Shopsmith Forums

chapmanruss wrote: ↑Tue Mar 24, 2020 2:01 pm Welcome to the Forum,

You have come to the right place. First a short history. The Shopsmith Model 10E was invented in the late 1940's with the first 250 tools made shipped on November 15, 1947 to the West Coast Montgomery Ward stores. Magna Engineering Corporation was the company formed by the inventor and his partners. It was first based out of San Francisco California. The tool was so popular the single plant could not keep up with the orders so an Eastern company was contracted to produce them for the Eastern half of the US. As changes occurred the 10E it became the 10ER. The early 10ER tools, like yours, only had ER on the Logo/serial number plate. The Model 10ER went out of production at the end of 1953 and was replaced by the Shopsmith Mark 5. There is not any actual data available on when a tool with a specific serial number was made. We know that the first 250 tools, believed to have S/N 1001 to 1250, were the first ones made and shipped in November 1947. Some owners, but very few that we know of, have original sales receipts for their Shoppsmith's. Add to that there were two plants making the Shopsmith and at first had a seral number prefix of R for the Western plant and E or ER for the Eastern plant. The same serial numbers were used by both plants with their assigned prefix but the serial numbers were not produced evenly between them. Most dates for the production of a given tool is an estimate. I have a Model 10E and a 10ER that I keep besides restoring and selling other Model 10's. My Model 10E is S/N 1077 made by November 15, 1947. My Model 10ER is S/N R64000 and is estimated to be made in 1952. Yours was likely made in 1951 and should have a prefix for the serial number.

As for manuals check under the Maintenance and Repair section for Shopsmith Large Format Drawings, Illustrations and More by Everett Davis. This will be one of the first three topics. In it you will find a wealth of information on the Shopsmith tools. Some are directly linked there and others are on “My Google Drive” with documents too large to be directly linked. Everett has become the Shopsmith historian by saving and restoring manuals and other documents. In there you will find PDF copies of the original Model 10E and a later copy for the 10ER which I recommend for your use. It will be the closest manual for yours.

As for parts, only used parts can be found when replacements are needed with two exceptions. The Quill Return Spring and the Quill Bumper Ring (rubber ring) are the same as the ones still used today on the Mark V 520 and Mark 7. If your has been well maintained you may only need to replace missing parts. Check the manual for what it should have and feel free to ask questions here.

The tool was so popular the single plant could not keep up with the orders so an Eastern company was contracted to produce them for the Eastern half of the US.

Redcloudz wrote: ↑Tue Jun 04, 2024 5:40 pm I have a pic of the entire headstock but for whatever reason I'm not seeing a link to upload the pic. I also have a pic of a Mark 5 that I just picked up. I would love to post these pics.....if I only had a brain. Uhh I mean a link