Shopsmith Forums

There are so many ways to connect this type of external equipment to the Shopsmith. I always tried having a quick way to connect and disconnect whatever tool or equipment I modified/constructed to accept power from the headstock. The belt was a little too loose for me in the video plus the link belt runs smoother and is adjustable. I found if you place the V-belt pulleys at least 16" apart, you can function with a 90 deg twist in the belt path without problems. I would jig up my first try using wood to see if it looks and operates somewhat within my expectations. Then if it seems like something I would be using over time, I would use aluminum "L" shape & bar metal to build my next model. I use a lot of slotted holes so adjustments can be done. My drilling, tapping & milling Shopsmith would get quite a workout at times.

rpd wrote:Have you seen this YouTube video for a Shopsmith/StewMac Buffing Station?
There is also a thread covering the build on the Telecaster Guitar Forum .

Yes I did, he has some nice ideas for his build. I want the bottom area under the arbor to be clear of a pedestal so I think the drill press mount will be an improvement on the design plus allow for a height adjustment. He mentions in the build that he is trying to for a quick and cheap solution and so am I. However, I think I can save the money for the right angle gear drive by making my own arbor from 1" threaded rod and pillow block bearings. I do like the StewMac buffs that he uses there but their buffer arbor is now ridiculously priced. The Shop Fox arbor that I was thinking about using doesnt have a 1" shaft and is more narrow than the StewMac version.

The guy who made that video is a regular poster on TDPRI, and has also made a great SS long belt sander with fret board radius attachment. He goes by name of Guitarnut. He makes some great mods for the ShopSmith, of which someday I will duplicate.

I have seen the belt sander too, i subscibe to his youtube account now. i prefer compound radii fretboards and i was cringing at dropping the cash on the grizzly version of the swing arm rig and his DIY version is pretty polished. The only thing that I might try is to figure out a way to swing the belt sander up 90 degress into the vertical plane so that i can attach a wrap around table for sandling bodies. I would just have to figure out a good pivot axis that would match up with the SS going from horizontal to vertical mode.