Shopsmith Forums

Fellow ShopSmith Gurus
The problem with the Mark 5 500 blade wobble has been fixed.
I have a pal that is a locomotive machinist. He came by. He read every post. He went out and Cranked on the arbor nut. It was loose, way loose for an arbor..... crap.
I am a wheelchair guy. Yeah, I am running my ShopSmith pretty much in my powerchair. I am not as strong as I once was. It sure felt tight to me. Every lock was well.... loose. Lessons learned. It also demonstrated a bit of runout, not bad but...The combination of variables add up. That arbor is NEVER coming off that blade.
Live Big
TS

Thomschuck wrote:Fellow ShopSmith Gurus
The problem with the Mark 5 500 blade wobble has been fixed.
I have a pal that is a locomotive machinist. He came by. He read every post. He went out and Cranked on the arbor nut. It was loose, way loose for an arbor..... crap.
I am a wheelchair guy. Yeah, I am running my ShopSmith pretty much in my powerchair. I am not as strong as I once was. It sure felt tight to me. Every lock was well.... loose. Lessons learned. It also demonstrated a bit of runout, not bad but...The combination of variables add up. That arbor is NEVER coming off that blade.
Live Big
TS

Glad you found the problem. What about your friend with the new Power Pro with the exact same problem?

Glad you fixed it !!!!!

Thomschuck wrote:Fellow ShopSmith Gurus
The problem with the Mark 5 500 blade wobble has been fixed.
I have a pal that is a locomotive machinist. He came by. He read every post. He went out and Cranked on the arbor nut. It was loose, way loose for an arbor..... crap.
I am a wheelchair guy. Yeah, I am running my ShopSmith pretty much in my powerchair. I am not as strong as I once was. It sure felt tight to me. Every lock was well.... loose. Lessons learned. It also demonstrated a bit of runout, not bad but...The combination of variables add up. That arbor is NEVER coming off that blade.
Live Big
TS

Then there is your friend with a new Power Pro that has the same wobble issue???

TS,

I am glad you were able to solve this and don't have the wobble now. I don't think I have ever seen this on my Shopsmith, but I have had the arbor nut slightly loose once or twice, so it is possible. I have always risked hitting my fingers on the sawblade and cutting myself when I tighten the arbor. I say this because I use the Shopsmith long arbor wrench (pictured below, item # 515979) with a mechanics open end wrench to tighten the arbor nut. Tightening the arbor nut is a bit awkward any way in trying to keep your fingers clear of the sawblade teeth. I had been thinking about ordering a second long arbor wrench to use for when changing sawblades out on arbors. After reading your posts, I think I will go ahead and buy a 2nd arbor wrench from Shopsmith. For me at least, it has always been a bit awkward to change sawblades using an open end wrench that isn't as long or wide as the Shopsmith arbor wrench to tighten against the Shopsmith arbor wrench. I think having 2 of these will give me more control to tighten the arbor hopefully without scraping my knuckles on the sawblade, but also be able to get it fully tight as well. I believe you have helped me make my decision to order a 2nd arbor wrench...

RFGuy wrote:TS,

I am glad you were able to solve this and don't have the wobble now. I don't think I have ever seen this on my Shopsmith, but I have had the arbor nut slightly loose once or twice, so it is possible. I have always risked hitting my fingers on the sawblade and cutting myself when I tighten the arbor. I say this because I use the Shopsmith long arbor wrench (pictured below, item # 515979) with a mechanics open end wrench to tighten the arbor nut. Tightening the arbor nut is a bit awkward any way in trying to keep your fingers clear of the sawblade teeth. I had been thinking about ordering a second long arbor wrench to use for when changing sawblades out on arbors. After reading your posts, I think I will go ahead and buy a 2nd arbor wrench from Shopsmith. For me at least, it has always been a bit awkward to change sawblades using an open end wrench that isn't as long or wide as the Shopsmith arbor wrench to tighten against the Shopsmith arbor wrench. I think having 2 of these will give me more control to tighten the arbor hopefully without scraping my knuckles on the sawblade, but also be able to get it fully tight as well.
arbor_wrench.jpg

Understand and agree but I believe I have eliminated the awkwardness by always doing this with the arbor mounted on the drive shaft and using a large crescent wrench in conjunction with the arbor wrench.

I'm cheap. $18.00, no way

If there's a more difficult and time consuming way to accomplish a task, I'll find it.
When changing blades, I take blade and arbor off, take it to my vise and use an open end wrench to remove the nut. Then, put on the new blade and, tighten it. There is absolutely no sound reason to do it this way. But, it's an ingrained and, decades old habit.

dusty wrote:
Understand and agree but I believe I have eliminated the awkwardness by always doing this with the arbor mounted on the drive shaft and using a large crescent wrench in conjunction with the arbor wrench.

I'm cheap. $18.00, no way

Thanks Dusty. Yeah, I have tried it both on the driveshaft and off, but I didn't see much difference for me. I agree that if you have a long handle crescent wrench or similar, I think it makes it easier. The problem that I have is with my open end wrenches that I have on hand, they only go up to 7/8", so I use my 11/16" open end wrench which isn't terribly long (9") with the Shopsmith arbor wrench that is 13" long. I think having two identical type wrenches would be good for pushing in one hand and pulling in the other, but ideally they should be long handle wrenches, IMHO. The $18 for the wrench isn't really a problem, but rather the shipping that Shopsmith charges for everything.

Gene Howe wrote:If there's a more difficult and time consuming way to accomplish a task, I'll find it.
When changing blades, I take blade and arbor off, take it to my vise and use an open end wrench to remove the nut. Then, put on the new blade and, tighten it. There is absolutely no sound reason to do it this way. But, it's an ingrained and, decades old habit.

Gene,

Good idea, I think and probably keeps the arbor well secured for tightening/loosening. If I had a vise, I would give it a try. Some day I will get my dream workbench built and install a vice in it, but I still don't have one yet unfortunately.

n my case I have 2 longer box / open end wrenches , one on the arbor I usually lay a rag on the way tube , then I set the wrench against the rag on the way tube, and the other I use to loosen the arbor nut , when tightening I just reverse the one on the way tube .
I was first concerned about damage to the way tube , so far it hasn't been a issue and I can get it good and tight.