Shopsmith Forums

Hello
I was told that some early double bearing spindle assemblies where made so
they would not come apart to change bearings. Does anyone know if this is true
or if there is a way to get them apart?

Thanks
Jerry

Jerry - It seems there is a way. Some of the spindles (I am guessing older ones) have a pin that holds the halves of the spindle together. But it appears bearings can be changed on all spindles.

Go to the Search button (above on the red line) and type in "spindle".
Then look down the list for the Thread named "spindle assembly question" by mandoboy. There you will find good info and wonderful pictures.

If that doesn't answer your question, fully look through the other threads. There is another Thread that talks about the pinned halves. The pin is talked about at length in the Thread "Quill Play" by jcbrowne. There used to be real good photos by reible that showed the pinned spindle, but I understand they are no longer available because of changes made by Yahoo.
Shucks!
Good Luck!

Chuck
My spindle is not one with a pin. It appears to be one piece. In Jcbrowne's post
you have to replace the sindle, do I have this corret?

"So when your bearings are shot for any reason you have to change the whole quill. (here in Canada the price to change bearings was $33.00, a whole quill is $126.00 , both plus taxes)."

Jerry

jerry,

Don't give up on this yet. I don't have a single bearing quill so I have no experience with one. But, I am sure that I have read posts that deal with bearing replacement on a single bearing quill.

I'll keep searching. In the meantime, hopefully someone knowledgeable on this subject will respond.

PS I just relocated a site that you might want to browse through. I did find an indication that the quill bearing (s) could be replaced. The implication being that single bearing quills can also be rebuilt.

http://www.songofthegreatlakes.com/ssheadstock.htm

jerry wrote:Chuck
My spindle is not one with a pin. It appears to be one piece. In Jcbrowne's post
you have to replace the spindle, do I have this correct?

"So when your bearings are shot for any reason you have to change the whole quill. (here in Canada the price to change bearings was $33.00, a whole quill is $126.00 , both plus taxes)."

Jerry

Going back to the fore-mentioned posts - I think you can replace the bearings, but as explained it is a chore. Other than that I believe you are correct in thinking the easy - but expensive - way is to order up the Quill assembly (518210) from Shopsmith. The updated price is $132.38 rather than $126.

However, as replacement parts are now on sale, the current price is $106.06 U.S. - plus shipping. However if you have a Personalized Shopsmith Home page you could sign up for their E-mail specials. They have free shipping for orders over $100.00 through Sept. 3rd. You can sign up on the net and call Shopsmith on the 3rd (They are all on "Holiday" now) You won't get that particular E-mail, but you can call and beg a little - maybe you can get free shipping!

Don't feel bad about having the one piece spindle. They no longer make the two piece ones. (I think).

Happy Holiday!

Hi,

Got a couple of messages from Dusty about the photos I had on Yahoo. Well they are now on a different service and I think you can get to them. I know I can but if I messed up something in the persmissions then get back to me.

As far as I recall we have talked about 3 different types of shafts. One being a single bearing, and it is a piece of cake to do the bearing change with just normal tools. Give yourself 15 minutes, provided you know how to take the quill out and have the new bearing in hand.

The second type is a split shaft that must have been used early on when they started making two bearing assemblies. It has a pin and this is the one that the orginal JCBrowne was about:
https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=446

The current design (or what we think is the current design) did away with the pin.

There well maybe other "quills/shafts" from older gear but I don't know about them... say stuff made before 1973.

OK now the pictures I have are at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12199425@N02/sets/72157601724517999/

In general the photos are at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12199425@N02

You will also see the newest set from my last pin routing job of model airplane parts if that interests you. Feel free to look around there is a fair amount of shopsmith related posts.

Ed

jerry

If you would browse through the photos that reible has just posted (in this thread above) you will find photos that he has provided of a disassembled single bearing quill.

I believe this confirms that it can be taken apart and reassembled with a new bearing (rebuilt). It becomes a matter of whether or not you want to do that job and still end up with a single bearing quill.

I have no basis for comparison but it does seem as though the trend is to replace the single with a two bearing quill. I guess it is a matter of money.

off subject:
thanks ed, for the very comprehensive set of photos. Though I have seen many of them, I spent nearly an hour last night going through them again.

Did you loss anything, other than organization, when Yahoo did whatever to your photos.

ED - Thank you very much for you efforts to bring back your clear and informative photos. I'm sure everyone, not just me, appreciates your participation and efforts.

DUSTY -- Maybe I missed something, but I can't find anywhere that Jerry mentioned having a single bearing quill. I thought his question was about replacing bearings on a double bearing spindle assembly.

Thanks for the help guys. My spindle is a double, I guess I will buy a new one as
I see no easy way to get it apart.

Jerry

charlese

You are correct. I don't know how I got there - something missing, I guess.

jerry, If you have given up, ship me your quill and I'll get it apart. I think we all know that they come apart somehow. Putting them back together can be a problem.