New Guy saying Hi....Smithy ?s

[Duckmang]

New to this forum but I've had an old Smithy 3 in 1 in the garage for about two years now. Just really starting to get enough practice and tooling to be effective at most projects. The most recent of which is getting an old Dayton 4x6 bandsaw back in working condition. It had a broken pillow block for the main arm's pivot. I managed to get it's table clamped onto the smithy and milled off the broken block. I've milled out another block which just needs drilling and tapping before it can be bolted to the table. While making this block I ran into my first real problem with the Smithy. The pulley that drives the mill head came loose. It appears that it has to slide up and down the shaft driving it depending on the height of the mill head. There is a single keyway on the shaft but I don't have a key. The keyed portion at the bottom of the pulley is not very substantial, about 1/2" tall and allows the 3"+ pulley to wobble erraticly when I did manage to get it wedged back on with AL shims. It looks like somebody before me may have tried to patch it. Can anybody shed light on how this pulley is supposed to ride on the shaft? For clarity this isn't the milling spindle but the drive shaft coming up from the gearbox.

[smiller6912]

I have a G1324 and am very happy with it. My first suggestion is to call Smithy. I have had great luck with their tech guys. They seam to always be there to help. Try it give them a call.

[madwilliamflint]

Welcome aboard mate. I just came across this place a couple months ago myself. My tools would be furniture without these guys. o/

[JanvanSaane]

If the machine is new enough the manual may be online at Smithy, but a call would be worth the time. I also have a G-1324. I have heard they are good to deal with but haven't had any problems yet. Its a hobby for me so my machine doesn't get the workout that most machines here do. And welcome to a very educational forum. Jan

[Duckmang]

Thanks for the replies. The machine is a 1200XL, and a pretty old one at that. I bit the bullet and took it apart. Turns out that the pulley had broken previously and was repaired by pressing a small spacer into the two halves. Since the lower hidden half was snap ringed under the top bearing there was no way to press them back together without disassembly. Once apart I was able to press the two parts back together. The fit was really snug and appears to be holding up well.... in the short term at least.

With the 4x6 bandsaw repaired and ready to cut some stock, I may try to machine a new pulley for the mill. The first problem I see is I do not have any tooling to cut a keyway. Otherwise it doesn't appear to be a terribly difficult part to fabricate. Any good tips to cut a keyway inside of a bore approx 1"?