Shopsmith Forums

Thank you sir! I'll give that a try and keep you posted.

It's amazing how much quieter and smoother she sounds after being all oiled up! I love this tool

Looking forward to hear of your progress with projects.

You’ve found a home here.

Everett

In the last few weeks, I've been tooling around and finally have learned my way around the Mark VII. I got a new blade, which cuts like a hot knife in butter. The speed control issues have gone away except for the higher end - if I want to route at 3500rpm, the dial will run away and jam the belt inside the shieves and I can't dial it back down. I then have to open the back cover, un-jam the belt and hand-wind it back down. I think I'm going to start using some external catch to prevent this from happening. Otherwise - it's everything I'd imagine and more!

Sounds like a narrow belt/high speed stop/idler shaft positioning problem.

Could it be that the belt has worn thin from use? I've checked and made sure all other hardware is as it should be, according to Everettes diagrams.

Ash1562 wrote:Could it be that the belt has worn thin from use? I've checked and made sure all other hardware is as it should be, according to Everettes diagrams.

If an original belt fer sure. Check to see if it is less than 1/2" across the outer/widest edge.

So I finally did this...and yup, it's 1/2" wide all through the circumference of the belt...could it be the two round detente pins that aren't pushing back on the dial?

Ash1562 wrote:So I finally did this...and yup, it's 1/2" wide all through the circumference of the belt...could it be the two round detente pins that aren't pushing back on the dial?

When new the belts were slightly wider than 1/2". Weak detent pin springs, fer sure. Also slop of the knob/dial and the shaft.

Maintenance, speed control, headstock

Bought a used mark v, 1979 was the year or manufacture I believe. I was trying to clean up the inside of the headstock and fix a sticky speed control and took the speed control off...not according to the instructions (this was before I realized the wealth of information out there about the machines). The speed control doesn’t turn easily, I had to really crank on it to turn. It shouldn’t be like that right? Should I replace that part?

Should I go ahead and take apart the whole headstock to clean and lubricate? The machine was kept outside and only turned on three times by the guy I bought it from. It runs, but flipped breakers a couple times. Thanks for the help.