Old shopsmith hand made grinding guard

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 5:20 pm

It was not wrong when that edition was published. Take into account the age of the machine and safety considerations of the time. ALL Guards were completely optional at that time.

There are probably several reasons why the guard design was not published in later editions of PTWFE as well as many other useful items including safety/liability issues. Not to mention SS selling comparable products, etc.

That being said. You are probably correct regarding the use of home made guards from a safety perspective regarding abrasive wheels. Thanks for your inputs. Based on the price of the grinding wheel guard that SS sells and the low availability of disks, I'll most likely go with an inexpensive low speed grinder and reserve the arbors for buffing.

reible · Post by **reible** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 5:32 pm

Shot this with my camera as my scanner is on another PC, if it not readable I can do a scan later.

[ATTACH]20460[/ATTACH]

Ed

reible · Post by **reible** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 6:25 pm

BuckeyeDennis wrote:Hey Ed:

But then I saw the color of the headstock cover on your PP upgrade in this thread, and became uneasy. Proper ShopSmiths are now made in Ohio, and are colored Scarlet and Gray. Can you explain that sky-blue color? Do you have some Maize colored components hidden just out of camera range?

BTW, if you don't have a clue what I am talking about, no problem, only the residents of two Midwestern states are expected to understand.

Hi,

No school colors used on anything I have/own. The shopsmith was upgraded to a pro and since it was OEM colors from 1976 I thought it was time for a change. Thus was born my new look. At least if after I'm gone this comes up in ebay or where ever you will know it once was mine.

Ed

reible · Post by **reible** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 6:43 pm

pieceseeker wrote:I want to know your opinion on the PP upgrade in comparison to the older models. Great, good, ok.......

Too expensive, yes.

Once you get over the price it is wonderful. Larger speed range, more power, uses less power, reversible, I'm sure you have read all about it and it is all of that.

The machine I upgraded was one I got new in 1976, I had maintained it and it had only a few upgrades and replacement of expendable items done to it. No down time ever. That is a lot of good years. My hope is that I can get another bunch of years on it before it gets pried out of my cold dead hands.

The concerns I have is how long are the electronics are good for (esp the power supply, my experience is that is the likely weak spot). Will shopsmith be around when things do go wrong? Will this be something that will last long enough to pass on to my kids and their kids?

The down time I have covered since I own several machines. This is how my collection started, I had the one machine and then got to thinking this machine is getting pretty old, something could go wrong at anytime.... Not all parts can be gotten in just a few days or weeks or months. A second back up machine seemed like a better idea then stockpiling spare parts and cheaper. Slippery road after that.

From what I know at this point, I think if you can afford it you will be happy with it. So I'm sure you have heard it before, be happy!

Ed

pieceseeker · Post by **pieceseeker** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 8:12 pm

reible wrote:Too expensive, yes.

Once you get over the price it is wonderful. Larger speed range, more power, uses less power, reversible, I'm sure you have read all about it and it is all of that.

The machine I upgraded was one I got new in 1976, I had maintained it and it had only a few upgrades and replacement of expendable items done to it. No down time ever. That is a lot of good years. My hope is that I can get another bunch of years on it before it gets pried out of my cold dead hands.

The concerns I have is how long are the electronics are good for (esp the power supply, my experience is that is the likely weak spot). Will shopsmith be around when things do go wrong? Will this be something that will last long enough to pass on to my kids and their kids?

The down time I have covered since I own several machines. This is how my collection started, I had the one machine and then got to thinking this machine is getting pretty old, something could go wrong at anytime.... Not all parts can be gotten in just a few days or weeks or months. A second back up machine seemed like a better idea then stockpiling spare parts and cheaper. Slippery road after that.

From what I know at this point, I think if you can afford it you will be happy with it. So I'm sure you have heard it before, be happy!

Ed

Thank you for your perspective, I value your first hand experience between the old and new.

TheBigE · Post by **TheBigE** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 12:52 pm

Reible: Thanks for the scan. When I got home after work yesterday I remembered that I had a .pdf copy of the 10ER PTWFE (first edition). In there I found the guard. The only difference is the yoke has an extra cut out to fit around the 10E/ER stop nuts. Everything else appears the same.

[ATTACH]20465[/ATTACH]

In the text there is nothing about using a grinding wheel. Just a wire brush and polishing wheel. I would probably only ever use the same. I can sharpen things just as well with a belt sander.

-Erich-

fitzhugh · Post by **fitzhugh** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:04 pm

Nobody should ever be chastised for posting safety related criticism. That is how people like me learn how to avoid being a statistic. Keep in mind there are those of us who, while enthusiastic, simply never were exposed to proper safety concepts. Safety is a mindset and a cultural thing. I had really bad examples at every turn and am quickly catching up now that I moved from neander-only woodworking to having a couple shopsmiths.

Embarrassing example: I saw this and thought "oh good, now I won't have to worry so much about grit getting everywhere and grinding up shopsmith parts" and thought nothing about his it would stand up to a fractured disk coming apart at speed. Lucky for me I've held off using the table saw or getting a grinding wheel until I read at least ptwwfe, and barely used dp and bs before strip ping machine apart.

I appreciate the guard idea and will keep it in mind for buffing.
Sorry for hogging further off topic.
Fitzhugh

skou · Post by **skou** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:11 pm

OK, I just looked at a few wheels on Grainger.

The lowest max speed on what I looked at, was 3000+
Since someone said 700 RPMs, I think just using this guard
at that speed, may just be OK. (Oh, one of the higher speeds
was 17000+.)

I see NO issues running a wheel at 700 RPM, on my ERs. Even
with one built from a #10 can! (Yes, I'll check the wheel on
my brother's bench grinder at 3000 rpm, to make sure there
are no internal flaws.)

steve

rmojo · Post by **rmojo** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 1:32 am

I would add a dust port to it. I think I will make one to collect shavings when I turn pens.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 12:05 pm

rmojo wrote:I would add a dust port to it.

Add a dust port to WHAT? I hope ya DON'T mean the wheel guard. Sparks and sawdust don't mix well.