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Thread: Smithy v. Shopsmith?

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Bloomington, IL
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    I own a shopsmith Mark V and teh accessory stand. I have a 6X48 belt sander on the accessory stand and mostly use the the Mark V in drill press mode. I have made a few thousand dollars drilling aluminum for cnc machines with the shop smith. Variable speed, moveable table with gret spots on it to clamp parts, and horizontal drilling make it excellent. That sander is awesome for metal as well. Will I trade any stationary tools for a shopsmith - not many - but I am not giving up my shopsmith (until I buy a knee mill). I also have the big scroll saw from shopsmith and it is nice enough for me.

    I do need a Mark V table for mine though.
    Glad its my shop I am responsible for - I only have to make me happy.

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    NW Missouri, USA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phil Gwinn View Post
    .... Just bought a 20 x 30 steel building (workshop) with an attached three bedroom house .....
    Am I the only one that caught the important part of the original posters thread? Sheeeesh!

    Phil, with an attitude like yours - Shopsmith, Smithy, axe, whatever - you'll get 'er done.

  3. #33
    Well I don't know where to start given the varied repsonses? I decided about two years ago to get into woodoworking. I have always wanted to get into woodworking and I have always been a huge DIYer so it made sense to take up the hobby/passion. I found a used Shopsmith Mark VII which was only made for several years in the early 60's. They are once again making a Mark VII but it is based off of the current Mark V they just gave it the ability to tilt up in both directions which is what the originals claim to fame was. Shopsmith has a very long history and you would do well to research it's upbringing. The company has changed hands many times but the current ownership has been at the helm for quite a while now and is based on previous employees who resurrected it from bankruptcy.

    I bought that Mark VII for $300 and it came with a jointer and jigsaw SPT (special purpose tool). And then after rebuilding it which was a blast I found a 54' model Mark V on Ebay that nobody wanted because it was in very poor shape but after rebuilding the Mark VII I knew that getting this one back in shape would be easy. I totally disassembled the 54' and blasted all of the frame parts clean. Then primed and repainted them. I cleaned and polished all of the accessories etc. and put it all back together. It has the 3/4 HP motor but works very well. after replacing all of the bearings and doing all of the alignments and asjustments. That machine cost me $99 plus maybe $100 in parts. A while later I found a SS DC3300 dust collector for $30 and when I went to look at it the guy had a complete Mark V with many accessories he wanted $85 for the Mark V. I didn't need another Shopsmith but for $85 it was a no brainer to purchase it. So for $115 I got a complete Mark V and DC 3300 dust collector. So you can find the machines very cheaply if you keep your eyes open and are quick on the draw because they don't usually last long depending on your location.

    Now to address the machines themselves. I have also found them to be somewhat limiting and have moved on to acquiring seperate stand along machines. I just found the Shopsmith was too much trouble to setup for different operations. The tablesaw as stated was a compete fail IMHO and although I am sure it is usable by some it was completely unusable for me. I do use the drill press quite a lot as I don't have a dedicated DP and it works quite well actually. The jointer works awesome but is limited being only 4". I have the bandsaw on a seperate SS powerstand and it is alright for some small things but it is extremely limited for woodworking in my experience. I am looking for a dedicated 14" or larger bandsaw at the moment and I will use the SS bandsaw for metal cutting as I have a speed reducer now and I will be able to slow it down enough to use for metal. The scroll saw works well but I use it very little and if it didn't come with a machine I bought I would never buy one. It is however very heavy duty for a scroll saw and i am sure it is very useful for scroll saw specific projects as it has a very deep throat. The lathe I have only played with but it seemed to work quite well and I am not sure what the guy's are saying about a quill on the tailstock end? The SS lathe has many different tail stock centers and a tailstock attachment that as an eccentric which allows you to center it up to the headstock quill. It is limited by the heavyness of the machine to hold it all down. I tried to turn a big out of round log at one time to true it up round and the whole machine wanted to jump up and down even though I found the center point of the piece of wood. I had to weigh down the whole machine to stabilize it to turn the piece round but I got it done.

    In short the machine is very good at what it is designed for. That isto give people with limited space many options to work wood with. If you are space challenged and have plenty of patience then this might be a good machine for you. It gives you a lot of options and the machine is incredibly versatile and can do many things that you would not be able to do with a dedicated stand alone tool. I will agree that it can do many things but is not the master of any of those things. I know a lot of guys that have modified the machine to do some crazy stuff even some guys that have adapted the SS to machine metals. What I fond very frustrating and is ultimately the reason I have gone to stand alone machines is that the time it takes to set the machine up for differing operations was just not acceptable to me and as previously stated once you change the configuration you have to go through all kinds of alignments and adjustments that just is a deal breaker for me. Given you have a large amount of room to work with I would choose to buy stand alone tools for your needs you will be happier and spend less money ultimately in the end. If you find a SS cheap nearby then buy it it is worth every penny I spent on the 3 machines I have even given it's limitations I have been pleased with what i can accomplish with my Shopsmiths. Definitely do not bother with the clones they are not worth the money wasted on them go with the original Shopsmith or don't buy it.

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
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    Considering the OP is six years old, wonder what he decided.
    "Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
    - Rick Dale

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
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    Somewhere in the Land of Lincoln
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    I noticed the age this morning as well. I usually catch that too. LOL Some days your the bug and some days your windshield...

  6. #36
    James, I don't have a euro combo machine. I was once in the market for a combo machine and was asking for pro and cons on the two machines. Some day, when real life isn't so pressing, I may get back on it. For now, it's all work and then a scroll saw to relax with.

    Quote Originally Posted by James Crickmay View Post
    Phil
    I am looking for a Smithy supershop wood Lathe and came across your comments, you have a european Combo machine can you tell me the maker and where you got it from do you have a photo.

    Thanks James

  7. #37
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    Nov 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Rowe View Post
    I have noted several responses regarding the flexing of the table and I probably need to clarify. The table flexing I observed was when using a hollow chisel mortiser attachment. The flexing was so severe that the mortise wouldn't even cut perpendicular to the face. I determined that the use of the hollow chisel mortise attachment was hopeless on that machine. I did not notice flexing when using soley as a drill press.
    Another thing to look for, I think it's not uncommon to lose a bolt from the table and that will allow it to flex. My wife was complaining of flex when she was drilling pen blanks and that's what I found.

    While I completely agree about buying one used, I think the Shopsmith gets a lot of bad feedback that it really doesn't deserve. The things last forever! That's one big reason why prices in the used market are so low. I'm not wild about the table saw mode, but to be fair, I bought a table saw before I bought the Shopsmith and have never had a reason to use that mode. For 90+% of the cuts I make on my table saw, the SS would work just fine, but since sawing operations occur so often, it's a lot less work having a stand alone saw than it would be swapping over to table saw mode. I think the best feature of the SS is that it can replace a whole shop full of power tools for considerably less than $1000. As you gain experience and run across deals, you can replace it's functions with stand alone tools and even after you buy a jointer, lathe, drill press, table saw, and band saw, you still have the best sanding station in the world, a platform to drive all manner of shop built tools, and a great secondary tool to let you have redundant setups. For example, you could keep a dado blade mounted on it, have the bandsaw setup with a narrow blade for making curve cuts, or keep a drum sander mounted on the drill press. And, some of it's functions are all any normal wood worker will ever need. The lathe is just fine for spindle work and having the horizontal boring function is great. Most of us would never shell out our hard earned cash for a dedicated machine for that, and it works so much better than trying to jig something together with a drill press. One of the best parts is it doesn't occupy any more space that a similar capacity lathe sitting on a stand.

  8. #38
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Romeo, MI
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    205
    May as well weigh in since this thread has new legs...
    I've had a SS (model 500) for 20-25 years and it's been a love-hate relationship. It's perfect for a tight space or a tight budget. I probably did more woodworking in my little corner of the basement on that machine than I've done since moving & setting up a "proper" shop in a 24x32 outbuilding. Just the same I couldn't wait to replace it with dedicated tools. I never had any problems with it and with sharp tools & blades it did good work--but was always a PITA trying to properly support the work (tiny table). I still have the old girl for the drill press (the mortising investment was wasted--the quill is too weak to drive a hollow chisel, IMO), 12" sanding disc and horizontal boring. There's just nothing as convenient for drilling into endgrain than the SS.

    That said...now that I've finally bought a nice drill press I think it's time for the SS to go. I need room for a 6x48 belt sander


    Old basement shop:
    Last edited by Mark Burnette; 02-13-2012 at 1:50 PM.

  9. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Burnette View Post
    That said...now that I've finally bought a nice drill press I think it's time for the SS to go. I need room for a 6x48 belt sander
    I've got a 6"x48" belt sander on my Shopsmith! One of these days I'll find a good deal on one of those strip sanders (or just build my own and power it off the SS). Add the conical sanding disk and I think I'll have all the sanding (other than a thickness sander, already collecting parts to build that one) that I'll ever need!

    You know, you could pick up a belt sander SPT then cut down the rails on your SS and turn it into a dedicated sanding station. I've seen them cut down into less than half the normal length...

  10. #40
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerome Hanby View Post
    I've got a 6"x48" belt sander on my Shopsmith! One of these days I'll find a good deal on one of those strip sanders (or just build my own and power it off the SS). Add the conical sanding disk and I think I'll have all the sanding (other than a thickness sander, already collecting parts to build that one) that I'll ever need!

    You know, you could pick up a belt sander SPT then cut down the rails on your SS and turn it into a dedicated sanding station. I've seen them cut down into less than half the normal length...

    I have contemplated making one of my three SS's into a mini for just powering the SPT's. The 54' that I completely rebuilt from the ground up woould probably be the one I sacrifice if i do it as it has the 3/4 hp. motor and i don't want to screw up the basically stock 84' Mark V with the 1 1/8 hp. motor. The Mark VII doesn't lend itself to becoming a mini so that leaves the 54' model. I use it all the time to power the jointer already so I wouldn't lose anything by cutting it down to something smaller and i would gain valuable space. I think I may do just that this weekend as i was thinking about breaking the 54' down and storing it up in the lft of the garage anyway.

    I too did not realize the OP was 6 years old what a knucklehead.

  11. #41
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    Nov 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Mayo View Post
    I too did not realize the OP was 6 years old what a knucklehead.
    You are in good company, I don't think anyone (other than the ones who mentioned it) noticed. Funny, SMC occasionally fires one of these at me. I've never caught it in time to be able to tell if it popped up as a new post for some reason of if someone responding to an old post triggered it...

  12. #42
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Harrison Arkansas USA
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    279
    Whole lot easier to get parts for the shopsmith.

  13. #43
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Hanover IL
    Posts
    20
    I bought a used er10 in 1959 for $100. Best money I ever spent. My son bought a later model a few years ago, what a piece of junk. The old ER was a heavy, well built monster. I made many projects over the years. I still have it, used mainly as a drill press or the sander, since I have quite a few stationary tools. If I were in the market for one, I would choose the ER10.

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