** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 8:30 am

Gentleman,

Thank you all for the quick replies. I was able to spend a hour in the garage last night. I heated the garage up a little bit and turned on the crafters station multiple times with no problems on either switch. I also compared the the speed setting of my C.S. and P.S. The crafter station setting is off by quite a bit and also has a lot more resistance when side by side with my P.S.

Brad

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 9:20 am

breya wrote:Gentleman,

Thank you all for the quick replies. I was able to spend a hour in the garage last night. I heated the garage up a little bit and turned on the crafters station multiple times with no problems on either switch. I also compared the the speed setting of my C.S. and P.S. The crafter station setting is off by quite a bit and also has a lot more resistance when side by side with my P.S.

Brad

This is all good news. It seems that all you have to do is play with pulley tension, in conjunction with speed control dial settings, and you'll have the desired setting. The procedure that JPG provided will certainly work.

When you speak of resistance as compared to the Power Station, are you referring to difficulty in changing the speed setting? If so, I would clean all of the pulley faces (to eliminate any crude that might be accumulated there) and then turn the unit on and let it just run for a while to limber the belts. If they have been setting for a long while, they have taken on a bit of a set. Then after running for awhile, check the speed change to see if it has loosened up.

You'll very soon become dependent on having that along with your Mark V. It is much like having a mini in the shop.

Mine serves me mostly as a sanding station and a place to mount the router table.