Mark 5 to Mark 7 conversion

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:53 am

I haven't looked yet and I don't know if there are really cases where it would matter but one difference between an old Mark VII and a new Mark 7 or a two way tip conversion is the potential height of the headstock in left tilt. In the old VII the head will lower much closer to the floor than in the other cases (work sitting on a chair). In the other cases I wonder how high the table has to be from the floor for a shaping operation etc. (need a step ladder)?

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JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 12:30 pm

robinson46176 wrote:I haven't looked yet and I don't know if there are really cases where it would matter but one difference between an old Mark VII and a new Mark 7 or a two way tip conversion is the potential height of the headstock in left tilt. In the old VII the head will lower much closer to the floor than in the other cases (work sitting on a chair). In the other cases I wonder how high the table has to be from the floor for a shaping operation etc. (need a step ladder)?

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If y'all read the PM article above you noticed a height raising block for lathe operators taller than [5'6"]. One would work for under table shaping and drill press operation also. Yes the Mark 7 is 'high' shaping(that be one reason the Mark VII is so 'low' for other operations). Gotta compromise somewhere!

backhertz · Post by **backhertz** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:02 am

My forte is electronics, but wouldn't the teeth on each side permit you to turn the entire table over, rather than just tilting it- depending on which side you had the way tubes & headstock tilted. I used some secret formula JPW which I had trouble finding locally and everything slides so much better.

If the tubes are tilted to the left as there originally were I think, the table would be fine. But if you tilted it to the right side, the table might just be upside down. So unlock it, turn it over & voila! The table is not upside down any more.

backhertz · Post by **backhertz** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:17 am

I think for those of us who spent a lot of money on the Power Pro and the double tilt upgrade, Shopsmith ought to come up with a special logo plate that says maybe" Shopsmith- took all my money!" But seriously, How about "Shopsmith Mark 7" in large letters. Next line: "Made in the U.S." "Shopsmith makes makes ideas into realities!" I don't think there is any tool maker that has been around like Shopsmith. Okay, they took a 10 year break from 1962 to 1972.

Who ever came up with making every Mark V ever made compatible with this upgrade deserves to be recognized like all the other great inventors of modernizing products- not wasting them. If you've done the Power Pro mod- there just is no extra room for anything- let alone a 1.75/2.0 HP DVR motor along with the control electronics. It's like taking an early computer from the 70's which only had floppy drives and modifying it to run Win 7 as good as the best modern PC runs it.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:42 am

backhertz wrote:I think for those of us who spent a lot of money on the Power Pro and the double tilt upgrade, Shopsmith ought to come up with a special logo plate that says maybe" Shopsmith- took all my money!" But seriously, How about "Shopsmith Mark 7" in large letters. Next line: "Made in the U.S." "Shopsmith makes makes ideas into realities!" I don't think there is any tool maker that has been around like Shopsmith. Okay, they took a 10 year break from 1962 to 1972.

Who ever came up with making every Mark V ever made compatible with this upgrade deserves to be recognized like all the other great inventors of modernizing products- not wasting them. If you've done the Power Pro mod- there just is no extra room for anything- let alone a 1.75/2.0 HP DVR motor along with the control electronics. It's like taking an early computer from the 70's which only had floppy drives and modifying it to run Win 7 as good as the best modern PC runs it.

Shhhh! The power pro was designed in New Zealand, and produced in China. SS is the definer and seller only. That definer part is the most important re backwards compatibility.

SS is to be congratulated for partnering with teknatool to make the power pro possible! Methinks Jim McCann is the 'responsible party'!

backhertz · Post by **backhertz** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:48 am

Produced in China?!!! Eye, ye, ye... No wonder I need a new idler shaft. The was a problem with some in the beginning. Let me modify my previous post.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:31 am

JPG40504 wrote:Shhhh! The power pro was designed in New Zealand, and produced in China. SS is the definer and seller only. That definer part is the most important re backwards compatibility.

SS is to be congratulated for partnering with teknatool to make the power pro possible! Methinks Jim McCann is the 'responsible party'!

I understand Teknatool to be the primary design agent for Nova and consequently for the PowerPro's headstock innards but how do (we) know that the whole shebang was built in China.

Should we be surprised? This is about the only way it is being done these days - off shore. Gotta make the buck somewhere now that we have taught everyone else the technologies.

Has anyone looked at a typical high school curriculum lately?

If you know a half dozen or so eleventh graders, ask them (individually) to help you solve a math intensive problem. You might be surprised. I was!

Yes, I know. I just side tracked the thread - but only if someone follows the lead.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:36 am

backhertz wrote:Produced in China?!!! Eye, ye, ye... No wonder I need a new idler shaft. The was a problem with some in the beginning. Let me modify my previous post.

BTW - I don't think the idler shaft is an off shore item. It has been recently redesigned but we have no known reason to blame the Chinese on this one.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:06 am

dusty wrote:BTW - I don't think the idler shaft is an off shore item. It has been recently redesigned but we have no known reason to blame the Chinese on this one.

Ditto!

As a clarification, the power pro motor and control circuitry are a joint effort I believe(mostly conclusions on my part) between the UNZ folks and SS. Since Teknatrol production has been shipped to China, I assume SS version has also. The other SS components(pulleys, shafts, bearings) are I am sure SS designed and probably locally manufactured.

BTW UNZ = University of New Zealand.

The Variable Reluctance Teknatrol motor was developed there.

backhertz · Post by **backhertz** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:11 am

"Has anyone looked at a typical high school curriculum lately?

If you know a half dozen or so eleventh graders, ask them (individually) to help you solve a math intensive problem. You might be surprised. I was!"

I have a nephew working on a EE at RIT -Rochester Institute of Technology. It's be almost 40 years since I worked on engineering math & problems, but he is struggling, so he comes to me & I will make him show me his work & then I will find the mistake/error so he understands what he is doing wrong. His biggest problem? Graduating from high school with poor math skills which included algebra, trig, and calculus- yet he is unable to do what I consider still high school math problems but only at the so-called "college" level. The US is in trouble if our kids are permitted to simply slide through high school without learning anything. Then to add insult to injury, many schools have eliminated their wood & metal shop programs in addition to music. I think personally, kids have too many distractions and that I should invent a device that would create an electromagnetic pulse that would only effect computer games and social networking and leave us with 3-5 TV stations/networks and no- absolutely no reality TV unless it is filmed in the Shopsmith studio. But what do I know? I see the US losing its once world leading manufacturing capability. When do you thing it began- what the movie October Sky & you 'll see what kids no longer do anymore.