Shopsmith Forums

Hello!

This is my first post to the forum, and I’m hoping for some good advice. My grandfather had a 1983 ShopSmith that he used regularly until about 1995 when he passed. It was left to me and has been sitting in my parents attached garage since then. It hasn’t seen weather or temperature swings there so that’s good. Besides a lot of dust and minimal surface rust on a few knobs and tables it appears like it’s in good shape. However, tbis machine hasn’t been powered on or touched since he passed. I’d like to get it going again, and was wondering what steps I should take? It looks like the saw blade is still attached and it has the band saw. I plan on buying replacement belts and bearings from Jacobs as I figure the rubber is old and the bearing grease dried up, but is there a recommended list I should go through before the first time I power it on? I have lots of experience working on cars but not as much experience with wood working equipment. My best guess would be to clean it well, and oil everything while rotating by hand before trying.

Thanks!

Ryan

If it were mine, I'd remove the blade, plug it in, and turn it on. Sitting unused shouldn't damage a well made machine like a Shopsmith unless you stored it outside or under water.
If it runs when first turned on, you can likely just start using it. If it has problems, take care of fixing them.

Your last sentence

My best guess would be to clean it well, and oil everything while rotating by hand before trying.

would be a great start.

You will find a lot of help here to guide you through restoring your Shopsmith to a great running machine. Since you are looking at replacing the belts, you can easily check the bearings and lubricate the sheaves of the motor and idler shaft pulleys after removing the belts. If the bearings of the Idler Shaft, Drive Sleeve and Quill turn freely then they do not need replacing. If they "stick" at all then this is a good time to replace them. If you need documents to help check under the Maintenance and Repair section for Shopsmith Large Format Drawings, Illustrations and More by Everett Davis. This will be one of the first three topics. In it you will find a wealth of information on the Shopsmith tools. Some are directly linked there and others are on “My Google Drive” with documents too large to be directly linked. Everett has become the Shopsmith historian by saving and restoring manuals and other documents. There is a guide under Adjustments and Alignments called Help Kit Manual alignment etc. which may be useful to you. There are also a lot of other manuals and documents there that may aid you in restoring your Shopsmith. If you need any additional help just ask.

Thanks for those resources Russ!

I am going to go ahead and check the condition of the rubber on the belts and if the bearings are spinning free. I know it was working great up until the time he died, and he was pretty meticulous about taking care of his tools so I’m hopeful that it will work without a lot of trouble. I’m 30 years old and hope I can get another 36 years out of it assuming the parts stay available!

I picked up a similar one a couple of years ago. I took it home, plugged it in and tried it out. It worked just fine. Then I moved it to my Son's shop and it has been there since doing work for him.

If it is ready to use, you are wasting your time working on it instead of working with it.

curryitr wrote: I’m 30 years old and hope I can get another 36 years out of it assuming the parts stay available!

I hate to tell you this, but that machine will easily outlive you.

Be sure to visually inspect the belts and learn where and how to maintain the head stock , a good coat of paste wax on the tubes and some oil on the threads of the carriage locks will help , a plastic oil bottle with the extension tube is a plus when oiling the head stock . jmo

I just wanted to give everyone an update. I was able to get the ShopSmith out and get all the dirt and grim off of it. Surprisingly I plugged it in and it started right up! I was able to cycle through the speeds without issue.

My wife and I are moving to Africa as missionaries, and the ShopSmith went into our crate along with spare belts, bearings, switch, among other things. I hope to use it to make some furniture for our house once we get there. I’ll be running it on a 3000 watt voltage transformer.

Thank you all for your encouragement and support!