Shopsmith Forums

Blair wrote:Does the mark 5 have more than one drive belt? I haven't taken delivery of the one I bought yet, but yes, I am already scouting out another for versatility. Is the band saw and jig saw add ons very good?

It has two belts. The motor belt is a slightly oversize half inch wide v-belt but is a non-standard(standard when Mark 5 was designed a half century ago) length(26.5") that connects to the idler shaft.

The second belt is either a Gilmer(cogged) belt or a Poly-V(auto serpentine) belt that connects the idler shaft to the main shaft. There is at least one other source for the Poly-V belt, but I know of no other source for the Gilmer belt than SS.

The band saw is very good, but it's design is unique re blade tracking(a good thing IMHO). The jig saw is decent, but not as good as a scroll saw. The jig saw has a bad habit of leaking crankcase oil possibly caused by a small vent hole getting plugged up.

However, its all good!!!

The shopsmith I am getting on Tuesday is the model 500. Does anyone know of anyone else upgrading the table saw top and fence system without buying the shopsmith upgrade? I've been considering the power pro upgrade in the future if I really like the machine, but wouldn't want to do it with the 500 tables and fences, as I would never use the tables and fences in the 500 for anything that would justify the power pro upgrade. I know that what I'm saying is that I really should be buying the ss mk7 to begin with, but short of buying a brand new one, there don't seem to be many out there. A new one is well beyond my budget

Blair wrote:The shopsmith I am getting on Tuesday is the model 500. Does anyone know of anyone else upgrading the table saw top and fence system without buying the shopsmith upgrade? I've been considering the power pro upgrade in the future if I really like the machine, but wouldn't want to do it with the 500 tables and fences, as I would never use the tables and fences in the 500 for anything that would justify the power pro upgrade. I know that what I'm saying is that I really should be buying the ss mk7 to begin with, but short of buying a brand new one, there don't seem to be many out there. A new one is well beyond my budget

Let me give you the scenario you are going to face.

You get the 500. You fall in love with the engineering, function, quality, and pure genius of what these machines are. You then start looking for a 520 for sale with many or all of the SPT's that are available. Namely the jointer, the bandsaw, the planer, the beltsander. Now you have a complete shop with two table saws, two horizontal boring machines, two disk sanders, two drill presses, a band saw, a beltsander and two 30+ inch wood lathes all top quality machines. You then upgrade the 520 to a powerpro headstock, and upgrade the 520 to a double tilt at the same time, you add two more functions with that upgrade, over table routing, and undertable routing/shaping. You look at what you have gathered and are happy!

Just my 2 cents. These machines are addictive, and one is never enough. You will probably want a 10ER as well just because you can. It has some features that are actually superior to the Marks.

JMHO

I left an 's' off inxsss's name on e-bay when I mentioned it earlier.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/inxsss/m.html?i ... 7675.l2562

Dick, I always knew Ben was ahead of his time! 8-)