Shopsmith Forums

On Sunday finally I realized a dream of mine. I now own a Shopsmith. I purchased a pre-owned unit that has be upgraded to a 520. A band saw, jointer and the 3300 Dust Collector came with it. There are several band saw blades of various width, saw blades, sanding disks, etc.

I'm going through the New Owner Information Thread in this forum and watching the Nick Engler Videos, again. I want to make sure I do a thorough inspection and maintenance on this machine before I jump into using it. I welcome any advice on how to properly maintenance and set up my new prize.

BTW, any Virginia Beach or Hampton Roads SS owners on this forum?

Welcome! You are doing the right thing in reading the new owner thread and watching the maintenance videos. Lot's of very knowledgeable and helpful folks on the forum.

algale wrote:Welcome! You are doing the right thing in reading the new owner thread and watching the maintenance videos. Lot's of very knowledgeable and helpful folks on the forum.

Thanks algale. I gotta admit I'm pretty excited to be part of the club. Well back to the garage, er, woodshop, heh, heh

Welcome to the forum. Can you explain your avatar?

When I picked up the SS I used mbcabinetmaker's "Nicholas Cage Approach". I bought it 5 hours from home, so, I was determined to get all home in one trip. Mark's break down instructions were really helpful and I got everything disassembled and loaded without much trouble even though I'd never done it before. A tribute to his directions.

Unfortunately, I did not think to note the exact position (depth) of the Bench Tubes inside the Headrest so I guessed, was a bit off did it again, went the wrong way, did it again and got it right. If there's a next time, and there probably will be, I'll remember to mark them, take a picture or something.

So far I've cleaned, waxed and assembled the base including the Legs, Casters, Bench Tubes, Way Tubes, carriage, Saw table, and Headrest table. Tomorrow I plan on inspecting, cleaning and servicing the headstock. I didn't get started until late this afternoon and I'm taking it slow and enjoying myself. I'm very happy with results so far.

joedw00 wrote:Welcome to the forum. Can you explain your avatar?

The answer is simple really. My last name is Woodhead and the avatar is a picture I found on the web and liked. Might be a good project for a build when I get some skills.

Woodhead;
I know that buying pre-owned stuff can sometimes be problematic but you are in a good neighborhood. There is a fellow in Virginia Beach named Jacob Anderson who rebuilds Shopsmith headstocks. I have never dealt with him personally but from a friend who did he does very good work.
Come here first cause there are a lot of experienced folks here who can talk you through most problems.
Good luck and welcome to the "farm".
Bill V

[quote="wa2crk"]Woodhead]

Thanks Bill, That is good to know. I'd especially like to connect with some other SS owners in the area. I'm sure I could learn a lot from them as well. Fortunately there are all of you folks in this forum. I'm pretty sure it would be nearly impossible to run into a situation that could not be solved here.

Here's Jacob's web site...

http://jacobs-repairshop.com/index.html

I'm up in Manassas and I've had him rebuild a headstock for me, now on my "Shorty". Dropped it off on my way to the Outer Banks on vacation and picked it back up on the way home. Great work and a great guy!

henecle wrote:Here's Jacob's web site...

http://jacobs-repairshop.com/index.html

I'm up in Manassas and I've had him rebuild a headstock for me, now on my "Shorty". Dropped it off on my way to the Outer Banks on vacation and picked it back up on the way home. Great work and a great guy!

henecle - Thanks for this link! I will probably try looking him up, since he's in the neighborhood, so to speak. Seems like a really interesting guy. He might might be able to hook me up with some other local SS'ers.