My First Post and My Second Shopsmith
Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 6:19 pm
Hello all!
I've been lurking on the forums here for about a year and half but have never posted. But I was excited about a great deal I scored on a second Shopsmith and my wife and friends don't, I think, fully appreciate how exciting it is.
So, by way of introduction, I am the Shopsmith-owning Alec S. who is NOT from Cape Cod, but rather from Iowa (I don't know if easterngray, the Alec S. from Cape Cod, is still active around here or not).
I first heard of Shopsmith when I was helping my future in-laws throw one out. They had purchased one for my wife's grandpa (my mother-in-law's father) after his retirement, and he had built a great deal with it (including the crib my wife used as a baby, a lot of picture frames and built in shelves and cabinets in the house she grew up in). That house flooded in 2008 when we had the big flood here in Iowa. Abby's grandpa had moved into a retirement home, and then passed away a number of years prior, and the Shopsmith had been sitting in the garage. It was completely submerged and I think a neighbor ended up hauling it away from the curb.
It wasn't until after that point in time that my MIL really talked about the Shopsmith in conjunction with the things her father had made. I knew he had produced a lot of these items (I even cut off the bottom (flooded) shelf of two large bookcases and brought them home and use them to this day) but didn't know it was on the Shopsmith they had bought him.
So I started puttering around with a little light woodworking, but eventually decided I wanted some standing power tools. I delved into Shopsmith research and eventually found a good deal on a used Mark V 510 from 1985. It was in decent shape, but I wanted to make sure everything was up to speed, so when I got it home, I started tearing stuff apart.
I labeled my pieces well enough, but should have done more than that. The project got to be overwhelming and eventually it sat in the garage, half assembled, for quite some time. One day, I picked it back up and slowly made my way through the rebuilding process, replacing belts and some other missing items on the way through.
Should have replaced the sheaves, I guess, as they were a little sticky. Long story short, I blew the motor. Probably should have been tipped off by the slow blow fuses blowing first.
Then I had a broken Shopsmith in my garage for a while. Finally, I buckled down and ordered the do-it-yourself Power Pro motor replacement. Surprisingly, I don't think I screwed that one up, and I've been running with that ever since. My Shopsmith has its quirks (slight problem in the way tubes makes it hard to slide past a certain point) but it's treated me well.
So, the story of my second Shopsmith...
A little while back I created an IFTTT rule to alert me of any Shopsmith related postings in Craigslist (I highly recommend you do this, too). There was one posting that I saw which sounded like it had a lot of good stuff (much of which I wanted) but was $950--probably a fair price, to be honest, but more than I wanted to pay, as there was some duplication of items (including the Shopsmith itself) that was unnecessary. Last week, he re-posted it again (probably hit the 2 week cycle again), and dropped the price to $650. At that point, I am thinking, "Hmm....can I make $650 back on selling the stuff I already have?"
If you took it to town and cleaned it all up and just started parting out the individual components on ebay, etc., or even selling off the add-on tools individually, I am pretty sure you could make some good money on it with everything he had. But, I wanted most of it, because it's stuff I *didn't* have, so I still didn't want to pay $650 for it all. So I messaged him and asked if it was still available the next day. He said it was, so I offered him $500 cash and pickup the following day.
The history of his particular unit is that some gentleman had apparently bought a bunch of Shopsmith stuff new in the early 80's (probably saw the infomercial) and used it for a good long while, then passed away. It sat in a barn for a few years, I guess, and eventually found its way to auction, where this gentleman (the Craigslist poster) had bought it, thinking it would suit his small shop space, but he said he just didn't use it much. He did say that he thinks the auction place accidentally either auctioned off or gave at least one box of parts / goodies that should have probably been included in the Shopsmith auction away before he got to it. I think there was some unfortunate moisture in the barn, too, as there is some good rust evidence for that. He took my offer, so for the $500 I walked away with more or less complete versions of the following:
Shopsmith Mark V Model 500 This came with most the regular model 500 stuff:
Rip fence
Miter gauge
Main table + extension table + floating table
Various table inserts, some of them non-standard (for shaper, drum sander, etc.)
Some of the normal safety equipment (feather boards, push blocks, etc.) but not all
11" Bandsaw (the old model with the cast iron table--which is the same one I already have, so this is a duplicate)
4" Jointer (older model--the one I already owned that I had bought on eBay a while ago is from the 90's and so is a bit newer)
I will probably clean up and sell the bandsaw and jointer to try and make at least a little of my money back. What to do with the second Shopsmith is an open question at this point.
The list, continued, of what I got from this guy, and that I intend to keep at this point:
12" Mark V mounted Planer (crack on the plastic casing, some rust issues to work through)
6" Belt Sander (cleaned up some serious rust on the cast iron table and the backing plate. Could have probably used a more thorough cleaning, but I was afraid I wouldn't get it all back together again)
18" Jig Saw (this is the old model they don't sell anymore. Been cleaning this one up, still removing rust and de-greasing parts. The parts in the crankcase look brand new--keep your jigs well-oiled, I guess, is the moral of that story!) Ironically, my stepdad bought me a table-top Craftsman scroll saw at a garage sale that very same day as I got this Shopsmith. The Craftsman is made in China and has mixed reviews, so I'm keeping both for the moment.
Those are the three big tools, out of the 5 that I bought, that I wanted and was most excited about. However, there were a fair amount of bonus items that also came along for the ride:
2 1/4" Drum Sander
Drum Sander sanding sleeves (about 24 still shrink-wrapped sanding sleeves in various grits)
Belt Sander sanding belts (about 5 or 6 brand new sanding belts in various grits)
Band Saw blades (4 of these, which I believe are new or nearly new, though I have not pulled them out of their boxes yet, except for one, which had gotten water damage, rusted, and snapped apart at the weld. That was the 1/4" one, which I have another of from when I bought my band saw. We will see if the other blades suffered the same fate)
Table saw blades (I believe there were 5 of these; I think two steel, two with carbide tips, and a smaller blade which looks like maybe a plywood or some kind of specialty blade. These look to be in fairly good condition.
12" Steel Sanding Disc (will be nice to have a second one)
Sanding disc abrasives (Maybe 18 or 24 new sandpaper discs for mounting to the sanding disc, in various grits)
1 1/4" Saw blade arbor (I think I got two of these)
5/8" Saw blade arbor (I think I got one of these)
Brad point drill bits (I think I found 4 of these. I think the drill chuck is one piece that was missing from this whole deal, though I obviously have one already from my current Shopsmith.)
Lathe chisels (only found 2 so far from the set of 5 that Shopsmith sold back then, and they were in pretty bad shape)
Lathe faceplates (3 3/4" and 6" faceplates. I have a 6" already, but don't think I had the smaller one)
Lathe centers (I know there is a drive center, a cup center, and a screw center. Not sure if there's a live center floating around somewhere.)
Lathe tool rest
Shopmate Maxi Clamp set (This was in perfect condition. Only problem: I don't really know how the heck to use them effectively. I can't even find a picture of them other than in original box or all laid out--never of them being used. I will have to play with them more.)
5/8" Dado / Molder arbor (I had one of these already for my Dado blades--this guy had bought it for his molder, though, see below)
Molder head
Molder knives (three sets of molder knives--I'm assuming in three different profiles, probably came as a package deal with the head and arbor)
1/2" Router Chuck
Router bits (I think I found three of these--again, probably package deal. I think two were just straight bits, and the third was a small dovetail bit.)
1/2" Universal Arbor (for mounting shaper cutters?)
Rub collars
Shaper cutters (another three-pack deal; three different profile shaper cutters)
Shaper fence (I have found at least parts of this. Not sure if I have all the pieces for this yet.)
Mortising package
Dust collection flange ferrules (I found three or four of these. I may use one to homebrew retrofit my bandsaw, which doesn't have dust collection, as the de-facto kit looks to just be one of these and maybe an elbow piece.
Grinding bits (two of these, different grits (different colors anyway); can't find them on the website, not sure what they are used in conjunction with. Look like the little grinding drums you'd get with a dremel or something)
4 pulley guards
Sorry to launch a wall of text at you, but I couldn't contain myself!
I've been lurking on the forums here for about a year and half but have never posted. But I was excited about a great deal I scored on a second Shopsmith and my wife and friends don't, I think, fully appreciate how exciting it is.
So, by way of introduction, I am the Shopsmith-owning Alec S. who is NOT from Cape Cod, but rather from Iowa (I don't know if easterngray, the Alec S. from Cape Cod, is still active around here or not).
I first heard of Shopsmith when I was helping my future in-laws throw one out. They had purchased one for my wife's grandpa (my mother-in-law's father) after his retirement, and he had built a great deal with it (including the crib my wife used as a baby, a lot of picture frames and built in shelves and cabinets in the house she grew up in). That house flooded in 2008 when we had the big flood here in Iowa. Abby's grandpa had moved into a retirement home, and then passed away a number of years prior, and the Shopsmith had been sitting in the garage. It was completely submerged and I think a neighbor ended up hauling it away from the curb.
It wasn't until after that point in time that my MIL really talked about the Shopsmith in conjunction with the things her father had made. I knew he had produced a lot of these items (I even cut off the bottom (flooded) shelf of two large bookcases and brought them home and use them to this day) but didn't know it was on the Shopsmith they had bought him.
So I started puttering around with a little light woodworking, but eventually decided I wanted some standing power tools. I delved into Shopsmith research and eventually found a good deal on a used Mark V 510 from 1985. It was in decent shape, but I wanted to make sure everything was up to speed, so when I got it home, I started tearing stuff apart.
I labeled my pieces well enough, but should have done more than that. The project got to be overwhelming and eventually it sat in the garage, half assembled, for quite some time. One day, I picked it back up and slowly made my way through the rebuilding process, replacing belts and some other missing items on the way through.
Should have replaced the sheaves, I guess, as they were a little sticky. Long story short, I blew the motor. Probably should have been tipped off by the slow blow fuses blowing first.
Then I had a broken Shopsmith in my garage for a while. Finally, I buckled down and ordered the do-it-yourself Power Pro motor replacement. Surprisingly, I don't think I screwed that one up, and I've been running with that ever since. My Shopsmith has its quirks (slight problem in the way tubes makes it hard to slide past a certain point) but it's treated me well.
So, the story of my second Shopsmith...
A little while back I created an IFTTT rule to alert me of any Shopsmith related postings in Craigslist (I highly recommend you do this, too). There was one posting that I saw which sounded like it had a lot of good stuff (much of which I wanted) but was $950--probably a fair price, to be honest, but more than I wanted to pay, as there was some duplication of items (including the Shopsmith itself) that was unnecessary. Last week, he re-posted it again (probably hit the 2 week cycle again), and dropped the price to $650. At that point, I am thinking, "Hmm....can I make $650 back on selling the stuff I already have?"
If you took it to town and cleaned it all up and just started parting out the individual components on ebay, etc., or even selling off the add-on tools individually, I am pretty sure you could make some good money on it with everything he had. But, I wanted most of it, because it's stuff I *didn't* have, so I still didn't want to pay $650 for it all. So I messaged him and asked if it was still available the next day. He said it was, so I offered him $500 cash and pickup the following day.
The history of his particular unit is that some gentleman had apparently bought a bunch of Shopsmith stuff new in the early 80's (probably saw the infomercial) and used it for a good long while, then passed away. It sat in a barn for a few years, I guess, and eventually found its way to auction, where this gentleman (the Craigslist poster) had bought it, thinking it would suit his small shop space, but he said he just didn't use it much. He did say that he thinks the auction place accidentally either auctioned off or gave at least one box of parts / goodies that should have probably been included in the Shopsmith auction away before he got to it. I think there was some unfortunate moisture in the barn, too, as there is some good rust evidence for that. He took my offer, so for the $500 I walked away with more or less complete versions of the following:
Shopsmith Mark V Model 500 This came with most the regular model 500 stuff:
Rip fence
Miter gauge
Main table + extension table + floating table
Various table inserts, some of them non-standard (for shaper, drum sander, etc.)
Some of the normal safety equipment (feather boards, push blocks, etc.) but not all
11" Bandsaw (the old model with the cast iron table--which is the same one I already have, so this is a duplicate)
4" Jointer (older model--the one I already owned that I had bought on eBay a while ago is from the 90's and so is a bit newer)
I will probably clean up and sell the bandsaw and jointer to try and make at least a little of my money back. What to do with the second Shopsmith is an open question at this point.
The list, continued, of what I got from this guy, and that I intend to keep at this point:
12" Mark V mounted Planer (crack on the plastic casing, some rust issues to work through)
6" Belt Sander (cleaned up some serious rust on the cast iron table and the backing plate. Could have probably used a more thorough cleaning, but I was afraid I wouldn't get it all back together again)
18" Jig Saw (this is the old model they don't sell anymore. Been cleaning this one up, still removing rust and de-greasing parts. The parts in the crankcase look brand new--keep your jigs well-oiled, I guess, is the moral of that story!) Ironically, my stepdad bought me a table-top Craftsman scroll saw at a garage sale that very same day as I got this Shopsmith. The Craftsman is made in China and has mixed reviews, so I'm keeping both for the moment.
Those are the three big tools, out of the 5 that I bought, that I wanted and was most excited about. However, there were a fair amount of bonus items that also came along for the ride:
2 1/4" Drum Sander
Drum Sander sanding sleeves (about 24 still shrink-wrapped sanding sleeves in various grits)
Belt Sander sanding belts (about 5 or 6 brand new sanding belts in various grits)
Band Saw blades (4 of these, which I believe are new or nearly new, though I have not pulled them out of their boxes yet, except for one, which had gotten water damage, rusted, and snapped apart at the weld. That was the 1/4" one, which I have another of from when I bought my band saw. We will see if the other blades suffered the same fate)
Table saw blades (I believe there were 5 of these; I think two steel, two with carbide tips, and a smaller blade which looks like maybe a plywood or some kind of specialty blade. These look to be in fairly good condition.
12" Steel Sanding Disc (will be nice to have a second one)
Sanding disc abrasives (Maybe 18 or 24 new sandpaper discs for mounting to the sanding disc, in various grits)
1 1/4" Saw blade arbor (I think I got two of these)
5/8" Saw blade arbor (I think I got one of these)
Brad point drill bits (I think I found 4 of these. I think the drill chuck is one piece that was missing from this whole deal, though I obviously have one already from my current Shopsmith.)
Lathe chisels (only found 2 so far from the set of 5 that Shopsmith sold back then, and they were in pretty bad shape)
Lathe faceplates (3 3/4" and 6" faceplates. I have a 6" already, but don't think I had the smaller one)
Lathe centers (I know there is a drive center, a cup center, and a screw center. Not sure if there's a live center floating around somewhere.)
Lathe tool rest
Shopmate Maxi Clamp set (This was in perfect condition. Only problem: I don't really know how the heck to use them effectively. I can't even find a picture of them other than in original box or all laid out--never of them being used. I will have to play with them more.)
5/8" Dado / Molder arbor (I had one of these already for my Dado blades--this guy had bought it for his molder, though, see below)
Molder head
Molder knives (three sets of molder knives--I'm assuming in three different profiles, probably came as a package deal with the head and arbor)
1/2" Router Chuck
Router bits (I think I found three of these--again, probably package deal. I think two were just straight bits, and the third was a small dovetail bit.)
1/2" Universal Arbor (for mounting shaper cutters?)
Rub collars
Shaper cutters (another three-pack deal; three different profile shaper cutters)
Shaper fence (I have found at least parts of this. Not sure if I have all the pieces for this yet.)
Mortising package
Dust collection flange ferrules (I found three or four of these. I may use one to homebrew retrofit my bandsaw, which doesn't have dust collection, as the de-facto kit looks to just be one of these and maybe an elbow piece.
Grinding bits (two of these, different grits (different colors anyway); can't find them on the website, not sure what they are used in conjunction with. Look like the little grinding drums you'd get with a dremel or something)
4 pulley guards
Sorry to launch a wall of text at you, but I couldn't contain myself!