How can we help Shopsmith?

[chiroindixon]

If all the folks on this blog site are counted as "We", to include "Nick", here are perhaps simple and doable things.

First....go to, and forward Shopsmith review(s) done by "Dan". They are excellent and he does a terrific job of outlining the case for having a Shopsmith. His "head to head" comparisons with other tools, especially a well rated table saw and band saw are well thought out. These, coming from a guy who makes his living at his craft, are fabulous testimonials.

http://www.songofthegreatlakes.com/shopsmith.htm

Second....maybe another section in this website for our projects and shops. Seeing what is actually accomplished by we owners would be advertising that SS couldn't put a price on. I will grant you that some editing by the administrator might be in order to ensure a degree of quality. Some of the backgrounds of Shopsmith items sold on ebay would have SWMBO cringing...and any disciplined shop teacher. Clean and neaten shops before photos, please.

As Nick pointed out in another post, the Internet is an ever growing research tool. I use it every time prior to making a serious purchase. A person surfing here to research a Mark V should be impressed with all our comments. But, projects with well done photos are what the visually oriented prospective buyers want to see.

Plus, we get to brag a bit. And why not? Ever surf "Norm's" home page and see the photos of projects that his happy viewers send in? Ever consider that viewers would love to do that stuff too, but do not have the shop space Norm has? We have the answer....

Oh, this criticism/suggestion applies to "the other site" as well. While it's nice to see refurbished and well maintained Shopsmiths of all vintages, I would be sorely pressed to find pictures and projects that would encourage me to explore owning one.

Third...get this type material in the magazines. To include some of Nick's. An article about that Wright Brothers reproduction done by school kids in Ohio, using Shopsmiths would be dynamite. Hard to believe that a project like that, assisted by such an authority, would not be accepted.

..Followed by a full page ad. (I had to stick that in. having spent an hour or so leafing through my stacks of various wood working magazines. It would be tough to prove that Shopsmith even existed.)

Here's to many more years of Shopsmith success......and owner loyalty.

Doc

[john]

This last post echoed one of my thoughts.

Posting pictures and details of projects produced on a ShopSmith would be an easy way to promote the equipment, to say nothing of giving us a bit of bragging rights. I am a member of several WW forums and all seem to have members who are proud to post pictures either to show their skills, or to ask advice on how to improve the project. I'm sure many non-SS owners or beginning woodworkers probably visit this site to see what is going on, but with no evidence there is not much motivation to explore SS equipment when there is so much out there on the floor with easy access.

I have only joined recently so I'm not sure if there is a reason members don't post pictures. I know I would sure be interested in seeing other peoples successes.

Happy woodworking

John

[butcherboy]

UOTE=reible]After reflecting on the postings about the financial problems at Shopsmith I began to think of what changes they might plan... bad things come to mind like changing the customer service, not stocking parts, higher prices, and well it is not to hard to come up with a lot of things that I would not like to see haB][/I]Ed

Other ideas?[/QUOTE]
I am a begginer in woodworking, and my first intro to shopsmith was a demo
in Omaha, Ne and at the state fair. I wound up buying a used one out of the
wantads in the newspaper, bad mistake. It was a model 10er. If Shopsmith
wants sales they should engineer their attachments to fit the older models
as well as the newer models. There is alot of the older ones still in use today
and we would like to buy some of the accessories and other equipment.
I just retired this spring and am looking forward to projects with my old
10er. Whats the view on this suggestion. Will it be possible?
butcherboy.

[rcartmetal]

Wow. How to respond to this. The ER model has not been produced since 1953. It was never made by Shopsmith, but by their predecessor. The E/ER has it's own cult like following, but to compair it to the MkV is like compairing a new Ford to a '53 Victoria.
I have a 1963 model MkV, and every Special Purpose Tool being made today slides right in. All of the upgrades of the last 4 decades bolt right on.
Sell your ER and get a MkV.

[billmayo]

The Shopsmith 10ER is an excellant woodworking machine. It is not a mistake to buy one unless you pay too much for it. It will outlast most of us reading this post. Since I have brought several 10 ER10s, I find the bracket listed in Ebay Item number: 250102698427 ($94.95 total) will allow the bandsaw, belt sander, joiner and jigsaw to used with the proper belt speed. Since Skip Campbell changed one of his 10ERs to a DC motor and controller, I did the same conversion with excellant results. No changing of belts and I have a DC motor with 2 CHP ( 4 times the 1/2 HP motor) plus variable speed from 0 to about 5000 rpm.

Since the 10ER sleeve with the pulleys is .810" OD, the drive metal hub for the Shopsmith power coupler is .625" ID, I used my metal lathe to turn the inside of the hub to .810" ID. I used my grinder to put a flat area on the sleeve for the set screw and tighten the set screw with red Lock-Tite. I used the 4" grinder to make the set screw flat with the hub. The person with the above mount will sell you a pully and coupling together for the same price.

Bill Mayo http://www.billstoolz.com

[/QUOTE] I am a begginer in woodworking, and my first intro to shopsmith was a demo in Omaha, Ne and at the state fair. I wound up buying a used one out of the wantads in the newspaper, bad mistake. It was a model 10er. If Shopsmith wants sales they should engineer their attachments to fit the older models as well as the newer models. There is alot of the older ones still in use today and we would like to buy some of the accessories and other equipment. I just retired this spring and am looking forward to projects with my old 10er. Whats the view on this suggestion. Will it be possible?
butcherboy.[/QUOTE]

[ctslacker]

Norm has a Shopsmith in his shop. Why not wrote him and ask him to do a project on it?

[paulmcohen]

Norm has a Shopsmith in his shop. Why not wrote him and ask him to do a project on it?

I think he did in a very early season, but now with infinite space and resources he uses either the "best" of every standalone tools or those provided by current sponsors (Delta). His drum sander for example costs more than my son's car.

David Thiel did a show featuring the Shopsmith on "DIY Tools & Techniques" episode DIT-246 featuring Dave Folkerth but it barely showed the value of the machine.

[Bernie]

I like this forum post. My SS was my dad's. Still have the receipt from when he boutght it in the '70's. Since then I have upgraded it to a 520. Don't do much with it except make pens for now, but have a few plans down the road. When I retired from active duty Coast Guard a couple of years back I sent a resume to the company because it had been three years since a show had been held in the Pacific Northwest. Thougth they could have used a salesman who believed in their product. All I got in reply was a nice email thanking me for submitting my resume and that someone would be in touch soon. I have since found other work. Seems to me that SS could benefit from hiring loyal users like us as part time sales reps locally to sell and service regionally. Imagine what several local users could do for the company. SS could invest in a local office for us to gather and a small office staff consisting of a manager and several part time woodworkers. They would not have to pay us much. SS would have local support and representation/sales staff. Too much here to flesh out, but this might start some discussion. What do you folks think?

[paulmcohen]

In 1990 when I moved to Portland Oregon from New York, Woodcraft has a local Shopsmith distributor. It was great I could go in and get whatever I needed and people knew how to use and service the equipment. All the classes they taught were offered on the Shopsmith as well as Delta. Once I got a chance to visit the Shopsmith store in Dayton and did not notice much difference than going to my Local Woodcraft. I don't know why Woodcraft stopped carrying Shopsmith. I know the Lowe's relationship did not work out and I am not surprised, I drove several hours with a friend for him to get a Shopsmith and when we arrived no one knew anything about it. Even if they had a machine who would have been able to show it off.

Maybe Shopsmith needs to use the Salad-master sales model and sell local franchises, or hire local commissioned sales people to work with Home Depot. Home Depot does fulfillment and the local representative does the real sale. It could even be a weekend only job, Monday to Friday you can purchase stuff but on weekends there could be an expert on-site to answer questions, and arrange repairs. With all the people buying used equipment it seems like repairs could also be a lucrative add-on business.

[Ed in Tampa]

In 1990 when I moved to Portland Oregon from New York, Woodcraft has a local Shopsmith distributor. It was great I could go in and get whatever I needed and people knew how to use and service the equipment. All the classes they taught were offered on the Shopsmith as well as Delta. Once I got a chance to visit the Shopsmith store in Dayton and did not notice much difference than going to my Local Woodcraft. I don't know why Woodcraft stopped carrying Shopsmith. I know the Lowe's relationship did not work out and I am not surprised, I drove several hours with a friend for him to get a Shopsmith and when we arrived no one knew anything about it. Even if they had a machine who would have been able to show it off.

Maybe Shopsmith needs to use the Salad-master sales model and sell local franchises, or hire local commissioned sales people to work with Home Depot. Home Depot does fulfillment and the local representative does the real sale. It could even be a weekend only job, Monday to Friday you can purchase stuff but on weekends there could be an expert on-site to answer questions, and arrange repairs. With all the people buying used equipment it seems like repairs could also be a lucrative add-on business.

Back in the late 80's early 90's Shopsmith opened local stores. At first the closest store was in Atlanta but I would stop there every time I went north. Then they opened a store here in Tampa, (yea!) in probably the worst spot anyone could find to open a store. Had they placed the store anywhere else that one factor would have made a huge difference.

In any case everytime I went to store it seemed to be doing fine. Then things changed, they got a new manager, attitudes changed and the store became a ghost town. I knew the old manager and he was terrific, he told me SS had changed their philosophy. They were replacing woodworkers with marketing experts that would turn the business around.

My last trip to the store, I was in the store for over an hour looking at different things. No one ever came up to me to offer help, in fact they were talking in the service area and didn't seem like they wanted my business. I walked out went down the street and bought the router I had been looking at in SS.

I called SS in Dayton to tell them about my experience and a regional sales manager called me back. After discussing my concerns, observations and such he explained to me I didn't understand marketing. I thanked him and predicted SS would be closing this store with 6 months. Guess what the store closed in about 6 months.

I think Woodcraft began to take over some of the stores but that didn't last long and now SS is back to doing business in Dayton.

I believe if they had done good marketing investigation and placed the store in a place better suited to the customers, and had allowed the dedicated woodworkers to stock and man the store they would still be open.

First everyone knows you have to put a woodworking store next to a store that spouses want to shop. Then the woodworker can shop while the spouse is shopping. Second you have to have people that know woodworking to make sound recommendations. Third you have to offer good prices and great sales to keep the people coming back. Forth you have to offer outstanding plans free or at very reasonable prices to give people a reason to buy more woodworking equipment.

On this point alone SS should learn from Gillette razors. They give the razor away and sell the blades. SS should give the plans aways and sell equipment.
I think that one factor helped SS early on with the Hands-on magazine. Each month it would arrive filled with nice looking pieces. My wife would usually pick out one or two things she wanted built from it. I would usually manage to rangle one or two new tools in trade. Sure there is Hands on on the internet but my wife never gets to see what the SS sitting in the garage can make that she wants.

Even today my wife gets the Wood magazine I have delivered and looks through it to see what she needs built. However as you all know the Wood magazine projects are not aimed at Shopsmith or the things Shopsmith sells.
Ed