Tour of Jim McCann's shop

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DLB
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Re: Tour of Jim McCann's shop

Post by DLB »

Ed in Tampa wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 9:19 am I thought I heard that Jim retired. Is that not the case?
When I set up my engineering call I was told that he is no longer doing those calls but could be called in if needed. That doesn't really answer your question, he could be consulting.

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chapmanruss
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Re: Tour of Jim McCann's shop

Post by chapmanruss »

It was a bit over a year ago I talked to Jim on a call to SS, so I cannot say what his status is now. I hope he is still there since he appears to be one of the last employees with a lot of history and thereby a lot of first hand knowledge. I enjoyed the video and there were some great ideas presented on how to do things around the shop. Thanks to Jim and Nick for doing that presentation.
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Re: Tour of Jim McCann's shop

Post by DLB »

IIRC Jim did participate, internally within Shopsmith, on the recent discussion clarifying what the DC-3300 to DC-6000 upgrade consisted of. This was around the beginning of July.

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Re: Tour of Jim McCann's shop

Post by rlkeeney »

How many of you have a 100% Shopsmith-equipped shop?

I certainly don't.
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JPG
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Re: Tour of Jim McCann's shop

Post by JPG »

How many have only one brand appliances?
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10
E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
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algale
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Re: Tour of Jim McCann's shop

Post by algale »

rlkeeney wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 9:02 am How many of you have a 100% Shopsmith-equipped shop?

I certainly don't.
JPG wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 9:17 am How many have only one brand appliances?
What someone unconnected with a manufacturer of appliances or tools chooses to put in their house or workshop doesn't reflect on the company in any way. But Jim McCann isn't just a consumer of appliances or tools. He not only works for the company but is responsible for the design of the 510, 520 and Mark 7. It's a black eye for Shopsmith that he wouldn't put one of those in his shop.
Gale's Law: The bigger the woodworking project, the less the mistakes show in any photo taken far enough away to show the entire project!

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JPG
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Re: Tour of Jim McCann's shop

Post by JPG »

I am attempting to delete this post.

I keep getting this response

Sorry but you may only delete posts which have not been replied to.
Last edited by JPG on Wed Sep 08, 2021 10:43 am, edited 5 times in total.
Reason: duplicate(sorta)
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╟JPG ╢
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10
E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
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JPG
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Re: Tour of Jim McCann's shop

Post by JPG »

algale wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 9:32 am
rlkeeney wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 9:02 am How many of you have a 100% Shopsmith-equipped shop?

I certainly don't.
JPG wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 9:17 am How many have only one brand appliances?
What someone unconnected with a manufacturer of appliances or tools chooses to put in their house or workshop doesn't reflect on the company in any way. But Jim McCann isn't just a consumer of appliances or tools. He not only works for the company but is responsible for the design of the 510, 520 and Mark 7. It's a black eye for Shopsmith that he wouldn't put one of those in his shop.
I mostly agree, but we need to consider what the intended market is - home hobbyist.

After seeing some of "J M Woodworks 's production I do not think Jim McCann is a home hobbyist.

Furthermore there is no question in my mind that the quality of anything that he created using SS tools would be much less so. The 'issue' is time as we all realize the setup/tear down time required with a multi-function tool IS real but not so meaningful to a hobbyist. His shop has time saving permanent features that would be impossible with a SS.

Perhaps it is meaningful that this video from Nick was created AFTER Jim is no longer "full time" employed by SS.

I hope health issues were not a reason for his 'semi-retiring' from SS and that he will enjoy laboring in that shop for a long time to come!
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╟JPG ╢
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10
E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
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Re: Tour of Jim McCann's shop

Post by RFGuy »

Well, I kind of agree with both of you. Not trying to dodge here, but I have tremendous respect for you guys and can see wisdom in both of your viewpoints. I do see it as a negative that Jim doesn't have a shop full of Shopsmith tools, if for no other reason than he should have a healthy discount on them. Or, I would have liked to see one or two prototypes that Jim could have tucked away in his shop. Sadly neither is true. For me, I don't see Shopsmith as an overly social company. I know they tried to start a FB group to connect with customers but rarely is it posted to. They don't have a YouTube channel or any other social media that I am aware of. So, other than a few already existing customers that happen to watch Nick's channel, no one is going to see that Shopsmith's engineer has other brand tools. Are any customers, new to Shopsmith, going to be detoured by this?

To JPG's point, I do think Jim has a higher expectation of his tools based on comments he made in that video. I would have to replay it again to get the exact wording, but I know when he talked about the music stand he indicated he had to achieve accuracy in the thousandths with it to get the correct fit. Similarly when talking about some jigs on his tablesaw he discussed high accuracy of the stops a bit there. I am not saying you can't achieve this accuracy with a Mark V, but I think we all know it would be more difficult due to the table flex encountered. Even though you can do fine woodworking with Shopsmith equipment, it is intended as a home hobbyist tool. Based on the project pics shown, I would consider Jim a pro woodworker and not a home hobbyist, so he can purchase whatever tools give him the best results (IMHO).

Of course, we could all be over-thinking this...Jim may simply have those tools because they were gifted to him, e.g. by a family member, etc. Also, he might have purchased them before joining Shopsmith as an employee.
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JPG
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Re: Tour of Jim McCann's shop

Post by JPG »

Gifted? He said so! Drill Press.

Flex? He commented on his lathe having 'flexible' tube ways.

I think we saw one 'prototype'. That block of wood threaded (and oiled)with adjustment screws.

I concur with everything thee just said. I am assuming that social media stuff is accurate having no exposure my self.
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╟JPG ╢
╚═══╝

Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10
E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
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