Shopsmith Forums

I'm a new be to this forum from Pennsylvania, but have been engulfed in all the great information obtained here. I recently acquired a "Greenie", serial number 289385, from a friend. It was orginally purchased by his father back in the 50's. All he wanted was for it was to be removed from his garage. It's seems to be in pretty good shape. He fired it up if for me before I decided to take it. It sounded good, actually great, when he put it through the speeds from slow to fast and back again several times. The quill worked smoothly and doesn't seem to have any runout. However, the motor did stop when the speed control was adjusted just beyond the fastest speed. When it was backed off a little, the motor resumed speed where it left off. There were no hesitations, strange noises, motor smell, or signs of any problems that I could see or hear. Any idea as to why the motor shut off at the high speed setting?

The "Greenie" does need a facelift. I'm about to start the disassembly of the entire machine. I'll be taking photos, making sketches, and constantly referring to the tutorials as I proceed. Another friend has offered to bead blast and powder coat any and all parts I would like to have refinished. He works for a company that mainly does powder coating, so it's the read deal, not a home brew. I was actually going to use hammer finish paint, but now this offer of powder coating came along. Has anyone used powder coating on Shopsmith parts before? How does it hold up as compared to paint?

I'm amazed at all the posted information pertaining to renovating Shopsmiths. You guys are really serious!

Thanks so much!

serendipity wrote:I'm a new be to this forum from Pennsylvania, but have been engulfed in all the great information obtained here. I recently acquired a "Greenie", serial number 289385, from a friend. It was orginally purchased by his father back in the 50's. All he wanted was for it was to be removed from his garage. It's seems to be in pretty good shape. He fired it up if for me before I decided to take it. It sounded good, actually great, when he put it through the speeds from slow to fast and back again several times. The quill worked smoothly and doesn't seem to have any runout. However, the motor did stop when the speed control was adjusted just beyond the fastest speed. When it was backed off a little, the motor resumed speed where it left off. There were no hesitations, strange noises, motor smell, or signs of any problems that I could see or hear. Any idea as to why the motor shut off at the high speed setting?

The "Greenie" does need a facelift. I'm about to start the disassembly of the entire machine. I'll be taking photos, making sketches, and constantly referring to the tutorials as I proceed. Another friend has offered to bead blast and powder coat any and all parts I would like to have refinished. He works for a company that mainly does powder coating, so it's the read deal, not a home brew. I was actually going to use hammer finish paint, but now this offer of powder coating came along. Has anyone used powder coating on Shopsmith parts before? How does it hold up as compared to paint?

I'm amazed at all the posted information pertaining to renovating Shopsmiths. You guys are really serious!

Thanks so much!

If you have the access hole on the back of the headstock. open it and observe the speed control at the fast setting. Look for any movement of the switch wiring. That would be the least traumatic reason for stopping and the simplest to fix

Re powder coating, there are places where too much paint can create fit problems, but they are not exposed so removing excess thickness is possible without making it ugly.

Do prime the inside of the headstock(it looks sooo much better).

Thanks JPG for your input. If I have any future questions or problems, I'll be sure to ask. I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Look for threads with "upgrades". I posted a random stream on my greenie some time back.

We're always glad to have a "newbie" and especially one that is tackling a rebuild of an old machine.
Many of us have posted threads on our rehabs, including me:
https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=5449
and we love to share in the adventure, so post pics and keep us updated, and ask every question you can possibly think of. There are guys here who have forgotten more about these machines than I will ever know!

Thanks to all of you who "have been there and done that"! I really appreciate this forum and all the posts. It's an amazing wealth of information.

1. I'm still pondering the idea of powder coating the parts that would be conducive to this process. I understand the thickness of the coating might be an issue, but I plan on being selective of which parts would be powder coated. I'm still contemplating using the hammered spray. Just haven't decided yet.

2. My Greenie does not have the access hole on the back of the headstock casing. I've thought about it and decided to carefully cut the hole. Looks like maintenance would be a bit easier with this access hole. Should the motor be removed prior to drilling and cutting this hole so metal cuttings and shavings don't drop into the motor?

serendipity wrote:Thanks to all of you who "have been there and done that"! I really appreciate this forum and all the posts. It's an amazing wealth of information.

1. I'm still pondering the idea of powder coating the parts that would be conducive to this process. I understand the thickness of the coating might be an issue, but I plan on being selective of which parts would be powder coated. I'm still contemplating using the hammered spray. Just haven't decided yet.

2. My Greenie does not have the access hole on the back of the headstock casing. I've thought about it and decided to carefully cut the hole. Looks like maintenance would be a bit easier with this access hole. Should the motor be removed prior to drilling and cutting this hole so metal cuttings and shavings don't drop into the motor?

I have contemplated re-stripping one of my machines and putting a powder coat on it. I repainted with with a hammered coat about a year ago but did not do a good job.

The current production Shopsmiths (Mark 7s) are powder coated, so I understand. I saw one at a Lowes demo a couple weeks ago. The powder coat is great but I don't care for the new dark gray color.

Powder coated headstocks really look good and hole up excellant to chipping and wear. I got a cheap powder coating system from Harbor Freight. Ordered the powder from http://www.eastwood.com/hotcoat-powder- ... 7AodgUFg8g. I took a standalone stove, removed the cooktop and used it at 400 degrees to bake the coating. You do not want to use any oven that will be used later for food. You can get silcon plugs for the holes in the headstock to prevent the powder coating from entering. I taped the holes and very very carefully remove the tape and power from each hole before baking. It took several tries before I was to bake the headstock.

I normally use the Rusteoleum Hammered paint as it is much quicker and cheaper. I bake this paint at 200 degrees in my modified oven for several hours to harden it. I recommend a test piece before trying this method. Other brands of paint would burn when doing this.

I made some progress with my 1954 Greenie today. Disassembly is going well. Once I did get into the Headstock, I found a couple of issues, but rather small ones.

1. It doesn't look like there's a hole in the shaft to oil the upper sheave. I believe I did read a post about drilling a hole for this purpose. I'll add that to my list. May as well do it now rather than later.

2. I didn't find a hole for lubricating the lower sheave. I did oil the shaft directly for this sheave. If indeed there is not a hole, can one be drilled here or shall I just oil the shaft periodically?

3. The quill is in excellent shape. I found that it has 2 bearings. The original owner probably added one or maybe purchased a new quill. Anyway, it's in very good shape.

4. The gilmer belt is in very good shape. It doesn't show any signs of stretching, wear, or dry rotting. However the drive belt shows some sign of wear and will be replaced. Although it's not in that bad of condition.

5. When I removed the speed changer, I found the worm control shaft to be off-center ever so slightly. When rotated, the worm gear turns easily against the quadrant teeth for about 180 degrees, but then some resistance is felt when rotated the remaining 180 degrees. I'll either have to somehow straighten the worm control shaft or possibly purchase another one. It's off by just a hair, but I'd rather deal with it now than later.

6. The teeth on the quadrant assembly are a little worn. It's very usable, but again, I'd rather replace it now than have issues later. I'll just might look into purchasing an entire assembly rather than individual parts.

7. I'm leaning toward powder coating. A former student of mine works in that industry and has offered to do the powder coating. It's an industrial grade application with commercial grade equipment. He says that it's the most durable stuff you can get.

That's about where I am with this project. Thanks again to all you for your interest in these projects. I couldn't have started without your input.