New Guy - Old Machines

[BigAl]

Hello. I'm new to Shopsmith and to this forum.

As a background, I'm recently retired and have a few woodworking projects in mind. I grew up working in an industrial maintenance machine shop and then studied to become a mechanical engineer. In my day job I did a lot of production equipment design and troubleshooting. I've always been very hands-on. Twenty years ago I had a quite extensive wood/metal shop with a lot of individual pretty old commercial duty machines that I bought cheap and rebuilt. As life went on, I moved into a place where I didn't have room for a dedicated workshop space so I sold off most of my shop.

I'm getting the wood shop-itch again, so a couple of weeks ago I bought a 1982 Mk V Model 500 off Craigslist. I bought it partially disassembled, so I wasn't quite sure what I got. It was owned by an older gentleman who downsized. A friend was selling it for him and I think some parts of the machine got scrapped accidentally before the friend brought it home to sell it for him. There were not enough parts to put it together as a Model 500 but I found enough extra parts in the pile (aux table, guards, tubes, hardware, arbors, tool rest, fence) to upgrade it to basically a Model 505 . . . after I bought the missing main table top on eBay. I’ll probably put the leftover Model 500 parts up on eBay just to be rid of them.

It also came with a jointer, bandsaw and scroll saw. I have the basic machine all assembled and adjusted.

I have the main table, guards, etc., set up and aligned. It's working well as a table saw.

I have the jointer all de-rusted and working okay.

The bandsaw has the bronze bearings for the Auto-Track and blade guides. They were squealing until I oiled them. I have the ball bearing retrofit kit on order. The tires are kind of chewed up but working fine. Should I replace them with urethane or rubber? The cast iron table is kind of rusty. Today's job is to get that cleaned up.

The scroll saw is an early one (gray). The aluminum guard hood is missing and the bracket for it is broken. I have the new plastic hood and a replacement bracket on order. Is the cam-type blade holder upgrade worth it? I don’t have the original blade mounting fixture. Does anyone have dimensions so I can make one? Otherwise the saw works fine. (I removed the rear blade guide.)

Anyway . . . hello and thanks in advance for any replies. I'm learning a lot from reading this forum and also watching YouTube videos. I’m sure I’ll be posting again as I discover more about my new/old machine.

[RFGuy]

The bandsaw has the bronze bearings for the Auto-Track and blade guides. They were squealing until I oiled them. I have the ball bearing retrofit kit on order. The tires are kind of chewed up but working fine. Should I replace them with urethane or rubber? The cast iron table is kind of rusty. Today's job is to get that cleaned up.

Welcome to the forum! On the bandsaw tire question, in past discussions here some members still use the rubber bandsaw tires and prefer them. Others prefer the urethane tires over the rubber ones. I am in the latter group. IF you decide to go with urethane tires, I highly recommend against the Shopsmith ones (red in picture but orange IRL). Myself and several other forum members have had these orange urethane tires slip right off the wheel while in use. Not fun when it happens. Instead I recommend the bluemax urethane bandsaw tires for the Shopsmith bandsaw. If you search on eBay for "Shopsmith bandsaw tire bluemax" you should find them. On the other hand if you go with a rubber replacement just know that you will need to glue the rubber tires in place. The urethane tires are a friction fit (unless they are the Shopsmith orange ones) so they don't need any glue to stay in place. Some thread links below if you want to see some of the past discussions on bandsaw tires:

viewtopic.php?p=278216#p278216

[chapmanruss]

BigAl,

Welcome to the Shopsmith Forum.

Check out the information RFGuy linked in his post. The link includes another link to more Bandsaw Tire comments. As for myself I have used both the original rubber tires and the Blue Max urethane tires and had no problems with either. I have not tried the Shopsmith orange urethane tires so no opinion on them. I do tend to favor the rubber tires but that may be more of my desire to restore Shopsmith tools to as original as possible. That being said I do like upgrades made for the Shopsmith tools and do recommend the Bandsaw Back-Up Roller Retrofit Kit to replace the older ones you currently have.

The Blade Block Upgrade for the Scroll Saw is one I believe you will appreciate using rather than the Blade Blocks that came with the Gray Scroll Saws. I did that on my Gray Scroll Saw and do not plan on ever going back to the original Blade Blocks. As for the Blade Mounting Fixture there was two types depending on which table your Scroll saw has. One, like mine was cast into the edge of the table (shown in the picture below) and the earlier version was an attachment on the back of the arm. With the Blade Block Upgrade it will no longer be needed.

_

Gray Scroll Saw with original Blade Blocks

Scroll Saw Block Holder.jpg (93.31 KiB) Viewed 606 times

.
I like my Gray Scroll Saw and have no desire to replace it with the current Teal one. Unfortunately when Shopsmith came out with the Teal Scroll Saw they made changes to it besides the color of paint. Many of the parts are not interchangeable with the older Gray Scroll Saw.

Hopefully you received Owner's Manuals for the tools. They are a great help in using and maintaining them. The current Bandsaw Manual and part diagram/list are available as a PDF here on the Shopsmith website at the links below. It is for the Aluminum Table Bandsaw but the cast Iron Table Bandsaw is mostly the same other than the table.

https://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/manuals/845539.pdf

https://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/manuals/845541.pdf

Other manuals would need to be purchased but a summary Manual for the Mark V 500 and other models are available here on the website at the bottom of the page under Owner's Manuals linked below.

https://www.shopsmith.com/service/mark/index.htm

[BigAl]

Instead I recommend the bluemax urethane bandsaw tires for the Shopsmith bandsaw. If you search on eBay for "Shopsmith bandsaw tire bluemax" you should find them. On the other hand if you go with a rubber replacement just know that you will need to glue the rubber tires in place. The urethane tires are a friction fit (unless they are the Shopsmith orange ones) so they don't need any glue to stay in place. Some thread links below if you want to see some of the past discussions on bandsaw tires:

viewtopic.php?p=278216#p278216

Thanks for the information! The tires I have are caked up with resin and sawdust. After I clean them up, I'll know if they need replacement and I'll decide which way to go.

BigAl,


The Blade Block Upgrade for the Scroll Saw is one I believe you will appreciate using rather than the Blade Blocks that came with the Gray Scroll Saws. I did that on my Gray Scroll Saw and do not plan on ever going back to the original Blade Blocks. As for the Blade Mounting Fixture there was two types depending on which table your Scroll saw has. One, like mine was cast into the edge of the table (shown in the picture below) and the earlier version was an attachment on the back of the arm. With the Blade Block Upgrade it will no longer be needed.

_
Scroll Saw Block Holder.jpg
.
I like my Gray Scroll Saw and have no desire to replace it with the current Teal one. Unfortunately when Shopsmith came out with the Teal Scroll Saw they made changes to it besides the color of paint. Many of the parts are not interchangeable with the older Gray Scroll Saw.

Hopefully you received Owner's Manuals for the tools. They are a great help in using and maintaining them. The current Bandsaw Manual and part diagram/list are available as a PDF here on the Shopsmith website at the links below. It is for the Aluminum Table Bandsaw but the cast Iron Table Bandsaw is mostly the same other than the table.

https://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/manuals/845539.pdf

https://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/manuals/845541.pdf

Other manuals would need to be purchased but a summary Manual for the Mark V 500 and other models are available here on the website at the bottom of the page under Owner's Manuals linked below.

https://www.shopsmith.com/service/mark/index.htm

Thanks! I don't have the holder built into my machine, so I just ordered the updated blade attachment parts.
Thanks too, for the links to manuals. I didn't get any documentation with my machines. I've downloaded quite a few manuals already. I think what I have is close enough to get me going. The only machine that I can't find updated manuals on is the jointer. I found one for the old Magna jointer that seems pretty close though.

[chapmanruss]

The Jointer hasn't changed all that much since it was first made in 1953 as the Model 4E for the Shopsmith 5 in 1 Tool Models 10E and 10ER. As an example, I have a Model 4E Jointer which had a damaged Quadrant and the current one is the same. If the Manual you found for the Jointer is a 1964 or later version the part numbers are the same except for a few upgrades all of which can be added to any Model 620 Jointer from 1954 or later. The most recent change is the Cutter Head Assembly which will fit the older Jointers. If Cutter Head Assembly parts are needed for an older one they may need to be found used or buy a new Cutter Head Assembly. The Knives and Bearings are the same but the wedges, screws and Cutter Head itself are different.

Because of the differences between the early Gray Scroll Saws and the current Teal Scroll Saws you would want to get the older Manual for the correct parts diagrams and lists. The one I have for the Model 555220 Scroll Saw with the early Table is dated 4/88. The function would be similar especially with the Blade Block Upgrade as shown in the current (Teal) Scroll Saw Manual but the part numbers would be different.

[BigAl]

Thanks for the reply! Good info!

Today I also discovered a problem with my existing scroll saw hold down foot. I posted a question about it in a new thread.