I believe I have identified my shop smith

akersrus · Post by **akersrus** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 9:25 am

Well ,
After doing some more research I believe this is a mark 2. Or what is left of one.
From what I understand the is like a bastard stepchild created by Monkey ward.
And I am guessing parts for this thing are going to be difficult if not impossible to find. I believe it is a 50's or 60's era machine. So if there is anyone that knows anything about this beast, I would be grateful for input. It looks like someone has used dippo intuition several times to fix it and I may be better off to just give it to the scrap metal man. Opinions?

dgale · Post by **dgale** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 10:25 am

I'd suggest starting with some photos so we can a) confirm the identity and era of your machine, and b) assess the condition and completeness etc. Hard to tell much from the above description.

idcook · Post by **idcook** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 10:46 am

Just looked up this, how do you say, mark 2?

Whew. What a surprise for me. Didn’t really know a thing about them.
(still don’t). So, I have nothing of value to offer at this juncture (usually), but I expect this to be a very interesting thread to follow.

All best with your effort to get this baby humming.

BUT… If this can be done you’ve certainly come to the right group to get it done.

idcook · Post by **idcook** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 10:55 am

Just found my way to an old thread discussing this very machine. I haven’t finished reading through it yet, but thought you might like to get started on it as well.

My reading makes it appear tricky, so far, but I’m expecting the forum magicians might turn the discussion around.

https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=6220

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 1:02 pm

I am in possession of many of those parts pictured towards the end of the thread.

I have the end caps, the table and carriage, way tubes.

The trunion is identical to a Mark 5.

The table is shallower than a Mark 5.

The front table rail is 'unique'.

That means the rip fence(which I do not have) also is unique.

The vertical tilt lock is a flip hook and 'screw'.

I have no experience with a 'complete' Mark 2, but consider what I have usable. Not as good as other models, but good enough for much.
I have rearranged parts and added an extension to the table to allow a Mark 5 fence to work with it.

I added a Mark 5 headstock, mounted it on a platform that mounts on horses and use it as a 'portable' unit.

Some pix:

The table depth was extended. The single screw retains it(it cannot rotate).
[ATTACH]24168[/ATTACH]

The original rail was flipped and a Mark 5 rail attached.
[ATTACH]24169[/ATTACH]

The vertical tilt lock. The screw is also one of the SPT clamping screws.
[ATTACH]24170[/ATTACH]

I had to make a table raising arm(ala '10').
[ATTACH]24171[/ATTACH]

A precursor to the Mark 7.

[ATTACH]24172[/ATTACH]

In the last pix you can see the endcaps are mounted to doubled 1x4 that are grooved onto a 3/4" plywood center(the blue part).

P.S. The original pivot pins were retained with spring washers(think internal fingers). I drilled/tapped them and added screws and a spacer.