Chad (Oregon City)

It will probably take another $100 or so to get the lathe and saw working properly and I suspect the quill bearings are probably worn. The mortiser attachments are pretty rusty too and there may be some parts missing.

The notor is made by GE and is a .5hp motor with triple pulleys to adjust to different speeds. The variable speed adjustor and top belt cover are missing.

Am I living in a dream world or can this thing help me build kitchen cabinets?

I don’t like the product quality at the box stores. Also my kitchen is small and I would like to utilize every square inch to maximize the storage space.

Comments are welcome and I didn’t get to this forum from SS either. Thanks.

My Father had a shopsmith which he used regularly for years while I was growing up. He was definately a hobby craftsman. He made toys for us kids, a front porch swing, barstools for the kitchen, etc.. This machine is definitely a simple man’s tool, and very useful.
My dad passed it on to my husband 3 or so years ago when we moved away. By that time, he had become latent in his woodworking/crafting/hobbying for some time and I think wanted to get rid of it, but couldn’t, knowing it’s value. So my husband was interested, an amateur to woodworking, and we took it. It has been sitting, gathering dust, remaining unused by my spouse ever since.

I think that he is intimidated by it. He is used to using individual tools and is naturally skilled. Even with professional training in a job at a cabinet shop, he never got around to trying it out. Now he is off on a new adventure and not interested in learning how to use it.

So, now we are looking to move and waiting for our house to sell. In the mean-time I’m thinking about a garage sale and selling the shopsmith, as well. I don’t know what to value it at, though. I can’t see a date on the machine on the one side I can see, but it looks like an older, original classic. Possibly 40-50 years old. It is in working condition, with all the attachments, parts, etc., and a new part (not sure what it was) that my dad had gotten and given to us at the same time as the machine.

It is loved and well used and has signs of living in a workshop (paint specks, and the like), but is in great shape. So, any advice on what the value of it may be?

From what i’ve read this seems like a great investment to make and in the end, for all the things it can do, would be cheaper then individual tools and less of a mess of chords and such.

I love the support, as many others have mentioned. I can still buy parts and accessories
for either of my SS’s. They are sturdy, reliable, and consistent machines. On the expensive side, yes, but you get what you pay for. My only problem with SS is that they designed the table to non-standard miter slot width. But one trip to a machine shop fixed that problem…
All in all, SS works for me, and that is all that counts.

The Shopsmith is awesome. Period, and for a multitude of reasons.

I bought my Shopsmith about 4 years ago used. It is a model from 1983, and it came with several attachments. I was new to woodworking and since have built several projects for around the house. The Shopsmith has enabled me to build several very large pieces of furniture, and also perform many home remodeling tasks.

The machine…let me say the company that would be more accurate, has never let me down. Let me explain further. I was in the middle of a big project about a year after I bought the machine and suddenly the headstock would not run. I was stunned and thought I had made a terrible mistake. I called Shopsmith, and they took my headstock in for repairs and then to my complete surprise gave me a rental headstock for use on my machine for free!! That way I could continue my project while my headstock was being repaired. They were extremely friendly and supportive and new that I had not purchased the machine new. they repaired my headstock, turned out it was a minor bearing issue in the quill(my machine was older and had a single bearing quill), upgraded me to the two bearing quill and gave me back my headstock. All for the price of $75. It has never had another problem. I was floored with this experience. Try calling Delta, Jet, or any of the other big name manufacturers if you have this kind of problem with a used purchased machine that is over 25 years old. This type of service and dedication to a product is only going to come from a company like Shopsmith. Their machine is well made, as good as any other and their customer service is the best I have ever seen period.

If you want to get into woodworking you cannot go wrong with the Shopsmith.

Sam

Detractors of the Shopsmith certainly cannot criticize it from the standpoint of precision. While the Shopsmith is not a cabinet saw, it is clearly superior to a contractor’s saw, and will stack up very well against any of the new hybrid saws.

As for “reverse psychology” — whatever; you’ve clearly made up your mind already if you’re going to suggest such things. I think the

And no, I don’t own one, nor did I come here from a Shop Smith forum. I’m vaguely interested in one, but I’m far more likely to just get a table saw since that’s really the only bit I’d really use.

And as for your allegations on the post — get a clue. Seriously.

People in general do not talk or comment on-line in this manner. These posts are PR marketing.

I have no feelings about this product one way or another, just surveying it since one is for sale locally to me.

After all the misleading marketing and disingenuous postings like, “Not. For the money you pay for this machine, you can buy a lot of tools. Don’t worry, I would found a place for them like in the bedroom, spare room or the shed.”, I will avoid this product. A posting like the aforementioned is essentially reverse psychology. The poster is inarticulate compared to others championing the product and speaks to how buying all the other tools will displace him.

Well, I question whether this post will make it over the next 24 hours or somehow disappear into the void. Time will tell.

Think independently.

I just bought a very used Shopsmith Mark V that was built in the 1960s for $175 on my local Craigslist. It has the 3/4 HP motor and ran fine when I got it. I took it completely apart to lube everything and check for wear and tear. The belts were still in decent condition, probably from being replaced at some point, but the replacement power cord had been attached incorrectly inside. When the previous owner replaced the power cord, they connected cord/hot to motor/neutral, cord/ground to motor/hot, and cord/neutral disconnected internally, which should not make much difference to the motor or the user as long as the chassis is not connected to motor/neutral. It is also a very bad idea to use the normally smaller ground wire for carrying normal power. This older Shopsmith also did not have an internal chassis connection for a ground safety wire, so I added a bolt location for that and properly rewired everything. I used a combination of 10W30 and white Lithium grease to lubricate everything and now everyting from the speed control to the drill press quill seems to be as smooth as new.

The used unit I bought came with the drill chuck, main table, saw blade, saw blade arbor, and shaper knives. I bought about $100 worth of accessories on EBay including router bit and shaper knife arbors, lathe tailstock and arbor, end table, and rip fence. I would still like to get the sanding disk and lathe tool holder, but I can probably stick a sanding disk on the side of an old dull saw blade for the time being and use some clamps and the main table as a lathe tool rest. Less than $300 invested so far and it works great.

My wife and I have a 2-car garage and we enjoy parking in it. We do not have the time, space, or money to build a separate workshop, so I would not trade the size or functionality of the Shopsmith for anything else. I agree that a stand-alone table saw with a tilting shaft/arbor/blade is better, but the tilting table on the Shopsmith works just fine for angled cuts with a little planning and rigging. The table saw works the same as every other one for flat cuts, except for some differences in fence systems. The drill press is great with no deficiencies that I am aware of. I have not used the sander or lathe yet.

I wish I would have bought one many years ago.

I just got married last year but I didn’t receive a Shopsmith for my wedding. I’m setting up a woodshop in my garage, and even if I didn’t plan on doing furniture and finer work, I have plenty of experience that a Shopsmith is a useful tool for a homeowner. My dad’s now abused saw is not going to work for my plans, but the 42 years of service it has done gives me some confidence Shopsmith is a good choice.

I am not trying to save space. I have a three car garage to expand into if I want. I am not trying to save money. I have it. I am choosing a Shopsmith because I know if one of my sons gets married thirty years from now, it will be a good gift to him. I’ll have taught him how to use it by then, and I can buy another new one for myself.

I opted for a component stereo, as opposed to a console, many years ago. I did so for all the obvious reasons: I can update a given component without having to replace the entire system and, if the power supply dies, the entire system is not down. It is for the same reason I have a Unisaw, a Powermatic band saw, a Delta planer and so forth.

All that said, if you are not a frequent worker of wood and can deal with table size limitations and conversion procedures that require careful planning or down time, this is a wonderful bet.

I’ve carried it through several house changes, with fewer adjustment issues than my former separate units had. Without the ultra-precision table upgrades, it is less precise than pro tools, but a little care and practice give great results !

Induction motors are wound around an even number of poles and have no brushes. Most induction motors used in machinery have speeds of 3600, 1800, or 900 rpm. Their performance and frame sizes have been standardized since 1938.

Universal motors can be designed to operate on AC or DC power. Electrical current is directly applied to both rotor and field. Speeds are very high, thus they can develop a lot of HP in a relatively small and light package. This also relates to lower cost. They are not as electrically efficient as induction motors and can be very noisy as you may have already experienced with a router or shop vacuum. Universal motors are usually designed into an application and without standards, repair and replacement can be a problem.

The induction motor produces higher torque at a lower speed. The amount of copper and iron in a motor, and it’s cost, is basically dependent on the torque produced. The universal motor gets it’s HP rating from the high speed, thus it is smaller, and cheaper, than an induction motor.

I apologize for deviating from the subject of this posting. If you are interested, the Shopsmith is powered by a 1 1/8 HP, 3600 rpm induction motor. Output speed is varied with a variable pitch pulley mechanism, activated by a hand crank. The output speed can be varied from 700 to 5200 rpm.

One interesting thing I note is that for someone who has very little space, stand-alones are not an option. Yet, If you have lots of space, a Shopsmith could be a nice additional tool to have. Turn it into that second drill press, with a setup or jig that you don’t want to disturb. Turn it into a table saw with a dado or moulder blade for the span of one project. I know of a farmer who has a small herd of Shopsmiths.

Some people cut down a set of way tubes and make a shorty version for smaller footprint. (and if you have and extra set of way tubes then even this is reversible) Others have made a dedicated upright versions taking up even less footprint.

700 to 5200 rpm variable speed available for every operation.

Consider it the transformable jig/machine, whereas the cast iron we don’t like to move it around too much. It is the transformer machine that is Made in USA ~ and there is still something good about that !

Something must be said for a company in this day and age that continues with customer care. Really. Truly Priceless. “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got till its gone ?”

Also I want to mention that the original maker of the Mark V, Magna Engineering, first started out with their cast iron model the Shopsmith 10 (10E and 10ER) which they sold over 125,000 of over six years. Almost every single part on that original model went through 2,3 or more design changes during that experimental period. My point is that there is more experience behind what has made the Shopsmith machine what it is today than some Shopsmith detractors realize.

I say Hot, because Shopsmith has an appropriate use in a small or large shop,
whereas stand-alones are not appropriate in a small shop.

~John