bad motor?

[jarodbmyrick]

i have a Mark 5 that i just inherited from my grandfather who has had it for as long as i know, probably 30-40 years (unless shopsmith isnt that old?) anyways, i went though and gave it a thorough oiling and cleaning and have started using it. most everything seems to work just fine except: i tried ripping some 2x4 and 2x6's in half, i set the saw to the saw/joint setting as with any other cutting and went at it. not more than a second of cutting it stopped and blew the breaker, i tried again and it did the same thing. i then slowed it down to the Magna Dado speed and started again, if i went slow enough (about 1 inch a min.) then it would just bearly make it through without blowing the breaker, but it took 20 mins to make it through the first cut and that was only half way through i still had to flip it over and do it again. so my question is: is this normal for a shopsmith? (it has a 13.4amp motor) or is the motor dying on me? aslo would i have to replace it with a shopsmith motor or does anyone know if its possible to use a standard electric motor? i am used to using one of those portable "contractor" table saws and it rips through 2x6's with ease. please advise, thank you Jarod. :)

[8iowa]

There's a lot here for us to try to "read between the lines". Whenever one has a problem like this I think that the first thing to check is the extension cord. The longer the cord, and the smaller the cable, the greater the voltage drop. As a motor sees less voltage, it requires more amperage. If you are operating on a 15 amp breaker this could be the crux of the problem. It is also possible for the breaker to be going bad. I've had this happen to me.

Check out all the externals before getting into the headstock.

[robinson46176]

i have a Mark 5 that i just inherited from my grandfather who has had it for as long as i know, probably 30-40 years (unless shopsmith isnt that old?) anyways, i went though and gave it a thorough oiling and cleaning and have started using it. most everything seems to work just fine except: i tried ripping some 2x4 and 2x6's in half, i set the saw to the saw/joint setting as with any other cutting and went at it. not more than a second of cutting it stopped and blew the breaker, i tried again and it did the same thing. i then slowed it down to the Magna Dado speed and started again, if i went slow enough (about 1 inch a min.) then it would just bearly make it through without blowing the breaker, but it took 20 mins to make it through the first cut and that was only half way through i still had to flip it over and do it again. so my question is: is this normal for a shopsmith? (it has a 13.4amp motor) or is the motor dying on me? aslo would i have to replace it with a shopsmith motor or does anyone know if its possible to use a standard electric motor? i am used to using one of those portable "contractor" table saws and it rips through 2x6's with ease. please advise, thank you Jarod. :)

I used to preach to a now ex son-in-law constantly to "always begin at the beginning" .:) He would gripe about it but it finally became implanted enough that he started saying it himself (we were diagnosing cars at that time).
First, what is your power supply? A supply that will run a contractors saw OK (they are designed to be ran on extension cords and temporary hookups) might be a weak little weak for a SS. A Shopsmith calls for a dedicated 20 amp circuit. That great variable speed drive does generate a little extra drag.
Are you running it on an extension cord and if so is it at least a 12 gauge wire and no longer than necessary?
Is the blade sharp? Is it burning the wood? Are the sides of the blade clean or are they rusty or coated with gum. Are you using at least the splitter part of the guard to keep the kerf open?
Be sure to check the table squareness with the arbor/blade. Be sure that the blade is parallel with the miter gauge slot. Check that the fence is truly parallel with the blade. Using a rip only blade can help a lot however you should be able to rip a softwood 2x4 with a good combination blade without the SS working up a sweat. Some early SS's were designed for a 9" blade instead of a 10" blade.
You may have a motor with dry bearings of excess friction in the variable speed drive or up in the drive sleeve or quill area. Can you turn it easily by hand? Have you opened up the headstock and blown everything out including the motor?
I'm just fumbling along here. It may be a combination of several problems. Give us all of the info you can on what you have tried.
-
What am I missing guys?

[a1gutterman]

Another consideration: Are you using a 10" blade or a 9" blade? If the SS is old enough, it works best with a 9" blade. You also could try a thin kerf blade. But without more information, I wood tend to agree with 8iowa; are you using an extension cord and is it of the proper guage wire size?

edit: Hey looky there; while I was typing, farmer was posting. He already said what I did, sorry.

[reible]

Hi and welcome to the forum! Glad to have another owner to discuss things with.

First shopsmith as in Shopsmith Inc. has been around since 1972, how ever other versions of shopsmith date back in the 1940's so yes it could be 30, 40, 50 or more years old.

Some of the older models have smaller motors horse power wise, anything before 1962 when the 1-1/8 HP motor was introduced.

So yes it could be the motor or it could be a lot of other things. As was mentioned, wrong extension cords, or inadequate supply where ever you are plugging into....

Or it may be more mechanical, such as bad alignment, dull blade, wrong blade for the job, speed setting dial mis-adjusted. Wet wood or wood that has a lot of internal stresses can also make the ripping operation difficulty.

We really need a whole lot of details to know the right direction to point you. And even then it could be a combination of factors all working together to cause the problem.

Since you are most likely new to the machine you might want to check this link for the bible of shopsmith wood working:
http://www.shopsmith.com/academy/welcome.htm

I've seen some problems as simple as having the blade mounted backwards... they don't work so well that way. I heard of people using a fine tooth plywood blade and trying to rip with it... that doesn't work so well. I'm not saying you have done any of these but they do come up from time to time so don't be offended by my asking you to do a little reading about the machine, blades etc.

Another common problem I've seen is people having a really dull blade. Worse yet on older equipment a rusted dull blade....

For my part I would start with checking the alignment, the blade needs to be in the parallel plane as the rip fence and at 90 degrees to the miter slots. Make sure you have a combination blade or rip blade, you may want to get a new one if the old one(s) are not carbide tipped. Make sure you have the guards on and the the top guard is adjusted so it aligns with the blade. Make sure you have some dry wood to test with and use the necessary push sticks or other safety gear to see how the machine works.

Check and see if you can find a plug in near enough the shopsmith to plug directly in without the use of a drop cord. You should also check to see that nothing else is running on that circuit... or at least only a lamp or two but nothing that has a large current draw.

If you have a digital camera taking some pictures of the machine and setup might also help us get to the source of the problem. So yea it still might be the motor but I'm not convinced yet.

Edit:

Looks like we are all saying a lot of the same things... hmmmm

Ed

[beeg]

WHAT is the serial number. With that we can date about when it was made. OH and what kind of oil did ya lube it with?

[jarodbmyrick]

wow, this is great, i didnt expect such good and quick responese, thank you. it sounds like my biggest problem is electrical connection, which i am working on re-wiring. my shop is in a detatched garage, with a single 110v circuit hooked to a 20a breaker at the house, but the single circuit powers EVERYTHING right now, lights, heater, etc. but i am working on bringing out 2 30amp circuits to a sub-panel in the garage which i will break into my separate lines, i will besure to make a dedicated outlet for the SS. as for everyting else, the saw blade is a 10" but ill look into the 9" idea and it isnt new but not by much, still all good sharp teeth and its a 24 tooth rip blade and i always use carbide tipped. im only 26 but have been in a shop and using power tools for most of my life, my grandpa (where i got the saw) was my greatest mentor and idol. so, not to say i know everything, no one ever does :) but i do know a great deal about using things right and i have adjustded/squared things as perfectly as i can. i not only measure from the saw blade to the rip fence but i also measure at the front of the fence and the rear to be sure it is square. i did blow everthing out and oiled anything i could find. all seems to turn freely and pretty easily by hand. as for the wood, its extremely dry, its lumber that came out of a 1905 house remodel, so its had a little while to dry :) the motor is the 1-1/8HP but its 13.4amps most saws i see today have a 15amp motor, so is this one still fairly weak or are the others just over powered? i also read on someone elses post about upping the guage of the power cord to 12ga, would you guys also recommend that? thanks again

[a1gutterman]

Hi Jarod,
Since we now know that the motor is 1 1/8hp, you can forget about the 9" blade. Your Mark V should handle the 10" blade just fine. Your description of the electric system that you are plugged into leads me to suspect that is where the problem lies even more so then before.