Shopsmith Forums

Hi, This is a great forum, lots of good wisdom and info. here. I was hoping you good folks could help us choose between 2, 510 machines. One is a 91 and the other is a 95. The 95 has the split carriage and black Table with side bosses. Are there any advantages of one over the other? Thanks for any help.

To my knowledge there should be no different between a 91 and a 95 Shopsmith model 510, as shipped from the factory. I would need a picture to even understand the two features you describe below.

236bob wrote:The 95 has the split carriage and black Table with side bosses.

I am guessing the 91 is an up grade. The carriage is not split on the pinion side where the table legs go in, like the one on the 95. I had a hard time getting the table to go up or down because of so much sawdust in the pinions. I guess the splits help grab the table legs better but the sawdust issue seems like a pain. The non split one on the 91 works great. The main table on the 95 is flat (no ribs) in the middle between the miter slots. I imagine the extended bosses on the sides of the main table are to butt up against the floating or extension tables.

I was also wondering about the single purpose tools. They both come with a different group of things. They both however come with a bandsaw and a belt sander. The ones with the 91 are from the early 80's and the ones with the 95 are from around 97. Besides the table on the bandsaw is there any advantage of one set over the other? Thanks again.

236bob wrote:I am guessing the 91 is an up grade. The carriage is not split on the pinion side where the table legs go in, like the one on the 95. I had a hard time getting the table to go up or down because of so much sawdust in the pinions. I guess the splits help grab the table legs better but the sawdust issue seems like a pain. The non split one on the 91 works great. The main table on the 95 is flat (no ribs) in the middle between the miter slots. I imagine the extended bosses on the sides of the main table are to butt up against the floating or extension tables.

I was also wondering about the single purpose tools. They both come with a different group of things. They both however come with a bandsaw and a belt sander. The ones with the 91 are from the early 80's and the ones with the 95 are from around 97. Besides the table on the bandsaw is there any advantage of one set over the other? Thanks again.

The bandsaws are basically the same except for the table and size. The older style cast iron table lends itself to using the miter gauge as a fence, where the newer one has a fence as an option. The newer one probably has a built in dust collection port. With the newer bandsaw mounted, you cannot raise the Mark V in to drill press configuration unless it has the special offset legs.

The belt sanders have remained essentially the same except for the size of the dust collection connection.

Either table system on the Mark V will perform well. The newer one is from a newer mold. As you noted besides the smooth center section, there are bosses on the side of the main table.

For me it would boil down to price, condition, SPT's and what's in the 'box'. The box holds all the little accessories the the previous owners have accumulated over the years. It may include sanding drums, mortising attachments, biscuit joiners, tenoning jigs, router chucks, arbors, drill bits, etc. etc. The older one may be the better deal. But without pictures and being able to run them, it is difficult to make a recommendation. Whichever you choose, be safe and have fun!

Thanks for the info. I guess, I was wondering if the flat area on the newer table and the side bosses were better or worse. I was thinking the same thing about the split carriage. The split is in a bad place for sawdust to fall into the pinions and cause binding problems. Does anyone have positive or negative experience with these issues? Thanks again.

... I'm sorry, did I miss something? You have to get BOTH machines. That's just the way it works.

Derek

derekdarling wrote:... I'm sorry, did I miss something? You have to get BOTH machines. That's just the way it works.

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

Design wise, both machines are essentially the same. With this in mind, if I had to chose, I would be inclined to go with the newer machine. However, condition is important.

There is no way around this. You have to either make a decision or buy both or buy neither.

BEFORE TIME RUNS OUT

You can't have too many Shopsmiths.

Rule # 2: Your spouses interpretation of this rule doesn't count, just as your interpretation of her "you can't have too many pairs of shoes" rule doesn't count.

Rule # 3; Don't mention these rules to her

And technically, even though the garage/shop space is mine.

When she says, "you don't have room for another one", you can bet that means "you're not getting another toy that will keep my car from parking in the garage so just forget about it! and Stop getting sawdust and chips all over and in my car!!"

Maybe I can leverage that into a new dust collection system. the wet/dry vac is just not cutting it, especially for lathe operations.