Thread: Any ideas on fixing a Smith Machine?

hahaha

(Sean's boss staggers out of his office with a wife beater and dirty khackis with a half empty bottle of JD in his hand) Damn it boy! You better better fix that god damn machine if you know what's good for yah *hic*, grumble grumble grumble.

Maybe it is bent? at the bottom?

You guys suck.

lawl

So you don't notice any differences from the bottom to the top?

I seems like it is bent somewhere. I would have tried what you did. Maybe its catching on something.

Go to the dry cleaners, get a few dozen hangars, and let people hang their coats on it when they come in to workout.

Originally Posted by fufu

So you don't notice any differences from the bottom to the top?

I said I do notice a difference... The bar's easier to turn when it's up higher, and close to impossible when it's low.

Originally Posted by Seanp156

I said I do notice a difference... The bar's easier to turn when it's up higher, and close to impossible when it's low.

Right, but any difference in the shape of the tracking is what I meant.

Oh.... Well, I think from a front on perspective of the smith machine, it looks like \-/ but much less exagerrated of course... I tried taking the weights off and seeing if I could try to move the bases out, but it didn't work out too well... They moved a little, but kept wanting to move back inwards.

Yeah, tell the people who run the rec center to call a trained professional to deal with it and pony up the dough. Then, after he fixes it, take a sledgehammer to it.

Why would non parallel tracks stop the bar from rotating?

guess who?
How could he?..........I know I know

Originally Posted by KarlW

Why would non parallel tracks stop the bar from rotating?

The only thing I can think of is there would be greater inward pressure on the bar at the bottom of the machine than at the top... Also, the bar will freefall from the top, but eventually it gets stuck before it hits the safety stops at the bottom when there's no weight on it. You so I'm pretty sure the rack's bent inwards.

Originally Posted by Seanp156

The only thing I can think of is there would be greater inward pressure on the bar at the bottom of the machine than at the top... Also, the bar will freefall from the top, but eventually it gets stuck before it hits the safety stops at the bottom when there's no weight on it. You so I'm pretty sure the rack's bent inwards.

Sounds like it is, unless there's some other blockage near the bottom. But that doesn't explain the rotation to me, unless the hooks are hitting something. Can't you see or hear what is stopping it? Does it stop rotating with a clunk (hitting something) or does it get harder and harder to turn it (like it's being constricted)?

It gets gradually harder to turn like it's being constricted.

I'll look at ours tomorrow and see if I can find anything. Sorry I can't picure the mechanism accurately enough to comment without seeing it.

This is the exact one at the rec center.

I had a look at ours and I can't understand how even if the rack is bent inward it would stop the bar rotating, unless the hooks get snagged on the frame or something. Maybe the bar itself is not perfectly round and is sticking to the tube (the horizontal tubing that the bar sits in) as it is rotated, or maybe there is some other blockage in the tube. Have you figured it out?

Sounds to me the vertical stantions were bent by improper loading. Was the machine recently moved or pushed over on it's side?
If the vertical stantions are not perfectly plumb the bar will bind. Cut a peice of wood to wedge or pull the bases in or out to hold the verticals in place then see if it still binds.
If that solves the problem then you'll need to find away to secure the bases to keep the verticals in possition or apply enough force to bend the stantions so they stay in a plumb possition.

Haven't figured it out, but it's not really my problem to solve... I was just bored at work and thought I'd try and figure it out. I might mention the wedging wood between the supports thing to my manager.

Why don't you ask Smith?

Bahaha!!!!!!!!!