Suggestions, please!

[PhilSC]

Hi, everybody!Long story, but I am the proud owner of THREE Mark V Shopsmiths and a clutch of spt's. I am finishing up the rehab on the third, and I'm going to rehab the three headstocks this summer. I'd like advice on how I could set up the machines to reduce changeovers. My workshop is one car wide by about two cars long. I'm planning on upgrading the lighting and electrical once I settle on a layout. All three have retractable wheels.
Here's what I'm currently thinking:
1) The band saw is already set up on its own table.
2) Set up one Mark V with Jointer and Table Saw.
3) Set up another Mark V with Jig Saw and Disc Sander
4) Use the third Mark V as drill press, drum sander, and lathe.

I'm just going to be doing general woodworking, and I can roll any of the Mark V's out onto my driveway to keep some of the dust out of the shop.I've seen lots of great advice on this forum, and I hope you all will let me know if I'm about to do something stupid! Thanks in advance!

[wa2crk]

Shop layout and configuration is very personal. What you have stated is a good start but you will find that over a period if time your work habits will change as well as the layout of your shop. Good luck and expect many changes.
Bill V

[jsburger]

I agree with Bill. What you have stated is a real good start. Once you have worked in the shop for a while you might want to make some changes. With SS that is easy to do.

[everettdavis]

The one recommendation I might make is moving work pieces between machines can introduce some unexpected results and take some of the precision away depending on what operation you are performing.

An example: Presume you were making a compound angle miter cut on the table saw on a single machine; You can install the sanding disk and make the exact compound sanding operation without changing the miter angle or table tilt. It's one machine. Moving between one to cut and one to sand could introduce variables you might not foresee. Obviously not applicable to every operation, but on those cases where they could introduce variances, still using the single machine 'conversion approach' makes sense, and the more expensive the stock, the more sense it can make.

Now to my recommendation. Alignment accuracy is vital to produce accurate results on one machine. It is essential to maintain all the machines alignment.

On the main page of http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... 90#p185690 you will find a document or two that might help with that process.

My method to the alignment process - Everett L. Davis.pdf
What Can a Single Crosscut tell you.pdf

Obviously there are numerous ways to align and test your gear. Mine is just the simple way I arrived at it. There is meat there, but you might season it to your own taste so to speak.

Under the My Google Drive link there are a number of folders with content too large to post in the forums. Most of those are documents and drawings you can bring up and enlarge to improve visibility and legibility. All are free and downloadable.

As John and others have indicated, as you use your gear you will develop practices comfortable to you to do operations.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of learning of and properly using all the safety accessories that are available to protect you from getting injured, as well as improving the accuracy and consistency that's possible.

Everett

[robinson46176]

One thing that I think is a consideration with more than one Shopsmith of the same model is keeping the same table and other parts always with the same unit.
I have one 510, one old Mark VII and one 10-ER. No confusion there... I also have two Mark V's that I restored. I painted them each a different color scheme and also painted the table, fence, miter gauge and tail-stock etc. to match. Some things like the fence don't have a lot of painted surfaces but it is enough to tell which one stays with which Shopsmith. I don't worry about most things (like SPT's, sanding disk, chucks etc.) floating around but those few aligned items I want to stay home.


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[twistsol]

I would keep the disk sander with the table saw for reasons noted already. But generally asking questions like what is the best shop layout is akin to asking what is the best religion. Shop layout is deeply personal unless you're in a production shop and making the same thing over and over again.

Since Shopsmiths are incredibly easy to move from place to place, try out shop layout and machine locations as you have ideas. For me, what looks good on paper doesn't always work in the real world, plus I often need different layouts for diffferent projects.

For lighting, try to make that as flexible as your Shopsmiths. In my shop I have good general lighting (20 recessed can flood lights) and then adjustable task lighting in the form of Halogen spot track lights. The lighting can change as often as my shop layout.

[JPG]

One thing that I think is a consideration with more than one Shopsmith of the same model is keeping the same table and other parts always with the same unit.
I have one 510, one old Mark VII and one 10-ER. No confusion there... I also have two Mark V's that I restored. I painted them each a different color scheme and also painted the table, fence, miter gauge and tail-stock etc. to match. Some things like the fence don't have a lot of painted surfaces but it is enough to tell which one stays with which Shopsmith. I don't worry about most things (like SPT's, sanding disk, chucks etc.) floating around but those few aligned items I want to stay home.


.

Yep! I have 'tried' to make different M5 tables/rip fences/miter gauges interchangable. The front rail mounting with sloppy holes should have made that possible. Decided when it became apparent that much filing of mounting holes would be necessary that it was unattainable. Maybe two sets could be swappable, but more than two, no. The trunion differences also made swapping unlikely(adding to the rail problem.) No problem with the miter gauges, they are interchangable.

Yes the tables ARE each aligned to the blade, but the rip fence is adjusted to the rail which varied too much. . The rails are NOT meant to be made absolutely normal to the miter gauge slots. The rip fence adjustment compensates for that.

So tables and rip fences must be matched to each other.

Not sure any of this applies to MV 510/520.

[dusty]

I now have a "smaller shop" but when we moved I brought the previous complement of equipment with me. Everything is there but it doesn't really fit. I have lost work bench space. It is now time (after many years) to rethink the entire shop.

Convert the Shorty back to a full size, full function Mark 510 which will host the Belt Sander.

Mount the extra Carriage and Main Table on the Double Tilt (no longer a DT) and add the Shopsmith Router Table. This becomes the center piece of my shop. The Jointer will have to remain with the Double Tilt as I am no longer to able to move that heavy beast around at will.

Use the Shorty's tubes and the extra legs to build a "Shopsmith Work Bench" on wheels. This workbench may utilize a carriage to facilitate an adjustable height work bench.

Employing all of the assorted bits and pieces (now stuffed into a Husky Shop Cabinet) will free up that cabinet space. That cabinet space is sorely needed to organize the rest of the shop.

This now leaves me with the Crafters Station. Hmmm, how bad do I need that space. Maybe this is where the Band Saw will remain as opposed to become homeless.

[RFGuy]

All of the advice that has been posted on this thread is great advice and filled with immense wisdom. This may be a tangent, but here goes anyway... The only comment that I want to make here is that a picture or shop layout diagram has significant value. Often times, I watch wood shop videos on YouTube, particularly the shop tours. Yes, I don't have the large shop like some of these YouTube personalities, but often I will see one unique item for how they organized something that has value in my small shop or a better machine layout. Unfortunately there aren't as many Shopsmith videos online compared to other woodworking shop videos. I wish there were more Shopsmith specific setups shared online particularly in pictures or better yet in video form. In the Shopsmith poll thread that I started, many members shared details of their shop layout including pics and layouts. I found this very helpful and hope others did as well. Also, a few years back, there was a very nice SPT storage cabinet (link below) that I like and hope to get around to build myself in the not too distant future. I wish there were more posts like this one showing unique storage and/or Shopsmiths setups that we can all learn from. I am sure there are more great setups on this forum that I have come across as well, but they are just not coming to mind at the moment. It would be great if all of these were kind of in a single repository somewhere, but you do have to hunt and find them a bit on this forum. I find it much easier to search for Shopsmith on Pinterest and find creative solutions. I know every shop is unique and has to be setup depending on the owner's needs at that time for what they are building...still going back to the OP of this thread's request, I hope more members share what layouts have worked well for them and maybe even include some pics or even shop diagrams in the future. I know I find them useful. Just a thought.

https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/comm ... 22305.html

https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewtopic.php?t=2899

[Hobbyman2]

small shops can be a pain sometimes,,, and a blessing in other times,,, one thing I have issues is with storage for lumber , if you by it green you can get some real good deals , sometimes .50 a bdft for hard wood , however if you dont have storage it is all ways in the way .
A good desk is all ways nice to have , or a cabinet or 2 for patterns tools blades and small parts .a glue bench and a work bench with a vise ?