My Lathe: Vintage 1949 Shopsmith

John Taliaferro asked for pics of it so here you all go!

My grandfather bought it new at Montgomery Wards in 1949. He then gave it to my dad who, in turn gave it to me. I found that it had too much vibration for turning, so I designed a solid one piece shaft to replace the quill spline drive assembly.

The only function of the shopsmith that I lost was a drill press, and I have a seperate one I use.

The new shaft has a 1"x8 tpi with MT#2 end as well as a 3/8" through hole for knock out and a locking bar. I also added a 5/8" end on the pulley side to drive my 50's era ToolKraft 9" bandsaw and my shopsmith 4" Jointer.

I added a 10" Atlas metal lathe tailstock to a custom riser block mounted to a second carriage assembly. I can turn a true 12" over the toolrest and 24" length.

I have added a zipped word doc I had written up on the shaft conversion if anyone is interested.

All comments and questions welcome!!

Attachment 103711Attachment 103712Attachment 103713Attachment 103714Attachment 103715

Wonderful refit of a great old tool with a great history to match. Looks like another antique in the back ground that looks pretty nice!

Nice Lathe retro! Nice Malibu, too. You should really be having fun!... Nice work!

Nice restoration on both the shopsmith and the shiney car behind it.

yes both ,i would move the car before, i had a log come off broke the wheel off my john deer

Nice restore job on the shopsmith and the Malibu.

Quite a conversion on the SS! Looks like quite the project and it sure seems to have worked out for you. The mounted BS looks better than my 1981 model to boot...Bill,,,