What should I do HELP ME

[onevw]

I found a Shopsmith set up for sale near me. It is a 1984 power unit with upgraded 520 pro fence and 520 tables. It includes belt sander, old style scroll saw, band saw, biscuit unit, drum sander, disk sander, 4 blades with arbors, various lathe plates, drill chuck, dust collector for table saw and some small other stuff. it also comes with a Pro planer (old style inlet roller), edge planer -(-red cover thing) with its own motor and stand. Two white power connectors Etc. Looks to be in very good shape all controls work great and look to be proper type, except the Pro planer thickness adjustment is a metal wheel not a crank and seems rather loose. I think it is missing the vertical table supports.
I have run the power unit and it sounded ok to me.

Any comments will help and are appreciated.

All for 1800.00 is this a good deal or just fair deal

[dusty]

Sorry, Rick. I cannot make that decision at this point. It sounds like it might be a good unit but without being able to run, hear and more closely inspect this Mark V I cannot give a recommendation.

It must, IMO, be in excellent condition for that amount of money.

[algale]

I found a Shopsmith set up for sale near me. It is a 1984 power unit with upgraded 520 pro fence and 520 tables. It includes belt sander, old style scroll saw, band saw, biscuit unit, drum sander, disk sander, 4 blades with arbors, various lathe plates, drill chuck, dust collector for table saw and some small other stuff. it also comes with a Pro planer (old style inlet roller), edge planer -(-red cover thing) with its own motor and stand. Two white power connectors Etc. Looks to be in very good shape all controls work great and look to be proper type, except the Pro planer thickness adjustment is a metal wheel not a crank and seems rather loose. I think it is missing the vertical table supports.
I have run the power unit and it sounded ok to me.

Any comments will help and are appreciated.

All for 1800.00 is this a good deal or just fair deal

I don't own a Shopsmith planer/thicknesser -- so take this with a shaker of salt -- but I understand there was a time when the planer came with a wheel for height adjustment and I think some still prefer the wheel it because it had some way of indexing how much you would raise or lower with each quarter turn. Wait and someone more knowledgeable will chime in.

Whether that's a good deal depends on so many factors, as Dusty said, and even where in the country you live. Assuming there's nothing wrong, in some areas that would be good deal and in other it would be great. I don't think it would be bad deal anywhere unless the condition is bad.

[dusty]

I don't own a Shopsmith planer/thicknesser -- so take this with a shaker of salt -- but I understand there was a time when the planer came with a wheel for height adjustment and I think some still prefer the wheel it because it had some way of indexing how much you would raise or lower with each quarter turn. Wait and someone more knowledgeable will chime in.

Whether that's a good deal depends on so many factors, as Dusty said, and even where in the country you live. Assuming there's nothing wrong, in some areas that would be good deal and in other it would be great. I don't think it would be bad deal anywhere unless the condition is bad.

Yes, there is a version of the proplaner that used a wheel rather than a crank for the depth (thickness) adjuster.

I would change to the wheel if it was a direct exchange but it is not that simple.

[easterngray]

My opinion: If you purchased all that gear for the asking price, you certainly would be getting more than your money's worth and there would be no reason for regret. That said; with patience, you may find a cheaper equivalent, but it may take a very long time, especially since this one is a 520. Those are pretty uncommon in the used market in my area. Let us know what you decide! Alec

ps - I checked option 2 in your poll, simply because I always ask for a lower price!

[backhertz]

I just looked at my planers. I have a Pro Planer & a Mark V Mount Planer. The Pro Planer has a cast iron bed & the Mark V Mount Planer doesn't. Neither of them have a wheel for the depth adjustment. Looking at the planer bed, it looks like this was Mark V Mounted Planer that was converted for stand alone use.

The bed is what caught my eye as I had to clean the corrosion off of my Pro Planer & the other one has a stainless steel cover on the bed- I think. I know the Pro Planer weighs a ton & I had to purchase a set of retractable casters or it was too heavy to move.

I just went through my old catalogs & found a 10/1982 catalog that introduced the "new" Shopsmith 12" x4" Thickness Planer. It is the only one that has the wheel for a height adjuster. I tried a dozen ways to load it using my MacBook and couldn't make it small enough to attach to this post. It was a $799 item then which was mounted on the Mark V.

As for the Mark V, I don't think it makes a difference, but it you look at the manual, it will have black printing on the cover for a factory built 520 vs a 510 that was upgraded. What is the difference? I honestly don't think there is one other than later 520 versions have the magnetic flexible rulers. These simply use a different front rail extrusion and include a ruler. Does it make much of a difference? I don't think so you get a much better fence.

You are getting just about everything there is for the Shopsmith. This is an 'older' system which looks to be in outstanding condition. As to the price, do you watch "American Pickers" or the Pawn shows on the History Channel? This is about 30 year old system. But condition is everything and it looks to need some upgrades- you can see them all in the catalog on the Shopsmith web site in the on-line catalog. Get a great price & you'll be able to easily continue upgrading it to a Mark 7 ( DVR, Double Tilt, Large Casters) or just use it as it is. I'm sure there are other things not in the pics and those always add up quickly. I didn't see all the floating tables either. I think all you'll need is a scroll saw & strip sander and DC-3300 & you'd have all the major SPTs. You will want to use a double-bearing quill as some of these older ones only had a single. The DIY DVR upgrade includes a new double bearing quill and anything with a bearing on it along with a much more powerful motor.

Good luck. It is hard to walk away from something like this which is the reason I have far more Shopsmith items than most people. If you wait for a demo in your area or maybe wait for a Webinar, you can save a lot of money for the DVR PowerPro & Double Tilt upgrades. That will bring you up to the 10,000 RPM world for using the shaper and give you more torque & energy efficiency for everything else.

Tony

p.s. I checked #2

[onevw]

I offered $1550.00 and looks like a go.
Thanks for all were comments.

[backhertz]

Congrats! I just reread your first post & realized I missed the first part where you listed the year, a dust collector, and the other little stuff. You'll have fun going through the headstock & cleaning everything up. If you don't do that yourself, there is the factory or other people who do overhauls and rebuild headstocks to factory-new or better condition. Every Shopsmith is shipped with a training course that will help you learn the basics.

There are many people here on the forum who have years of experience & will try and assist when you have a question or need some help. I got my first Shopsmith in 1992- a hand-me-down from my father. He simply told me to make sure I align it. It was a 510 that I eventually upgraded to a 520 and bought what I need to transform it into a Mark 7. I have two Mark 7s now. Couldn't help it. You should of received a binder with the instruction book for the Shopsmith and every SPT.

Shopsmith had a large price increase on April 30th and on that same day I landed a 520 & a new bandsaw for only $600 thanks to someone on the forum mentioning it was for sale for almost a month & figured it didn't last long. I happened to email the person and learned I was the first person to contact them. It was essentially brand new. So I got a second DVR motor for it on a Lowe's Demo where Lowe's offered free 18 month financing & it ends up costing me $2.40 a day. The demo prices were 20% or better off the new upgrades- DVR, double tilt, etc. Well the double tilt went up quit a bit because it had been underpriced in the beginning, but it allows you to flip the table for doing shaping & routing operations with the motor under the table.

If you have an opportunity at a Lowe's demo, or perhaps near another forum member, I recommend you see how the new PowerPro DVR motor transforms the Shopsmith into a very powerful machine. No more popping circuit breakers- you might notice that when you are running the 520 and turn on the dust collector or a Shop Vac. The DVR doesn't use any more current than is required. It also runs in reverse. Here is a link to the demo schedule: http://www.shopsmith.com/markvsite/event_schedule.htm

I caught the bug early and started buying whatever I could when the opportunity presented itself. I think I have at least one of anything Shopsmith ever made- even the original models- 10E & 10ER. If you go onto the main Shopsmith page, click Products, and then Downloadable PDF catalog, you'll be able to see the going prices for much of what you purchase and will feel really good about it.

There are a number of upgrades as I mentioned in my first post. You can see them here: http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/ on the left side under upgrades. But do you need them all? That's up to you. I encourage you to removed the 2 screws and pull off the belt cover. The hubs might have to come off first. You want to throughly clean out the inside of the headstock & lubricate the sheaves which is something some people neglect. Also inspect whatever you can like the belts the bearings, etc.

Now if you do the DVR upgrade, you can forget about all that because the DIY upgrade kit gives you essentially a totally new headstock. On You Tube, Doug Reid had posted many DVR videos that you will get to see the new capability of the DVR motor.

Shopsmith has weekly specials on their web site. There are of course Ebay & Craig's List too. Don't forget to put the word out to your friends that you are into Shopsmith stuff. I got a free Greenie that way as the owner was just going to throw it away. lol You are going to have a lot of fun. If you need any help, just holler.

Tony

[JPG]

The older index wheel IS directly interchangible with the newer crank.

IMHO GO FULL SPEED AHEAD. I am assuming it all 'works'. Even if not, it is all 'fixible'.

A properly adjusted planer will raise and lower the table very easily.