Shopsmith Forums

Hello!

I am new to the group and am very happy to find a place to ask questions about my SS.

About three years ago I purchased a new SS from a guy that had it only a few months, he had to sell due to health reasons and I had wanted one for years.

Living in Florida at the time we did not have a place to put it, let alone to work with it. I thought that purchasing the SS would be step one and then getting a workshop would follow.... it did not! It remained in an unheated garage for three years... I would start it up and use the saw a couple of times, but for the most part it just stayed there, covered up, unused.

We have now moved to Cleveland, GA (just north of Atlanta) and our new house has a huge basement for the SS to reside! Needless to say I am very excited to finally have a place to piddle around. Just the other day (moving takes a lot of time these days!) I went to start up the SS just to see it work and nothing. The motor made a sound and the blade moved about an 1/8 inch but really nothing. I have been reading some of the posts after finding this group and there seems to be a capacitor across the motor that sometimes bites the dust. I know from my other hobby (Ham Radio) that caps can go soft if left in unused equipment for a length of time..... but I do not know. Can anyone shed some light on this problem for me?

Thanks!

I have never found a bad capacitor when the motor will only hum. Mount the 12" sanding disk. Remove the belt cover (2 screws) and watch the belts while turning the sanding disk. If the belts turn OK, then it is the start winding centrifugal switch points not making contact. Many times sawdust is shaken loose when moving the Shopsmith and prevents the switch point from making contact. Once the motor is removed from the motor pan, you will need access to the switch. I use an auto points file to clean the contact surfaces. If you cannot turn the 12" sanding disk or change the speed setting using control handle while turning the sanding disk, you will need to disassemble the headstock and fix/replace parts as needed.

I am finding that the motor and Poly-V belts can actually glue/stick to the sheaves and pulleys to where I have to cut them off. This is on Shopsmiths that have not been used for several years.

I find that if the speed control dial was not set at HIGH, just by turning the speed control dial to HIGH will sometimes free up the motor belt.

I have been working/looking at the SS since getting some info on this forum. During my move up here somehow the speed control was moved to the high setting. I know the last time I ran the motor I turned the control to low.... curious fingers during the move somehow turned the crank to high. At any rate I put the sanding disk on the SS and turned it counterclockwise while attempting to lower the speed setting on the speed control. It did come down a bit, but I do not want to force the thing and have problems with the gears. I plugged the SS in and the motor did run for about 10 seconds very slowly then the circuit breaker tripped. I read on this forum about this happening ..... I suspected that there is a load on the motor causing it to trip the breaker. I stopped attempting to run the motor at that time. I took the cover off the back of the SS (2 screws) and took a look inside.... it looks clean without any sawdust that might have clogged things up. I took the SS logo cover off and looked at the sheeves.... I noticed a hole there that must be for oiling the shaft.... I put a few drops of oil in there and then maually turn the disk sander while trying to turn back the speed dial without much success. I think I am on the right track but do not want to damage the SS by doing something incorrectly.

Am I on the right track?

Thank you.

Francis

Bob,
It turns ok by hand with the sanding disk. I used about 3 drops of oil into the hole located next to the sheave on the shaft..... this is all the oil I used. I did not oil the motor shaft with the spring on it but will do so. The teeth on the "pork chop" appear to be in like new condition from what I could see looking thru the hole..... no wear but a very dry and some surface rust on it and dry as a bone.... the same goes for the spring on the motor shaft. Like I said, I did not want to go overboard with the oil but will do so and see if that helps. Thanks for the info.

Francis

Bob.....

SUCCESS! After oiling the spring behind the motor and the gears that mesh behind the speed control I slowly and PATIENTLY worked the speed control back to the slow position while turning the disc sander by hand.... adding more oil to the pork chop as I went. When I got back to the slow position I plugger her in and needless to say it was music to my ears as she came to life..... I ran her thru the speeds with the speed control and now understand what those gears/sheaves are doing with regard to the speed control. There still seems to be some noise coming from the belts/motor like something might still be too dry..... I am reluctant to over-oil PLUS I am still not quite sure what should and should not get the lubrication.

Thanks to you and the other guys that made this machine come back to life again for me. I will still research as to what I need to check with regard to lubrication because like I said, those gears and that spring were dry and has surface rust on them.

Francis

Suggest you take a few minutes to watch http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/SS_Arch ... enance.htm just to make sure you've covered all the bases.

With all good wishes,