76winger
Member
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! :coffee:
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.
![](https://www.penturners.org/forum/../photos/images/8902/medium/1_003-BowlxxBeforeTurning.jpg)
The SS endured well and this 11 inch bowl was the final product of that big hunk of wood.
![](https://www.penturners.org/forum/../photos/images/8902/medium/1_BowlxxShapedUp.jpg)
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.
![](https://www.penturners.org/forum/../photos/images/8902/medium/1_004-MakingPensR.jpg)
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.
![](https://www.penturners.org/forum/../photos/images/8902/medium/1_005-MeAndShopsmithAndKdos.jpg)
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! :coffee: