Shopsmith Forums

Hey guys,
Have you seen this? Looks like Harbor Freight has a "copy cat". As the old saying goes... "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery".

Kinda makes you wonder about the quality, doesn't it?

BPR

I bought a couple scratch Awls awhile back.
One very heavy and made in the US of A, solid metal I might add.
The second was made in china but had the wooden handle that fits in the palm of the hand well.
I get them home and the Chinese Awl has several problems that I have to fix.
The flange that holds the handle to the awl, and they hadn't even let the ploy dry before packaging it, it was stuck to the plastic packaging.
I can imagine the "quality of the "10-in-one-tool".
I don't want to work on the tools, I want to work with them.

Looks like a Smithy SuperShop copy, or is and being sold under the HF name.
ldh

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but reverse engineering is not imitation nor is it flattering. It is a dispicable act which survives only because some people put their money before integrity. Buying such a product if you think about it is like rewarding the cheater for cheating.
Ed

For those curious, the manual is available as a PDF linked off the product page:

monkey see, monkey do

- Chris

I just perused the manual and in order to change the speed range you have to remove the belt cover and loop the belts and then change speeds only in that range. Seems cumbersom to say the least.
Can't speak to quality, I would have to see it first.
Is there any patent infringement here??
The front rails on the work table look an awful like the rails on a 510.
The blade and drill chuck seem to mount on a collett system similsr to that used on a metal working lathe or milling machine.
In addition there is a torsion spring in the hinged end to assist lifting the heavy motor unit.
I don't like torsion springs, they cause problems and thay better be overdesigned if they are to last.
There seems to be an awful lot of electronics in the motor housing apparently to vary the speed of the motor for speed control. Lots more stuff to go bad and be difficult to replace. I really like the simplicity of the Mk V speed changing system, you know, the rule if KISS and all that. Let's see if they are still here in 5, 10, 25 or 50 years. Nuff fer now.
and remember " DON'T MAKE RED SAWDUST"
Bill

That raises an interesting question - what patents does Shopsmith actually have with their tools?

Folks, here's the back story behind this particular knock-off. When the Shopsmith's original patents expired in the 1980s, Tony Fox designed the machine we all know and love as the SuperShop. He went went to Taiwan for the manufacturing, specifically Johnson Metals -- a ten-square-mile area on the tip of the island where many of castings for American tools had begun to be manufactured. He did not have the financial backing to pay for the dies outright, nor did he want to. There were still some important patents in force and Mr. Fox planned to make use of a loophole in American trade laws to do an end run around them. He would import multipurpose tools from a company registered in a country that was not a signee the World Copyright and Patent Convention. Johnson Metals would own the dies and manufacture the parts; Fox would import them and assemble the machines. Johnson Metal agreed to give Fox an exclusive as long as he guaranteed to sell a certain number of machines per year.

Fox sold the rights to the SuperShop to the folks at Smithy very soon after he began to sell them. The Smithy folks took over his agreement with Johnson Metals, but in recent years have not been able to sell as many as was was required to keep exclusivity. Johnson Metals went shopping for a distributor with more horsepower and struck up an agreement with Harbor Freight. It seems they also roped in Central Machinery -- and I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more before the dust clears. But they are all the very same tool as the SuperShop, made by the same people. Although it's my undertsanding that many if not most of the parts are now made in China -- when quality doesn't count, it's even cheaper for the Taiwanese to have things made in China!

With all good wishes,