Review of Shopsmith's Lift Assist

[Unregistered]

You guys have convinced me. I now must overspend the Christmas budget by at least $144.49.

Go for it.

[chettrick]

Someone mentioned setbacks from the lift assist. I have three blown lower discs in my back and jumped on the offer when the Lift Assist came up. With enough pain, no price is too much.

In the meantime though, I was building a rolling toolbox similar to the one SS sells, after all, what woodworker wants to buy one if they can make it.

Anyway, after I bought the Lift Assist and installed it, I was finishing my toolbox. I found that the piston in the down position prevented the box from fitting under the machine and had to keep it under the work bench.

The second thing was that I use the lathe for small pieces and the mounting brackets prevent me from reaching the opposing end of the tailstock. It limited my use and had to get creative. I also must have did something wrong because the set screws in the metal tubes slipped and the tubes started to separate from the base of the SS. The alignment went off and reinstalling the Lift Assist after re-alignment of the way tubes made things better.

Despite the problems, I still think it is a great solution for some of us.

[paulmcohen]

The Shopsmith Lift Assist

You will also loose 2" travel for the table at the right hand end, due to the fixing blocks, but in practice this is rather insignificant unless you want to turn stock right to the limit of the Mk Vs capability.

I don't understand your point about limiting size of turning After installing lift-assist, I can no longer turn smaller items like Wine Corks and the upgraded Universal Lathe Tool Rest bumps into the upper bracket. Has anyone modified it to fit? The upper bracket also is not all the way to the right there is a 1" gap further reducing the how close the Table Carriage can get to the right.

[chettrick]

They must be talking about the smallest size limit. ANd yes, the tool rest is hard to manuever in there but it the same problem existed before when the headstock was closer to the tail, for instance with plates.

I started to just crank the quill as far as I could for the small items and it gave me more room for the tool rest. It still did not meet the tailstock but if you get the bandsaw extension tubes, (the ones used so you can lift the SS in upright position without removing the bandsaw), they may allow for close up work.

[paulmcohen]

I am not using the standard toolrest, I am using the upgraded toolrest (which I strongly reccommend) and it overhangs the carriage making the problem much worse. I don't understand the point of using the offset bandsaw supports. So you replace the legs of the tailstock? If that gave me another 1" I think it would work to align the headstand and tailstock but not sure it would help with turning small items.

[8iowa]

I installed the lift assit and noticed a problem. The gas tube is not centered and exerts almost all it's force on one tube. With the Mark V in horizontal position, a lot of force is placed on this tube, lifting it about 3/16 inch high at the far end. This of course causes a small mis-alignment of the whole machine.

I called Shopsmith's tech and talked to Linda. Apparently I'm the only one that has experienced this problem. I even carefully re-installed the system but the problem persists.

[reible]

Hi,

Can anyone post a picture of this from several views? I would like a view from the front of the machine that shows just how low things hang and maybe what it looks like when it is vertical... if you could maybe one at 45 deg or so. And one that shows the position of the unit from above or below???

I'm also interested in some dimensions like how far down it hangs and how far back and the length of the parts....... like if I wanted to make a cabinet to fit below it what would I need to do to make it fit.

I too have a bad back with only two blown disks but so far I've never had much trouble getting the machine up or down... of couse that could change anytime.

I'm working my budget for tools for next year and I was thinking maybe this should be something on my list. I have two machines but one already has cabinets below it and I would hate to lose that storage space. The other one I'm working on cabnets for and if I knew what restrictions I might be able to design around it... and buy only one lift for the machine that I will use for that purpose.

Ed

[reible]

Hmmm "Heaven is North of the bridge", I've seen that before.

Anyway I'm interested in what you are seeing. Could you get a picture of this?

I would guess you have checked the set-screws on the tie bar and that you have adjusted the head rest handle correctly??? That is where you see the problem right?

Ed

[8iowa]

Good morning Reible:

I actually have two lift assists. When we built our vacation home in the U.P. I decided to treat myself to a new second machine. During our travels on I75 I stopped in at Shopsmith's retail store in Dayton where Dave and Charles showed me the lift assist and even how to install it. My wife insisted that I buy it......nice.

The allignment problem described in the above post has occured on my "up North" Shopsmith. I won't be back up there until April so I can't take a picture.

I'll try to describe the problem as best as I can; with the upper assembly in the horizontal position, the upper bench tube (19) that absorbs most of the energy from the lift assist gas tube lifts itself about 3/16 inch above the socket setscrew (9) on the headrest (13) at the opposite end of the machine. ( the numbers are those on Shopsmith's exploded parts view). This of course skews the upper bench tubes slightly out of alignment with the lower way tubes (20).

When I remove the lift assist gas tube the upper bench tube once again rests perfectly on the socket setscrew. I even removed the headrest, took off the headstock, and removed the upper bench tubes to check them for straightness. As best as I can determine they were straight to within about .005 so that was not the problem.

Shopsmith's tech was not able to offer a solution. I offered the suggestion that the lift assist be re-designed so that the gas tube would be centered between two upper bench tubes, thus equalizing the force. It may be simply that I have a lift assit gas tube that is too powerful and above spec.

Interestingly enough the lift assist on my Shopsmith here in Gainesville FL does not cause this problem.

[paulmcohen]

The Shopsmith Lift Assist

You will also loose 2" travel for the table at the right hand end, due to the fixing blocks, but in practice this is rather insignificant unless you want to turn stock right to the limit of the Mk Vs capability.

I spoke to Shopsmith Customer Support yesterday and the women said they ship a tailstock extender with the lathe duplicator that gives you 1 1/2" additional clearance and you can use up to 2 of them. Yesterday I purchased 2 and expect to get 3" of clearence enough for both the Lift Assist and Universal tool rest. Another thing that should be standard when you buy a $150 accessory or at least a visible option. The part is not on the Web you have to ask customer service for it.