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My Growth Rings with Scott Markwood

thedovetailjoint

Thanks and sorry about that. I’ll add those links now. There are actually two videos on that topic. Scott

edma194

thedovetailjoint wrote It turns out that Shopsmith beat this conical disc to market by roughly 55 years when they introduced their original conical sanding disc. In this video, we'll dig into a little bit of history and put the current Shopsmith conical sanding disc to the test on some gnarly wood edges.

Very interesting to see this video. I never focused on how the conical disk worked but correctly assumed it was similar to the old trick of using the regular sanding disk to edge boards. A couple of things in this video stood out, the center of conical disk is positioned below the table and can be used in the table saw slot, and the original Model 10 version was two-sided, flat on the front and conical on the back. So I ask, "why isn't a two sided conical/flat disk made now?". That is outside the scope of the video I suppose but it was enlightening to see and I think Shopsmith will get an order from me soon. I think I'd need at least 2 in different grits to avoid griping about the paper changes.

thedovetailjoint

Ed, good question. There are actually two double-sided conical discs made today. One from Woodworker’s Supply under their WoodTek brand and is flat on one face in tapered on the other. It is quite reasonably priced around $40 but would have to be mounted on a Molder/Dado arbor to work on Shopsmith. The other has two tapered faces and is sold by a gentleman on YouTube named Mike Farrington. I actually linked to his webpage in my video description. His is far more expensive and would also need to be mounted on an arbor. It’s an interesting idea though to be able to have two different grits installed on one disc. Both of these discs are much thinner than the Shopsmith version, which has a wide rolled edge. That would make them better suited for passing through the saw table slot. Scott

Chad

Scott, is the Shopsmith conical sanding disk molded plastic, or stamped steel? Looks like plastic from my house.

algale

Chad wrote Scott, is the Shopsmith conical sanding disk molded plastic, or stamped steel? Looks like plastic from my house.

Steel. How it's formed, I couldn't tell you.

jsburger

algale wrote
Chad wrote Scott, is the Shopsmith conical sanding disk molded plastic, or stamped steel? Looks like plastic from my house.
Steel. How it's formed, I couldn't tell you.

Yes, and very heavy gauge. About as thick as the flat disk.

Formed with a hydraulic press I would guess. Kerchunk :)

Chad

Thanks, guys.

edma194

The WoodTek version has a much lower price than Shopsmith's. However, you lose some effective sanding area. The disc is only 10" diameter with a 3-1/2" diameter hole leaving a sanding zone 3-1/4" high as compared to 4" with the Shopsmith disk. The effective sanding area is almost one dimensional, a thin vertical line, so that sanding height is main measurement of these disks. The WoodTek also has a 3° taper as opposed to 4° for Shopsmith (and 2° for the Mike Harrington disk). The lower angles thicken that line of effective sanding area and slightly lower the angle the piece is introduced to the sanding zone, but those factors may not produce any noticeable difference in results.

Chad

My Growth Rings with Scott Markwood

Watch it here: https://youtu.be/y50vprW9eH8

This past weekend we introduced the Shopsmith Joint/Planer Knife Sharpening Jig for use with the conical disc sander and this video addresses the Questions, Comments, and cheapshots from that video.

🎬 If you missed it you can catch it here: https://youtu.be/gqegXQGNeqE

🎬 Also, here's the video on how to modify stock abrasive discs for use on the Shopsmith conical sanding disc might come in handy: https://youtu.be/KAuJQSs1U8E

🎬 I’ve done two videos on installing and aligning The Shopsmith 4” jointer knives: https://youtu.be/TeEXQ5tQj-M & https://youtu.be/G3FOXuctD2M which covers the use of an inexpensive ($20) digital gauge.

Chad

My Growth Rings with Scott Markwood

Watch it here: https://youtu.be/mXMhBdZtaQo

Yes, I know that this is a LONG video, but trust me, even if you need to speed this up to fit it into your day (You know you can do that with Youtube videos, right?) you'll thank me for it later. Jim is one of my favorite people on the planet and knows more about Shopsmith tools and production than anyone I have met. There's more to come, and things really get interesting, so be sure to subscribe and check back.

WELCOME New MGR Chairman of the Board member David Carpenter! I realized that you had become a Chairman only after I edited this video and began the upload, so I apologize for leaving you off the end credits!

A few of the videos we reference in this one:

🎬 Here's Jim's shop tour with Nick Engler: https://youtu.be/O8-fU850MZg

🎬 Here's the H. Gerster & Son's video: https://youtu.be/5ownz8FSapo and there's LOTS more on their channel.

🔴 Please consider joining the 100+ other channel members in supporting the channel and get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGsm...

JPG

Reverting back to the conical disc(s). FWIW the SS conical discs I have are all slightly under 3° (2.7°) rather than the published angle.

On my M VII discs I have the same grit on each disc. Different discs for different grits(4). Their angle is about 1.2°.

Not sure how the tapered holding plate makes much difference? Holes that tight????

edma194

"Not sure how the tapered holding plate makes much difference? Holes that tight????"

What do you mean by "tapered holding plate"? And the rest of it?

JPG

It was mentioned that the plate under the wingnuts was tapered to match the blade taper. Since the taper is so slight, I question the need.

Or maybe I simply mis heard/understood what was said. ???

I have not had one of these in my own hands. (I made one out of a hunk of oak firewood.)

edma194

Interesting thing happening...I didn't recall that tapered plate and wing nut so went to rewatch the video in case mentioned there. Used the link a couple pages back to start the video and it wants me to pay to join the channel to see it. Switching over to YouTube I found the video and can play it for free.

In fact I was thinking of paying some dues for this channel because I find it so interesting and useful, maybe I'll just go ahead and do that. It is rare that a cheapskate like me would do something like that even with it being a trivial sum.

jsburger

edma194 wrote Interesting thing happening...I didn't recall that tapered plate and wing nut so went to rewatch the video in case mentioned there. Used the link a couple pages back to start the video and it wants me to pay to join the channel to see it. Switching over to YouTube I found the video and can play it for free.

In fact I was thinking of paying some dues for this channel because I find it so interesting and useful, maybe I'll just go ahead and do that. It is rare that a cheapskate like me would do something like that even with it being a trivial sum.

Scott mentions this on most of his videos. The weekend videos are always available for free. The mid-week videos he calls Stumped Q & A are free for one week. Then they go private for channel members only.

thedovetailjoint

Hey JPG. The point I think I was trying to make is that the angle that the base of the jig holds the knives is designed to produce a 45 degree angled bevel. Because the disc is beveled and the back face of the tapered knives are not paratonnerre the face of the knives, the angles were calculated by Shopsmith to allow the jig to be used without tilting the table, as we do when sanding the edge of wood. This was done so the jig could be used on the Power Station. The question that I’ll admit to being a little coy about is if the jig can be used on non-Shopsmith jointer or planer knives. I’ve answered that question by saying that I suspect Shopsmith would say that it isn’t designed to be used with non-Shopsmith knives, but let’s face it, it would work. The guy who asked the question mentioned that he used it on DeWalt planer knives, and I took that opportunity to mention that most portable planer knives aren’t ment to be sharpened because they don’t have height adjustment. Anyway, the fact that I could see myself sharpening my Delta jointer knives on it shouldn’t be an endorsement of the activity. Am I making any sense? I think I’m sleep deprived! Scott

JPG

Ya yo making sense! Re the grind angle, adjusting the table angle will allow differing grind angles for different species. I must have misconstrued what you said. When I made my oak jig, I cut the slot at 45° which will create a slightly more aggressive grind angle with the 2.7° disc angle.(47.7°)

Power Station? Aux table/rip fence/conical disc. Good way to get a slow grind speed? Trying to get my mind wrapped around that setup! All that vibration!!!

Sleep deprived @ 16:00 ? ? ?

Chad

My Growth Rings with Scott Markwood

Watch it here: https://youtu.be/51jRiMJXi-A

Continuing our conversation with Shopsmith power tool company engineer, Jim McCann, we move on to improving on old tool designs and the importance of a "weak link" in a powertrain. Jim has been a friend and woodworking mentor since the 1980's and has been working at and for Shopsmith for 42 years!

If you enjoyed this, here are a few videos you might also enjoy"

🎬 Here's Part One of my chat with Jim: https://youtu.be/mXMhBdZtaQo

🎬 Here's Jim's shop tour with Nick Engler: https://youtu.be/O8-fU850MZg

HopefulSSer

"Mechanical fuses"

Chad

My Growth Rings with Scott Markwood

Watch it here: https://youtu.be/7GuQMjgt3rk

We wrap up our conversation with Shopsmith power tool company engineer, Jim McCann, and we start off with a comment that I heard from several people who saw the tour of Jim's shop on the Workshop Companion channel. From there we talk about tools that Jim wishes could have made it to market and a few final thoughts. Thanks for joining us in this conversation.

If you enjoyed this, here are a few videos you might also enjoy

🎬 Here's Part One of my chat with Jim: https://youtu.be/mXMhBdZtaQo

🎬 Here's Part Two of my chat with Jim: https://youtu.be/51jRiMJXi-A

🎬 Here's Jim's shop tour with Nick Engler: https://youtu.be/O8-fU850MZg

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