Shopsmith Forums

I wondered the same thing, and started to talk about this problem with one of my friends who works at a machining shop, here is what we came up with.

Although it is high cost so i am not going to do it myself.

Take the tailstock to a machining shop, along with the measurements for the height of its mount on the shopsmith, get them to make something that will fit down in that mount on the shopsmith and will accept whatever size pipes you want to run whatever lenght horizontally from that point, we also built into it a work support so that the weight can be distributed across the lenght.

The trick is this, you have to make the horizontal pipes line up all the way across with the ones that the headstock is on, we did this by figuring that the adapter that goes where the tailstock normally would, will go off the side of the shopsmith and will have the pipe location in level with the headstock pipes, you just use a flat peice of metal to bridge that distance. Then at the other end they basically build a receptor for the standard tailstock, and a sawhorse looking stand under it for support, you can used whatever pipes you want and in theory make it whatever lenght you want.

But as you can imagine this would cost a small fortune to make so i probably wont ever try it

khd995 wrote:I would do multiple pieces if I could.
However these must be 1 piece turnings.

What is it that you are trying to make?

Router magic shows a couple jigs for using a router to make dowels and as a lathe.

I need to build two simple columns and am considering using a scaled up version of the dowel turning jig on page 102 of Router Magic.

jeeperjohn wrote:Router magic shows a couple jigs for using a router to make dowels and as a lathe.

I need to build two simple columns and am considering using a scaled up version of the dowel turning jig on page 102 of Router Magic.

wow! thank you. I had never seen that approach.

now, why do I find myself wanting to build one as a jig that clamps onto the quill of the powerpro head?:D
and do I need to drive 1 or 2 feed screws to cut spirals?:eek:

Here's the jig in pratical use. I suppose with the proper support you could adapt the powerhead to provide the turning and just slowly move the router...hmmmmmm...project time!

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/20495

"Build a big enough jig, and I'll turn the world"

Looks like someone trying to re-invent the wheel. Sears used to, and may still, sell a unit called a "Router Crafter" which looks the same as the jig in the photo. It wouldn't turn an 8 ft. piece, but as pointed out earlier, the best approach for safety and finished product is probably to make the turning in manageable sections and assemble them later. Good luck with the project.

Best regards,
BigEd

If you want to spend some money...
http://www.woodmizer.com/us/sawmills/op ... mizer.aspx
This is an add-on attachment for Wood-mizer sawmills which will cut basic shaped posts.
It looks like this would do the rounding but then you could probably add a tool rest or maybe even a router guide as a cutter?
How is that for a challenging project.

charlese wrote:The other day I ran across plans for a four poster bed in Shopsmith's FREE plans. Since the posts look to be about 6 ft. tall.
I looked to see how this was done on a Shopsmith. [ATTACH]5810[/ATTACH]

Is that a picture of your finished bed?

navycop wrote:Is that a picture of your finished bed?

No! The photo came from the Shopsmith web site showing free plans.

Look here - http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/ Then along the left margin find the words "Free Project Plans" (in red print). After clicking on those words, go down the list to furniture projects - The last item in this grouping is "Four Poster Bed". Click on this and you can see the photo and the plans.

Though sectioning is a good idea you might want to build a simple box to hold your length of wood and use your router to run back and forth along the length of the box. just an idea.