Shopsmith Forums

Greetings! I recently picked up an old 500 (not sure of it's vintage - no seraial numbers anywhere. Appears to be a B Headstock, and based on Bill Mayo's expertise from some pics of the motor I sent him, it has an AO Smith 1 1/8 hp motor). I did find a little green paint on the table carriage, but the other paint finishes seem to half the rougher gray paint described in later models.

The headstock was missing several of the components, most of which I recently picked up. The headstock has already been stripped and primed, and the tubes have all been turned on my other SS 520's lathe per other posts found in this forum (used a test plug from HD and a couple of wheels screwed to a piece of scrap to support the other end). Came out great. I will have more pics to post later.

In the meantime, I am trying to figure out how to patch the appx. 3" x 1 1/2" hole in the motor pan (see last 2 pics). I do not have any welding equipment, so would like to know if there is a non welding solution that I could use to patch this up. I have considered fiberglassing or trying to weld a scrap piece of metal on the inside of the pan with JB Weld and then using some kind of filler to smooth out the exterior surface (bondo, etc.?).

Very interested in what you master restorers would suggest?

Also, I haven't settled on a paint scheme yet, but am not that excited about just painting it all up SS gray. I know it's my machine and I can do whatever I want - but is it considered Sacrelig to use a greenie or goldie paint scheme on a non greenie or goldie unit? I find those schemes much more attractive than basic gray.

I plan to modify the unit into a Shorty, and will likely have Bill modify the motor to run in reverse.

Thanks again for your input. Bob

One thought would be to clean up the hole in the bottom and cover with a vent plate. Might make cleaning out the saw dust easier ???

2bits wrote:One thought would be to clean up the hole in the bottom and cover with a vent plate. Might make cleaning out the saw dust easier ???

I had considered fashioning some sort of a cover plate to go over the hole - would attach it with a couple of screws. Figured it would look ok in drill press position. But I hadn't even thought about using a vent plate for that - that's a great idea! If properly placed could actually look quite nice in the drill press position - not to mention would throw off a few SS owners trying to figure out why their vent plate is missing from that position ... . The vents are pretty inexpensive too - another bonus.

Thanks for the suggestion! Bob

if you are in the seattle area i can hook you up with a motor pan. no need to mess with jb weld or whatnot unless you are really keen on doing it.

+I've got an extra motor pan free for the shipping. I'm in So CAl though.

wiredone wrote:+I've got an extra motor pan free for the shipping. I'm in So CAl though.

I'll send you a pm. Thanks!

MickyD painted a 10ER greenie colors and no one chastised him for it!

There are no cardinal sins regarding color selection!;)

[quote="JPG40504"]MickyD painted a 10ER greenie colors and no one chastised him for it!

There are no cardinal sins regarding color selection!]

Good point! I saw those pics in the restoration thread and loved it. Didn't even occur to me that it wasn't one of the original schemes.

Guess I will do as i please ...

Thanks! Bob

My thought is to enlarge the hole using a cutoff wheel and then attach something like a roof soffit vent or similar to make it presentable. I think it might actually prove to be quite functional and provide some much needed ventilation and access to the bottom of the motor area for cleaning.

wannabewoodworker wrote:My thought is to enlarge the hole using a cutoff wheel and then attach something like a roof soffit vent or similar to make it presentable. I think it might actually prove to be quite functional and provide some much needed ventilation and access to the bottom of the motor area for cleaning.

But do ya think that might change the designed air flow patterns?