Shopsmith 10E With Missing Serial Numbers

[TimmyBorton]

Hello all,

I purchased a Shopsmith 10e on an impulse buy off of Facebook marketplace and while looking for a date of production for this machine, I realized the serial numbers are missing on the main plate. Does this have any significance? Any help is much appreciated

[JPG]

My GUESS would be that it started life as either a prototype or was intended to be used in production.

The rest of it look as good as the area in the pix?

After taking another gander at the pix, I realized it is on the BACK side. A demo machine often had a blank plate there.

SO, is there not a plate on the front side?

[TimmyBorton]

I'll double check, I can get a picture of the other side of the head later, but I do have some other photos of the machine.

[JPG]

FWIW you have a 10 ER.

Interesting use of a molder table insert!

[TimmyBorton]

Is there something that would differentiate this model from a 10e and a10er? What would that do for the production date?

[JPG]

Merely a detail(s?). An ER would be later. There were many changes during their production, but the 10E/10ER was the major one.

The shopsmith decals on the legs are also a potential indication of a former demonstrator.

[TimmyBorton]

Gotcha, thanks for the insight!

[chapmanruss]

JPG is correct about it having the Logo/Serial Number Plate on the back side of the headstock being generally for Demo units. This was to have the tool's name face the prospective buyers while watching a demo.

As to it being a 10E or a 10ER there has been debate about that change. For myself I go with what it says on the Logo/Serial Number Plate, 10E vs ER or 10ER. In your case that would be the one on the front of the headstock not the one on the back. When the change occurred from the Model 10E to the Model 10ER the Logo/Serial Number Plate said ER and not 10ER until later. This causes confusion as to the actual Model. An ER is a 10ER. Some use a major change like it going from the original wood extension table to the metal extension table, as yours is set up for, as a change to consider it from being the 10E to the 10ER. There was an upgrade offered for the metal extension table and any early Model 10E could have the metal extension table as opposed to its original wood one. One of the Model 10E's I restored had both the original and metal extension table setups but was an earlier 10E. Actually, at the time the Logo/Serial Number Plate changed from 10E to ER (10ER) there were no changes to the Shopsmith, but many had already occurred and continued after.

As JPG has said there were many changes made to the Model 10's during their production from 1947 through 1953. Some are less noticeable than others. The headstock had the most versions at 7 and can be hard to tell without close inspection. Your headstock is either version 4 or 5. The version 4 headstock spanned both the 10E and the 10ER models. A picture of the front of the headstock would reveal which headstock version it is. The serial number would also help identify it and the Logo/Serial Number Plate on the front of the headstock will have either 10E or ER on it.

That is a creative use of the shorter (1" x 6") Dado Insert as JPG noted.