Shopsmith Forums

I would agree with Ed. If I had to make a choice I would want the universal tool rest first. It makes the biggest difference in pleasure of turning. Second I would go for a speed reducer. It will allow him to turn large bowls which is for me one of the real pleasures in turning. Third place would go to the Nova G3 chuck. It expands the possibilities for turning and is a very well made product. Hope all this helps !
Paul

Curious as to how large is a large bowl? Can you do outboard turning for really large bowls. Also, with a Mark VII do you still have a need for a speed reducer? Finally, I would also consider the Easy Chuck as an alternate to Nova G3.

I upgraded to the Power Pro a few years ago and I will not get rid of my speed reducer. The PP and speed reducer combine to get the work down to 35 RPM, Great for finishing bowls. After the headstock speed goes above 1750 RPM the speed reducer is at 250 RPM and the reducer can be removed and the headstock speed selector can be used directly as the speed controller.
I would not recommend the Shopsmith for outboard turning. The design of the headstock and the legs would make that difficult if not downright dangerous. Shopsmith can handle bowls about 16" in diameter which is really big. There is also a limit in the amount of weight a particular chuck can hold especially if the bowl is not balanced (it probably will not be at the beginning of the turning).
Bill V

If you faceplate turn bowls, using a bandsaw to bevel cut the starting slope of the bowl before turning can yield a very good balance on the rough stock as the larger stock has more out of balanced weight, and it gets worse with the larger circumferences.

Everett

everettdavis wrote:If you faceplate turn bowls, using a bandsaw to bevel cut the starting slope of the bowl before turning can yield a very good balance on the rough stock as the larger stock has more out of balanced weight, and it gets worse with the larger circumferences.

Everett

But please be aware that green/wet wood may still be out of balance depending on how the wet wood has been oriented (laying on it's side vs standing on end and how the blank is cut relative to that orientation.