Shopsmith Forums

This is a great website. And I did not know that there are so many of you with those old parts.

Here are a couple more:
I have several wobbeling dado blades that can be adjusted to cut grooves from about ¼ to ½ inch wide (I think). I also have a flexible drive shaft that adapts to the right of the quill for ‘remote’ grinding, sanding, etc. There are two sets of mortising attachments with lots of chisel-drills (not shown), and a simple stop with ¼ inch rods that attaches to the miter gauge to cut multiple pieces. The two flat bars to the far right are indeed part of the 'Universal Hold Down Set', one of the worst ideas my father-in-law and company came up with. Here is a picture of what it was supposed to do.
Price at the time was $10 for the whole works. I still have several rods and joints for this (just in case anyone want them).

So thats what those are for. I have the hold down straps and I thought they were from something else.

Steamdragon wrote:So thats what those are for. I have the hold down straps and I thought they were from something else.

With all due respect for my father-in-law and the company, the hold-down parts and the book 'Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone' by DeCristoforo (who also worked for Magna Engineering at the time) let to the feather-boards as we know them now.
On page 42 and 43 DeCristoforo shows a featherboard held in place by a large C-clamp. I remember my father-in-law later combined the two and made a clamping device that was held in place inside the miter-gauge slot and on top of the fence.

Here is a picture of the shaper fence that was shown in the picture above. Also shown are two aluminum and one steel 'molding knives', a 2.5 inch jointer-cutter and a few collars. The shaper fence was priced at $11.95.

Hi Jacob.

Thanks for your post! I recently acquired a Mark 2. I call it a Mark 2 not a Mark II because Shopsmith went to all that trouble to stamp it on the machine.

I agree with you, the Mark 2 has value. I would not go out of my way to seek one out, or pay much for it, but if one comes my way it's a good little machine. I just made a short video for you. Notice I used parts of the Mark 2 to mount my Mark 5 on the wall in drill press mode.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYdBng_WS78[/youtube]

You've been around Shopsmith for a long time. Did you know Ivan Hahn, the demonstrator in the Shopsmith training videos from way back? He really knew how to handle the machine.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5QP27eMXMI[/youtube]

Steamdragon wrote:So thats what those are for. I have the hold down straps and I thought they were from something else.

Hey Steamer, I have what I think are the rods of the hold down tool. I too was wondering what the heck they were for and where they came from. Must have been in the box of stuff that came from a craigslist purchase.

You are right about the Mark 2. Indeed it was referred to as 2 not II. The same was probably true for the Mark 5 (not V).
When Magna sold the product line there were several new owners and they may have made changes including the names. But I am not sure of that. I only got involved after the fact and I did not know the person you referred to. But those two movies are marvelous. I had never seen them.
I wonder how many people here have.

Along that line, I have never seen if some of the accessories were changed over the years. Here is a picture of the 18 inch jig-saw I have with some spare parts. Is it the same as the new jig-saws?

Jacob wrote:You are right about the Mark 2. Indeed it was referred to as 2 not II. The same was probably true for the Mark 5 (not V).
When Magna sold the product line there were several new owners and they may have made changes including the names. But I am not sure of that. I only got involved after the fact and I did not know the person you referred to. But those two movies are marvelous. I had never seen them.
I wonder how many people here have.

Along that line, I have never seen if some of the accessories were changed over the years. Here is a picture of the 18 inch jig-saw I have with some spare parts. Is it the same as the new jig-saws?

shopsmith 49.jpg

That jig saw has been out of production for some time. Probably since the mid-to-late 80s. It was replaced with a scroll saw.

Here is another adaption to the jig-saw. It was used as a filing machine.
I have several files that clamp to the piston rod that goes up and down. I also have some more table inserts that provide near zero clearance.
However, I have not used this set-up for several years as you can see. BTW It is too bad that the jig-saw was discontinued. I have used it a lot and it worked fine. The original list price was $49.95.

Jacob wrote:You are right about the Mark 2. Indeed it was referred to as 2 not II. The same was probably true for the Mark 5 (not V).
When Magna sold the product line there were several new owners and they may have made changes including the names. But I am not sure of that. I only got involved after the fact and I did not know the person you referred to. But those two movies are marvelous. I had never seen them.
I wonder how many people here have.

Along that line, I have never seen if some of the accessories were changed over the years. Here is a picture of the 18 inch jig-saw I have with some spare parts. Is it the same as the new jig-saws?

shopsmith 49.jpg

Probably most of us LOL.

Welcome and thanks for the thread, very interesting .....

Now the jointer is still available new, right?
This one is about 60 years old and still in good condition. The bearings are fine and all it needs is some cleaning, because, again, I have not used it for few years.
There are several packages of new knives, never opened during those 60 years and I am wondering if they might fit the new machines. Except for a couple, I can dispense with some.