Shopsmith Forums

I have recently started lathe turning (bowls etc) on my Shopsmith and am considering the bandsaw table upgrade because of the circle cutter, which would seem to be a good way to prepare bowl blanks. As-is the cast iron table is inadequate, but a homemade extension and cutter would also do the job. For those with the circle cutter, how is it for doing cuts of thick (5-6") materials?

Another option would be to keep the money in my pocket and eventually use it towards (gasp!) a stand-alone bandsaw with larger capacity.

paulrussell wrote:I have recently started lathe turning (bowls etc) on my Shopsmith and am considering the bandsaw table upgrade because of the circle cutter, which would seem to be a good way to prepare bowl blanks. As-is the cast iron table is inadequate, but a homemade extension and cutter would also do the job. For those with the circle cutter, how is it for doing cuts of thick (5-6") materials?

Another option would be to keep the money in my pocket and eventually use it towards (gasp!) a stand-alone bandsaw with larger capacity.

Why gasp! I think that everyone advocates using ONLY the correct tools for the job at hand. If a larger band saw is required, so should it be.

If I had the room I would go for a larger bandsaw. I would of course keep my small shopsmith one. I have been tempted in the past but have resisted having to deal with the fall out of having to make room for the new tool.

As far as the shopsmith circle cutter I can not say how they work but I have had a home made version and then switched to the Carter system. I like how you slide into the cut rather then how my home made and many other designs work. Here is a post of how I got mine to work on the cast iron shopsmith table:

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewtopic.php?t=13140

If you do what to buy a circle cutter I would look into the Carter version and see how theirs is done. I'd also go with the mods I made on mine.

Ed

I ran across this on Resawing on a band saw and wonder if all of this applies to a Shopsmith? Interesting how he contradicts a lot of what I've heard here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU

putttn wrote:I ran across this on Resawing on a band saw and wonder if all of this applies to a Shopsmith? Interesting how he contradicts a lot of what I've heard here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU

With good reason!

ALMOST all of what he said does NOT apply to the SS bandsaw. It is indeed very different.

He does expose a cause of recent discussions re front edge flex.(not inconsistent with them, merely somewhat supportive to some conclusions)

Glad to hear that as I'm about to dissect my band saw to learn more about it.