Shopsmith Forums

Is there a source that tells what is lubed, when its lubed and what with? I have looked but cannot find anything. Just references to lube it good etc. I have lubed all the sheaves and cleaned out any dust/sawdust that i could see but where do i go from here?

Two places are critical. Both are on the hub of the movable sheaves.

There is a small oil hole in both the control sheave hub and the floating sheave hub.

The oil hole allows getting oil to the shaft the movable sheaves slide on.

The control sheave is accessed through an access hole on the back side of the headstock that is behind a shopsmirh medallion.

The floating sheave is accessed by removing the belt cover, then prying the inner coils of the spring to reveal the oil hole.

NOT performing this regularly is the most common cause of the speed control failing.(it is almost a guarantee of failure when NOT performed)

Shopsmith has the excellent “Mark V Alignment and Maintenance Manual” available for download online (although it required a Google search for me to find it just now). Maintenance instructions begin on page 33.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/manu ... manual.pdf

Conventional wisdom on this forum is that the sheave oiling amount specified in the manual is too stingy. The late great Bill Mayo was of this opinion, and he knew far more about Shopsmiths than I ever will. Below is a summary of his annual-lubrication advice, which I copied down a while back.
1. Put the headstock in the drill press position and FAST speed position. Tie the belt housing out of the way. Remove the logo cover.
2. Using a zoom spout oiler, put the spout into the control sheave oil hole. I give a good squeeze (20-30 drops of oil minimum). Then put a few drops of oil around the top of the motor floating sheave and shaft and on the open shaft key. I use a flat blade screwdriver to part the spring for the zoom spout.
3. Move the floating sheave up and down a little with your hands to get the oil to go around the motor shaft and key. I do this oiling of the shaft & key several times when doing this. I do not use the motor floating sheave oil hole for this lubrication as I find too little oil can be applied through this hole.
4. Then turn on the motor and very slowly, cycle from FAST down to the SLOW speed. Then back to FAST.
5. I do the same oiling sequence a second time. I do not believe you can over oil the headstock. 90% of the problems I find in the headstock come from lack of or too little oiling.

Here’s my personal experience. When I first got my Mark V, I followed the Shopsmith maintenance manual to the letter. And I never had a problem. Then I read Bill’s oiling advice, and followed it during my next periodic maintenance. But when I powered up the headstock after oiling, the centrifugal action simply slung off all of the excess oil. This made a mess in my headstock and on my floor, and all that slung-off oil obviously wasn’t going to be of any ongoing benefit to my headstock. So I concluded that Bill had gotten a bit over-zealous on this one. IMHO, the key is to be sure to get an oil film between the moving parts. Once you have that, you’re done, as there is no oil “reservoir”.

I do perform one lubrication step that’s not in the manual. When I first bought my 520 (used), the speed changer was a bit stiff to operate, even after oiling everything per the maintenance manual. So I tried putting some graphite powder on the worm gear and the mating teeth on the quadrant. That worked nicely to reduce the speed-dial operating torque, and so I made it part of my periodic maintenance procedure.

Dennis said

I do perform one lubrication step that’s not in the manual. When I first bought my 520 (used), the speed changer was a bit stiff to operate, even after oiling everything per the maintenance manual. So I tried putting some graphite powder on the worm gear and the mating teeth on the quadrant. That worked nicely to reduce the speed-dial operating torque, and so I made it part of my periodic maintenance procedure.

I did the same on my headstock before going Power Pro. Dry lubricant does not attract dust like oil. Over time oil with dust will be a gunky mess.

I am attempting to lubricate my newly aquired 510, particularly the floating sheave and cannot find the hole. From what I just read, it looks like oil can be applied directly to the shaft that holds the floating sheave. I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

davepk13 wrote:I am attempting to lubricate my newly aquired 510, particularly the floating sheave and cannot find the hole. From what I just read, it looks like oil can be applied directly to the shaft that holds the floating sheave. I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

That lube hole likes to hide beneath the spring. Try using a flat-blade screwdriver to separate the spring coils, while you're looking for it. The instructions below are from page 35 of the maintenance manual linked in post #4 above.

BuckeyeDennis wrote:

davepk13 wrote:I am attempting to lubricate my newly aquired 510, particularly the floating sheave and cannot find the hole. From what I just read, it looks like oil can be applied directly to the shaft that holds the floating sheave. I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

That lube hole likes to hide beneath the spring. Try using a flat-blade screwdriver to separate the spring coils, while you're looking for it. The instructions below are from page 35 of the maintenance manual linked in post #4 above.

Capture.JPG

I do believe that ya NEED to turn the speed up to at least "Saw" speed. That opens the motor spring, so you can FIND the oil hole. When ya find the hole, mark the location on the sheave so it's easier to find it next time. Also use 8 to 10 drops of oil.

beeg wrote:

BuckeyeDennis wrote:

davepk13 wrote:I am attempting to lubricate my newly aquired 510, particularly the floating sheave and cannot find the hole. From what I just read, it looks like oil can be applied directly to the shaft that holds the floating sheave. I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

That lube hole likes to hide beneath the spring. Try using a flat-blade screwdriver to separate the spring coils, while you're looking for it. The instructions below are from page 35 of the maintenance manual linked in post #4 above.

Capture.JPG

I do believe that ya NEED to turn the speed up to at least "Saw" speed. That opens the motor spring, so you can FIND the oil hole. When ya find the hole, mark the location on the sheave so it's easier to find it next time. Also use 8 to 10 drops of oil.

Good point. A couple paragraphs prior to the one I copied, that maintenance manual says to run the speed all the way up to high.

Another helpful tip I found was to mark the location of the oil hole on the sheave outside the spring to make it easier to find for future servicing.

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