Shopsmith users chime in!

[76winger]

Recently I've seen several postings from people with Shopsmiths or asking about them, so I thought it might be fun for some of us to chime in and touch base with each other. Take a moment to speak up on how your using yours, upload some photos and show off yours, just whatever. It's another thing we have in common besides making pens!

With that in mind Here's some photos of mine from the time I got it until as recent as a year ago. When mine joined me, it was in April 2004 (based on the date of the photo, I've forgotten the exact date) and was purchased for $50 at an estate action and was a basket case as shown here.


After a summer of collecting parts on ebay and some new internal parts directly from Shopmith, I was ready to spend the winter rebuilding. I was sandblasting and repainting EVERYTHING paintable, buffing and polishing the aluminum parts, replacing the way tubes that had rusted too bad to polish up and scrounging ebay for various missing parts. Finally a year after I brought her home she was like new and ready to rock and roll!


The biggest workout the old girl has had to endure so far has to be this huge chunk of walnut that started out about 13 inches across at this largest dimension. The SS speed reducer between it and the headstock was a must, to drop the turning speed down to 100 rpm for that big beast.


The SS endured well and this 11 inch bowl was the final product of that big hunk of wood.


Mostly my trusty "Greenie" keeps busy making smaller pieces of wood go round and round so I can make pens out of them. Here's a couple pieces of ebony mounted on the mandrel that's just past rounding and on to the shaping stage. Note below the wheels at the base I've made some 4 inch risers for it so I, at 6 ft 2in height don't have to bend over so far when turning.


Here's a shot of me posing with the Shopsmith, surrounded by several of the other tools in my shop. My trusty bright-eyed companion, Kdos, is not to shy to be in the middle of things and wondering what the heck "daddy" is up to now.


And every vigilant and ready for the next job in April 2011, the old girl has been serving me well now for almost 7 years now. The past 3 1/2 almost exclusively for turning pens and bowls, and powering the bandsaw attachment.


So who else has a Shopsmith, whether you use it or not?

If you DO use it, how are you putting yours to use?

Feel free to post pictures of yours as well! Lets connect and have some fun!

[flyitfast]

Your "greenie" is a treasure and you have done a good job of restoring it. Thanks for posting it.
I've had my V since 1976. Wife saw it demo'd at the Mall and informed me that I needed one of those!!! Have used it for simple furniture and other stuff. Have upgraded it to a 520 and really like the features. Best thing I did was install the easy lifting device. Can move it into drill press position with one finger. Like the new wheels that actually roll!!
The lathe is a little too low for me and the table saw is a little high. Don't use the lathe, but the saw gets a workout. Have a midi and full sized lathe.
Don't have any of the aux tools, but I'm glad to have the basic machine. If you have one hang on to it.
gordon

[chrishicks82]

Bought mine in 2007 or 2008 it has been used to remodel my house and now it is used to make my pens I will never get rid of it but I am going to buy some other single use tools so I can be a little more productive. I found mine on craigslist for $300 had to have it.

[kovalcik]

Bought mine new in 86. Just graduated from college and it was a choice between an PBM PC or the SS. The SS won and that was the best choice I ever made. Used it to build a house and some furniture along with basic DIY stuff around the house. Toasted the motor and had to replace it ripping down pine boards to make trim for the house (about 3 hours of constant use). Tried the lathe a couple times, but never was really happy with the results (my fault, not the machine's). Jump ahead about 20+ years. Have replaced most of the Shopsmith functions with stationary machines except the lathe, so it has been standing idle for a while. Took a couple of classes on turning and now the SS is back in operation as my lathe. Decided to try pens about a year ago. The sheave bearing just went before Christmas. I now have a small Jet lathe, but plan to get the SS up and running again soon.

[Justturnin]

I started out turning on my SS MarkV, which was my fathers. I turned anything and everything until I blew out the Quill Bearings. I eneded up picking up my current lathe on CL for $80 delivered so I went that route. I filnally replaced the quill ad use my SS for my TS, Drill Press and Jointer. I did use the BS almost daily until I bought my Delta last week. It is a great BS and I think SS did a fine job on it by taking away any tweeking to make it "right". Using the Delta was like learning to ride a bike all over again and the only reason I bought the delts was for 12" resaw capacity. My only complaint is the Dust Collection. I wish it was larger than 2.5" sometimes and the shroud around the Disk Sander/TS Blade lets a lot of dust out but other than that I like it. It gets the jobs I need it for done nicely. Now if I was doing fine WW I would likely upgrade to a stand alone TS but other than that it is golden.

[RichB]

I have the SSMarkV, which I bought new about 35 yrs ago, I think. I have a bandsaw, and strip sander attachment for it. It used to be my main machine but now I use it for horz. drilling and buffing out my pens. It is very useful for different machining. I have thought of selling it but about the time I think about it, it turns out to be the only machine I can use for a different project. I have a nice equipped wood shop, but it still has a place.

[Donovan's Corner]

My college mentor who introduced me to wood turning had a shopsmith but used it as a table saw and not as a lathe. He continues to use his Jet mini lathe, but I like the look of your shopsmith and wonder why he didn't use it?! I would have!

[76winger]

Originally Posted by flyitfast

Your "greenie" is a treasure and you have done a good job of restoring it. Thanks for posting it.
I've had my V since 1976. Wife saw it demo'd at the Mall and informed me that I needed one of those!!! Have used it for simple furniture and other stuff. Have upgraded it to a 520 and really like the features. Best thing I did was install the easy lifting device. Can move it into drill press position with one finger. Like the new wheels that actually roll!!
The lathe is a little too low for me and the table saw is a little high. Don't use the lathe, but the saw gets a workout. Have a midi and full sized lathe.
Don't have any of the aux tools, but I'm glad to have the basic machine. If you have one hang on to it.
gordon

Thanks Gordon, mine was little too low as well, thus the reason I made the risers, which works much better for me now.

I hear the easy lift is really nice. I never invested in one for myself because I have a Craftsman floor standing drill press, so any drilling done on the SS is usually in the horizontal position.

[TerryDowning]

My 1955 "Greenie" although it's blue now was originally purchased by my PaPa and then handed down to my Dad in the early 70s (I remember riding in the back of our station wagon bringing it home). I assumed ownership in 2001.

I have used every function on this tool. I also have the 4 inch jointer.

This is the power tool I learned on and my kids learned on. I use it regularly for all kinds of work. It does good with small and large. I do wish I had a speed reducer though as I would like to turn some larger pieces.

It does need paint, casters, and new bearings. But I can still get replacement parts for this beast of a machine.

[76winger]

Originally Posted by TerryDowning

My 1955 "Greenie" although it's blue now was originally purchased by my PaPa and then handed down to my Dad in the early 70s (I remember riding in the back of our station wagon bringing it home). I assumed ownership in 2001.

I have used every function on this tool. I also have the 4 inch jointer.

This is the power tool I learned on and my kids learned on. I use it regularly for all kinds of work. It does good with small and large. I do wish I had a speed reducer though as I would like to turn some larger pieces.

It does need paint, casters, and new bearings. But I can still get replacement parts for this beast of a machine.

It's amazing that after all these years you can only find any part you want used, but most everything can still be purchased new as well! It's a shame we don't have more of this kind of quality and re-usability in American products these days, instead of everyone thinking they have to come up with a completely new version every year or two AND build planned obsolecence into the products as well.