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My 56 Greenie restoration
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:42 am
by lightnin
Well not really...
not an original restoration 'cause it's not gonna be green any more
and not really a 56 because of replacement parts.
I suppose many restored Shopsmiths span the decades with the parts they use.
Life gets too busy this may take me all summer to do.....
I didn't take any pictures before I tore her down but luckily I got on Craigslist before they were removed there.
Here is what I'm starting with
The bottom tubes are a dark rust
Bottom tubes
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:47 am
by lightnin
I sanded up the bottom tubes
Not green
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:56 am
by lightnin
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:00 pm
by terrydowning
You're off to a great start. Please keep the pics comin' and keep us posted.
Wow I'm a gold member
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:10 pm
by lightnin
Don't anyone let my gold member status fool you.
I'm a total newb but I had to celebrate by making this image
Question here
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:42 pm
by lightnin
Before I tore down my Mk V I only used it as a lathe for a little bit.
I did not use it as any other tool but it was to short for me.
I'm pretty tall I was bending over and my back got a bit sore.
I don't think I want to put it back on the original legs.
But if I raise it up any will it be ridiculously tall as a table saw?
It was noticeably higher than my old Craftsman table saw...
My thoughts are leaning towards a base with height adjustments.
has anyone else had these troubles? Did you come up with a good solution?
Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:44 pm
by twinman
How about building a 2-4" tall platform the size of the shopsmith base? You could then set the Shopsmith on it for lathe operations (making it taller than normal). When you are using the tablesaw or sander, you could take the Shopsmith off the platform and set the platform in front of the Mark V where you could stand on it. This would make you taller relative to the work surface.
You could make it pretty easily with a sheet of plywood and 3-4 2x4s.
Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 1:40 am
by lightnin
Well here is what I originally thought of.
Make a wooden base with drawers and doors for storage on lockable casters.
With the original legs it seems like there is a lot of precious (in my garage) space wasted.
If I would want to move it I would have to move whatever was stored underneath it first.
With the storage area underneath all my accessories and things would simply move with it.
The Mark V would mount on it with two one inch pins on each end that would set into
holes on a block that could be rotated to change height.
I could pick up one end rotate the block to raise or lower it, set it down into another set of holes
go to the other end and do it again there.
That's the basic idea, I guess to refine that I would want locking pins on springs for good stability.
I'm thinking that with the difference in height between tools that someone here has seen this as a
problem before and tackled in some way or another.
This project is going way slower than I would like it to so realistically I'm at the very least a month
away from decision time on this. there's a lot of smart people here with a lot more shop experience
then me. All thoughts, ideas, and comments would be appreciated.
twinman, I like your idea a lot because of it's sweet simplicity but I will probably do something more
like I described just because of the storage area.
The biggest draw back to my idea would be the loss of that Mark V look but with limited space I think
I will have to sacrifice that for functionality. Hey when the garage gets full I can't buy no more tools!!!
I refuse to store my fishin' boat outside...
Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 9:48 pm
by twinman
It makes a lot of sense to me to combine the height adjustment with storage. I've been thinking about an under the Shopsmith storage arrangement too. It on my "would like to do this" list. I like the idea of a block to change the height. That way you can have up to 4 different settings. Once you decide on a design please post it.
