Shopsmith

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Hi! I got a used Shopsmith for free. Just asking opinions out there if it's worth doing a little fixup for use as the lathe. I already know the high slow speed is an issue. And the lack of parts. And it really is not that great. But it was FREE. Is it worthy of being used? I only have a Jet mini now. I'd like to turn some bigger bowls. The Jet mini does not like turning big stuff. Don't really want to dump money in it if it's not going to produce. The speed reducer seems like something to get, but quite a few bucks.

I did try a search....


TIA

[Al Wasser]

If the fixup is cheap the shopsmith will make a useable lathe but not a good one. I have one and I later bought a jet lathe. The shopsmith makes a better spindle turning lathe than a bowl lathe. To turn anything larger that about 10" you probably need to fasten it to the floor to keep it walking around until you get your bowl balanced.

[Dean Thomas]

I pretty much agree with Al.

I do love my Shopsmith and have used it for lots of stuff for lots of years. If you concentrate on mostly spindle stuff, and pens and the like, it will do you well. Two or three bags of sand on the bottom tubes will help a LOT for chunkier projects.

When I started to want to turn bowls, I quickly found out that the lowest speed was a problem ("SLOW" is rated at 700rpm and is okay and safe for a bowl that is no larger than about 9"; well, 8.5, really), and the biggie is that most Shopsmiths were not carefully built to have the centers exactly between the way tubes! That came as a real shock to me. When you have a carpenters square that isn't, you can fix that. You can fiddle with the tailstock, but you really cannot move the headstock much. When you reverse chuck a bowl or box, dry wood or not, what was just round now isn't. When I figured that out, a started looking and working toward a stand-alone lathe. I still have a dandy drill press and a pretty flexible table saw, plus jointer, bandsaw, strip-sander and other stuff in my Shopsmith, but my turning is now done on my Jet.

The other issue is of course, that the Shopsmith is a compromise machine. Too tall for most folk's taste as a table saw, and WAY too low for most folks as a lathe unless you're really, really short or have a trench next to your Shopsmith, or like spending time bent over at 90º.

[Steve Mawson]

I rebuilt one last winter. Got the bearings and new belt at an auto parts store-well two stores. One did not have everything. Parts at Shopsmith are a little on the pricey side. Mine was a Mark V-probably spent about 60-75 dollars. Runs a lot smoother after the new parts. Still not the best bowl lathe but I have done a few on it. Lots of pens and spindle turnings.