Shopsmith Forums

I just purchased an old Mark five and the blade arbor is rusted to the shaft. I would like to salvage the shaft but not sure how to get the arbor withour damage to the shaft.

"PB Blaster" works great on freeing up severely rusted parts (dissolves rust). Comes in a spray can and can be found a Tractor Supply Co. or Napa and others. I would use as little as possible as you do not want to get any type of penetrant into that front quill bearing.

Position the arbor screw to the 12 o'clock position. Remove the screw and put 2-3 drops (put spray on a wire or toothpick) into the threaded hole and let it sit overnight. Tap the arbor very lightly with hammer then see if it will then pull off. Good luck.

As a cheap alternative real coke works wonders. Pour it on, if possible leave soaking overnight. It should unscrew with no problems.

If you set up the Shopsmith in drill press mode, you can keep the PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench from getting into the headstock effectively. Some Evaporust in a cup with the arbor submerged in the liquid also might work, but at $20 a gallon I'd try the other stuff first. Regarding the Coke suggested by h-bomb, it's the phosphoric acid in it that dissolves rust, so you can always try that too or some other product around the house that might contain phosphoric acid. Vinegar also might work.

Remove the set screw and fill the flatted area with penetrating oil(K1?). Keep the flat facing up. After considerable soaking time, start trying to rotate the arbor on the shaft before pulling out on it.

Thank you for all the tips. I tried PB blaster which is pretty good. I ended up removing the whole shaft and cutting the saw blade and arbor almost into two peices with a grinder without damaging the shaft and then I was able to get the shaft out of the arbor. Of course the bearing needed to be changed because I felt a hard spot after rotating a few times. I was able to purchace the bearing from a local Motion industries. It's hard for me to believe that someone could neglect a tool that is this usefull. I hope to use it for many years.Thanks again for all of the ideas.

For future reference. I soaked and couldn't get an arbor off of one I bought. I finally used a gear puller and it pulled it right off.