Anyone still use a Shopsmith?

[Darren Wright]

One of several tools I own now with the house purchase is an older Shopsmith with many of the attachments (TS, Jointer, Scroll Saw, bandsaw, etc). I'm not sure what all other accessories are there or if there are that are more popular than others. I'll probably be listing it and the accessories for sale or giving it all away to a couple of potential folks I know with woodworking interests and want it locally. I see a few on marketplace and asking decent prices, wasn't sure if some accessories are worth more than others or not?

Of the other tools I'm trying to decide what I keep and sell are several Grizzly and craftsman tools: 15" planer, 6" jointer, 1 1/2" spindle jointer/shaper (which scares the heck out of me), drill press, 2hp DC, ceiling mounted air cleaner, craftsman 10" contractors saw (belt driven), radial arm saw, dewalt 12" MS, delta 12" bandsaw, and several other hand power tools. I'll most likely keep the 15" planer, maybe the spindle shaper. Thinking I may sell the rest and get a wider jointer at least, there is a couple of PC 690 routers I'll hang onto as well. I already have two drill presses, one will go back to my nephew some day when he gets his own place, but the Grizzly is a monster of a DP. My biggest issue is getting them out of the basement. While it does have a walk-out, we had to use a skid steer to bring them in when he got them. I may have to rent one to get them all moved up to the garage to sell and onto a trailer to haul back to my shop.

 

[Mike Stafford]

I still have a Shopsmith. The only functions I use on it are the drill press, horizontal boring, drum sander and 12" disc sander.

This is actually my third Shopsmith. My first was a 10ER that had a serial number less than 100 that my father-in-law owned and gave to me for my first shop. It used an 8" blade and had three speeds if I remember correctly. I built a lot of wooden toys with it.

Later I was able to get a Shopsmith Mark 5 from a friend who was divorcing. It came with a lot of accessories. I sold the 10ER and used the Mark 5 for years to make jewelry boxes and other small items. Cutting large or long pieces on the relatively small table is quite a challenge. I used it for ripping and cross cutting smaller pieces that had already been rough sized either with an electric circular saw or a chain saw.

When we moved back to N.C. I answered an ad offering a Shopsmith Mark 5 that was barely used for sale. It included a planer, jointer, bandsaw, 6x48 belt sander and a scroll saw and virtually every accessory Shopsmith offered. I ended up buying it and sold my older Mark 5 along with the planer, bandsaw and my older 6x48 sander for more than I paid for the newer machine and all of its accessories.

When I bought a real table saw the Shopsmith seldom got used. One of the worst things about it was trying to miter ends of boards or bevel rip on a table that tilted. Very awkward. Most of the time I cut miters for boxes with a miter saw.

This Shopsmith also included a power stand with a 1HP motor that could be used to power any of the other accessories. I used it to power my belt sander, jointer, and scroll saw which I used very infrequently. I still have the belt sander on that stand. It has proven to be handy for my knife making endeavors. I still have the jointer but I haven't used in probably 15 years.

People talk about how much time it takes to change from one operation to another but after awhile I was pretty quick at it. I also learned to plan my machining operations to eliminate unnecessary changeovers.

It makes a pretty good drill press although manually moving the table up and down can be a pain. It is a lousy lathe, at least it was for me as it was much too low for me use and too light for any serious work. I used the Shopsmith lathe to make lots of toy parts but they were pretty easy to make. Now it sits in the corner and I use it mostly for drilling, drum sanding and also for my Sand-o-Flex.

I used to sharpen my lathe chisels with the 12" disc using the fixture that Shopsmith sold. It worked quite well for most lathe tools that had long enough blades. It did a fabulous job of sharpening skew chisels.

At this point in time it is probably 30 years old. I do the routine maintenance on it as recommended and it just keeps chugging along.

 

[Charles Lent]

I have one of the originals, a Magnus Shopsmith 10ER that was new in 1949. The rights for manufacturing Shopsmiths changed hands about then to the company that has been making them up until their demise (last year ?). Well, I own one, but it's at my son's shop across town.

I bought it from an old guy about 20+ years ago to use as a lathe, but discovered that the brakes that locked the head and rail didn't hold well to the pipes that formed the base of the Shopsmith. These were the original pieces and were made from cast aluminum. A prior owner had tried fixing these by filing grooves in them, which I think made them hold even less. My #2 son had access to a machine shop, so I bought some brass and he made me some replacement brake pieces out of brass for it. This solved the brake problem well and I could use it as a lathe or drill press. But I never enjoyed lathe work all that much.

I never even tried to use it for anything else, but it did make a pretty good horizontal borer a few times. I already had 3 drill presses, so never used it for that, and the idea of using it as a table saw was not in my level of safety requirements. I already had my Unisaw anyway.

But although I made many turned projects on the Shopsmith, I never got hooked on making spinny things like many other woodworkers do. So a few years ago when facing a considerable space problem in my shop and the Shopsmith gathering considerable dust in my shop, my son offered to take it to his shop and use it on some of his projects. It's still there.

77 years ago it may have been a great home woodworking machine, but it was no where near well enough made or accurate enough to keep me happy today.

Charley

 

[glenn bradley]

Dad bought and restored a couple of old Shopsmiths back in the early 70's. Wish I had pictures but this was way pre-cell phones. Very innovative machines for those who only had a garage slot to work in.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

...Wish I had pictures but this was way pre-cell phones...

If only there existed a way back then to cast an image onto a piece of paper and save it for others to see later. Man, that would be neat.

That said, I do wish I had taken more photos in the years before cell phones. (I was a photo buff, but couldn't afford a lot of film back in the day.) I also need to get off my butt and digitize a bunch of the pics I did take over the years with film cameras.

 

[Darren Wright]

This one looks to be made about 1988, based on the SN, a Mark V version. Found the scroll saw, jointer and table saw are on it, I want to say there is a band saw attachment, but need to dig through some stuff to find it.


These are the other machines I'll need to get moved out. The tablesaw and miter might stay for a while, to use on projects/remodeling. I'll be using some of the materials laying around to build some beds for the grand daughters and some other organizers. I may start on those this weekend since we haven't started ripping up carpet and my wife doesn't want me tearing up the house over the holiday.

 

[Darren Wright]

I think I have a taker on the shopsmith. I'm going to put a new electrical cord on it, the old one is pretty torn up and cracking a bit. According to the serial number it's looking to be made possibly in 1955. I was thinking he got it in the mid 80's but possible that it is that old. I need to look around for the original manuals, but have located some on a shopsmith forum that have been scanned from some originals. There are certainly differences in some of the accessories and styling I see in that manual from the one I have here.

I'll do some setup and testing of the machine before they take it and make sure it's functioning and is ok for use.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

At first I imagined it was something similar to a Black & Decker drill, that could be turned into a reciprocating saw, a lathe, a sander and something else. So I looked for it on the wen and found that it was the same idea but bigger and sturdier.