Some Shopsmith history (Kinda)

[cincinnati]

The cover of Woodturning Design Magazine (April 2012 as seen in the link below) is lathe work done by David DeCristoforo. The son of R.J. DeCristoforo who wrote the Shopsmith book "Power Tool Woodworking For Everyone"

Just a little info that may be of interest to the group.

http://www.woodturningdesign.com/

[pennview]

Here are David's comments regarding the Shopsmith in a post on the Sawmill Creek forum in 2009:

You tryin' to start another fight? "Dissing" the SS is a good way to do it. I had a SS once, a long time ago. My father wrote the book that came with them (Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone) You might say I "grew up" with the SS. I used the one I had for a few years and then "graduated" to heavier duty machines. So this is not a completely uninformed opinion.

The SS is a very clever design. It can perform fairly well in a "low output" or "hobbiest" environment. And it can be jigged up to do a surprising number of tasks. But it is what it is and the attempt to be a "do all" machine puts it squarely in the "jack of all trades, master of none" category. As a drill press, it is excellent as long as you factor in the less than rigid structure. As a horizontal boring machine, it's great. As a lathe, it's shaky and underpowered. As a disk sander, it is superb. As a table saw, it scares the bejezus out of me. The table is too small, too high and too rickety for me to be comfortable working on it. The fence is a joke. And while the blade is secured to the arbor with a nut, the arbor is secured to the power shaft with a set screw. That alone is enough to give me bad dreams. And tilting tables have never been worth a hill of beans in my book.

All other functions (jointer, planer, band saw, etc.) require the purchase of "attachments" which are simply small machines with no motors or stands that attach to the SS and use it's motor via a coupling (again secured by set screws). These typically do not cost any less than decent used single purpose tools of equivalent capacity. So it's hard to appreciate any real gain there.

Also, the SS is not cheap (new ones start at three grand) so it is entirely possible that by looking around for good used tools, you could put together a much better basic shop without spending any more and you would be free from the hassle of having to stop work to reconfigure the SS every time you wanted to use a different tool.
David DeCristoforo"

[algale]

So much for the fruit not falling far from the tree.

[robinson46176]

I was on another forum / list that he was on and on it he ragged on Shopsmiths constantly... I always kind of thought that maybe Shopsmith had turned him down for a job / endorsement or something and it was mostly sour grapes.


.

[algale]

I was on another forum / list that he was on and on it he ragged on Shopsmiths constantly... I always kind of thought that maybe Shopsmith had turned him down for a job / endorsement or something and it was mostly sour grapes.


.

I don't think his negativity is exclusive to Shopsmith. Go over to his blog at blog.woodshopnews.com and read a few entries. This guy seems to be just kind of a naturally gloomy gus in his musings.

[a1gutterman]

Here are David's comments regarding the Shopsmith in a post on the Sawmill Creek forum in 2009:

You tryin' to start another fight? "Dissing" the SS is a good way to do it. I had a SS once, a long time ago. My father wrote the book that came with them (Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone) You might say I "grew up" with the SS. I used the one I had for a few years and then "graduated" to heavier duty machines. So this is not a completely uninformed opinion.

The SS is a very clever design. It can perform fairly well in a "low output" or "hobbiest" environment. And it can be jigged up to do a surprising number of tasks. But it is what it is and the attempt to be a "do all" machine puts it squarely in the "jack of all trades, master of none" category. As a drill press, it is excellent as long as you factor in the less than rigid structure. As a horizontal boring machine, it's great. As a lathe, it's shaky and underpowered. As a disk sander, it is superb. As a table saw, it scares the bejezus out of me. The table is too small, too high and too rickety for me to be comfortable working on it. The fence is a joke. And while the blade is secured to the arbor with a nut, the arbor is secured to the power shaft with a set screw. That alone is enough to give me bad dreams. And tilting tables have never been worth a hill of beans in my book.

All other functions (jointer, planer, band saw, etc.) require the purchase of "attachments" which are simply small machines with no motors or stands that attach to the SS and use it's motor via a coupling (again secured by set screws). These typically do not cost any less than decent used single purpose tools of equivalent capacity. So it's hard to appreciate any real gain there.

Also, the SS is not cheap (new ones start at three grand) so it is entirely possible that by looking around for good used tools, you could put together a much better basic shop without spending any more and you would be free from the hassle of having to stop work to reconfigure the SS every time you wanted to use a different tool.
David DeCristoforo"

I know that I am preaching to the choir here, but Mr. DeCristoforo seems to have forgotten something that his dad knew; the SS takes up a lot less space then having a shop full of the stand alone tools that it wood take to replace it.

[Ed in Tampa]

Here are David's comments regarding the Shopsmith in a post on the Sawmill Creek forum in 2009:

You tryin' to start another fight? "Dissing" the SS is a good way to do it. I had a SS once, a long time ago. My father wrote the book that came with them (Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone) You might say I "grew up" with the SS. I used the one I had for a few years and then "graduated" to heavier duty machines. So this is not a completely uninformed opinion.

The SS is a very clever design. It can perform fairly well in a "low output" or "hobbiest" environment. And it can be jigged up to do a surprising number of tasks. But it is what it is and the attempt to be a "do all" machine puts it squarely in the "jack of all trades, master of none" category. As a drill press, it is excellent as long as you factor in the less than rigid structure. As a horizontal boring machine, it's great. As a lathe, it's shaky and underpowered. As a disk sander, it is superb. As a table saw, it scares the bejezus out of me. The table is too small, too high and too rickety for me to be comfortable working on it. The fence is a joke. And while the blade is secured to the arbor with a nut, the arbor is secured to the power shaft with a set screw. That alone is enough to give me bad dreams. And tilting tables have never been worth a hill of beans in my book.

All other functions (jointer, planer, band saw, etc.) require the purchase of "attachments" which are simply small machines with no motors or stands that attach to the SS and use it's motor via a coupling (again secured by set screws). These typically do not cost any less than decent used single purpose tools of equivalent capacity. So it's hard to appreciate any real gain there.

Also, the SS is not cheap (new ones start at three grand) so it is entirely possible that by looking around for good used tools, you could put together a much better basic shop without spending any more and you would be free from the hassle of having to stop work to reconfigure the SS every time you wanted to use a different tool.
David DeCristoforo"

I don't see anything here that is untrue or unfairly represented. He gave credit where credit was due and pointed out many of the things we all wish were different with the Shopsmith.

What he did not mention is that back in late 70's and 80's the price of the Shopsmith and Special Purpose Tools were below what you would have to pay for standalone machine. That has changed today. I could buy all the tools my Shopsmith and SPT's represent for equal or less price and have solutions to many of the problems the author of the article above listed.

Today the only advantage I see with Shopsmith is the space savings. And I believe if we are really honest and had the room all of us would rather have the standalone machines instead.

Before anyone jumps on me I will only consider criticism from those that have bought a SS from Shopsmith at full retail. Sure there are a lot of guys that will say I'm wrong but they have never spent a dime with Shopsmith. They bought their SS for 1/10 actual cost from a private seller and buy all their parts on ebay or from junked machines.

I bought my machine from SS and to this day I still buy all my replacement parts from SS.

[ryanbp01]

Ed-

No criticism from me!! I think you stated the position very clearly! That is why I bought my Shopsmith new in 2004 was for the space savings.

BPR

[camerio]

When I first saw a video program on pbs or another channel and I never made any calculations as to what it would cost to buy other stand alone tools ... as a hobbyist and having a 16X20 shop, I jumped at the chance to buy the Mark V and I went to Montreal where they had opened a store and I must have spent 3500$ right away for the Mark V and some ad on ... A year later I bought the band saw (the demo that the guys used to a wood show in Quebec City) and I have been very happy that I did when I did ... Later I upgraded to a 520 with the new fence, all in all, I like the machine for what I did with it. Not everyone is making a living with woodworking, so it is still a lot of possibilities for a small shop. For the time of changing it to a drill press or whatever it is enjoyable and all that is living : "taking the time of doing things".

[beeg]

And I believe if we are really honest and had the room all of us would rather have the standalone machines instead.


I bought my machine from SS and to this day I still buy all my replacement parts from SS.

Ed, I'd have to disagree with ya on the first statement. I have no hopes of a larger area, but I think I'd still keep my SS.

Like you I bought my SS new, buy most parts and SPT's from them. The only other place I've gotten parts from is Bill Mayo.