Shopsmith Forums

I decided to pull the trigger on the lathe tool rest special before it expired tonight at midnight EST...$200 for the universal tool rest system and the set of three specialty tool rests...$200 seemed like a good deal for all of this and hopefully it will be the great lathe upgrade I'm hoping it is...now just have to wait for that FedEx truck to arrive

Please let us know how it works out. I just wasn't sure it would provide the "bang for the buck". But I would love to hear what you think about it.
I just upgraded my unit with the improved wheels. Best thing I've done since adding the lift assist. I really like the new wheels. They work so well I must raise the wheels or the unit moves when I try to use it.

texomawood wrote:Please let us know how it works out. I just wasn't sure it would provide the "bang for the buck". But I would love to hear what you think about it.
I just upgraded my unit with the improved wheels. Best thing I've done since adding the lift assist. I really like the new wheels. They work so well I must raise the wheels or the unit moves when I try to use it.

This did not occur with the original casters??????

The problem I have with the UTR is that it gets in the way of the headstock when turning large bowls and keeps the work too far away from the tail stock live center. I had to purchase two extenders and there's still not enough room between my work the the tail stock to position my tool rest to turn the inside of the bowl. Part of the problem is my Lift Assist is in the way of the UTR base. I even had to ride the base up and over the bracket but it still prevents the URT from moving closer to the tail stock.

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fredsheldon wrote:The problem I have with the UTR is that it gets in the way of the headstock when turning large bowls and keeps the work too far away from the tail stock live center. I had to purchase two extenders and there's still not enough room between my work the the tail stock to position my tool rest to turn the inside of the bowl.

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You need to find smaller tree scraps!:D

No, with the standard wheels unless I was doing something major I could leave the wheels down and the unit would sit in one spot. Now with the new wheels any force applied and the unit starts moving across the floor.

texomawood wrote:No, with the standard wheels unless I was doing something major I could leave the wheels down and the unit would sit in one spot. Now with the new wheels any force applied and the unit starts moving across the floor.

Since there are two wheel down positions, I question if either were/are correct. The original casters should have rolled in ether wheel 'down' position. The legs should rest on the floor only in the extreme wheels up position.

texomawood wrote:No, with the standard wheels unless I was doing something major I could leave the wheels down and the unit would sit in one spot. Now with the new wheels any force applied and the unit starts moving across the floor.

Same with me, I have the standard casters. I don't leave them down on purpose if I'm running the machine, but on a couple of occasions I've done it accidentally. In which case the machine only moves if I somehow apply more than maybe 5-10 pounds of force to it.

BTW, I find raising the SS casters to be a fairly pleasant experience on my SS power stands -- they all have a full complement of vinyl footies installed, and land with a well-damped thunk. My model 520, on the other hand, has no such footies, and the resulting crash of sheet-metal legs onto concrete always makes me cringe just a bit. But as far as I can tell, there are no footies available for the SS MK5 itself. Anyone know of a good way to achieve a "soft landing"?

fredsheldon wrote:The problem I have with the UTR is that it gets in the way of the headstock when turning large bowls and keeps the work too far away from the tail stock live center. I had to purchase two extenders and there's still not enough room between my work the the tail stock to position my tool rest to turn the inside of the bowl. Part of the problem is my Lift Assist is in the way of the UTR base. I even had to ride the base up and over the bracket but it still prevents the URT from moving closer to the tail stock.

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It is the evil lift assist again.

For more information on tail stock extensions see

https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=12148

Ed

I just noticed on my invoice that the curved tool rest from this set is backordered...I'm used to SS backordering an item or two but I'm surprised to find something backordered that is part of one of the specials they ran...you'd think they'd have plenty in stock when they run a special. Perhaps they just got lots of response and ran out before they got to me...oh well, lets just hope this doesn't take as long as the band saw table extension I'm still waiting on from 7+ months ago...