Shop Smith

Al killian

Member
Messages
1,940
Location
Floydada, Tx
I was offerd a old shop smith for $100 and need to know what to look for when I go to check it out on suday. It belongs to my freinds father and told me I get the first shot at it and that the price is only good for me. It comes with a lathe, ts, disk sander, jointer and some other things. It runs fine, but probaly needs some tlc as it has sat for a few years unused. Next I am going to pry his Belsaw from his grip. It also sits unused.
 
How Old? If it is a Mark IV, then it is worth about $100 as there are no parts or other considerations to fit it. If it breaks, its dead, no attachments will fit, must make or contrive any improvements.

If it is a Mark V, then it is a heck of a good deal as all present Shopsmiths will work and fit and interchange. $500 is an excellant deal for a Mark V
 
I have a SS Mark V Model 510, and I have a love/hate relationship with it. It is a terrible table saw, an average lathe and pretty darn decent at all other functions. Yes, excellent work has and can be done with a SS. I personally hate a tilt top saw. I really like the drill press and disk sander setups. Hope this helps. IIRC you said it had a jointer with it; it will be a 4" short bed unit.
 
could be a er10

heres a link to SS users group on yahoo
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SSusers/

I've owned a couple of er10's


their a good drill press , its nice to have both horizontal and vertical capability's

the disk sander with the quill feed is handy

poor as a table saw .

I've never done enough turning to make a judgment on the lathe

for 100 bucks you really cant go wrong , if you don't like it you could part it out on eBay and do well at that price

no matter what model it is their are plenty of used parts out there and some of the newer parts do work on earlier models
 
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OK, I went and checked it out and brought it home. It is a very old Mark V, model 500 from around 1957. It came with the 4" jointer, 12" disk sander, 6" disk sander, mortise attachement including a 1/4" chisel, 3" spindle, 1/2" drill chuck, 6 turning chisels tons of sandpaper, moulding head with a few sets of cutters, 4" tool rest and 18" scroll saw. Well there are a few other little tid bits that I cant think of of hand. The only thing wrong with it other then some rust is it needs a new belt. Plus he threw in two massively heavy 10' long by 13" roller platforms for free.:D He say there are more things for it, but he is in the middle of a move and they are missplaced. I will post pics when I can borow someones camera.
 
Wow, sounds like you made out like a bandit, Al. Even if you just use the disk sanders and the drill press, you're money ahead. The rest is just icing on the cake. Congrats. ;)
 
Don't forget the horizontal bore feature. I use to use that all the time. :thumb:
Great score!

DT
 
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