Shopsmith Forums

If you would, folks, please keep your eye open for an older Mark V. Drew and I would like to purchase one to use in our Sawdust Sessions. We thought we'd completely restore it and install a 520 upgrade over several Sawdust Sessions -- cleanup, rust removal, new paint, headstock rebuild, upgrade. What we're looking for is a greenie or a brownie with a 3/4 hp motor, some rust, and most of it's older accessories. Don't care if it's running; we plan on doing a heart transplant as part of the show. In fact, we'd prefer something pretty grungy so the difference between the "Before" and "After" shots will be more dramatic.

If you see something that might serve, ping me with the peculiars at nick@shopsmith.com. Thanks.

With all good wishes,

[quote="Nick"]If you would, folks, please keep your eye open for an older Mark V. Drew and I would like to purchase one to use in our Sawdust Sessions. We thought we'd completely restore it and install a 520 upgrade over several Sawdust Sessions -- cleanup, rust removal, new paint, headstock rebuild, upgrade. What we're looking for is a greenie or a brownie with a 3/4 hp motor, some rust, and most of it's older accessories. Don't care if it's running]

That brings up an interesting point...

If one has an old greenie, is it worth it to go through all the upgrades to get to the 520 machine, or should you just keep it as it is and look for a newer machine? Because I'm still waiting on my saw guards I toyed with the idea of doing the 510 upgrade instead, just to get the saw guard and the riving knife. But it's a lot of $$$ and I'd still have the Gilmer belt drive, single bearing quill, and the 3/4 HP motor. All of that is upgrade-able, of course, but I'd probably be looking at about $1000 in upgrades; that might be better spent looking for a newer used Mark V.

My greenie is a bit rusty, the paint is chipped and faded but she works rather well. I'd like to see what Nick comes up with since it will provide some inspiration of what to do with my economic stimulus rebate.

PS...I had my first SS success story...I used my newly realigned SS to help my son with his pinewood derby car. We used the bandsaw to cut the outline, the drill press to bore out the holes for the weights, and the horizontal boring configuration to polish the axles. My son got quite a thrill helping me run the drill press too. And, to top it off, he took first place, winning all his races!

John:

What Nick and Drew are proposing is of course a neat project that will help encourage many Shopsmith owners to up-grade their older machines. That being said, if one has a large enough workshop space, there are a lot of advantages in keeping the old machine as is, and obtaining a second 510 or 520.

I now have two 520's at my shop in the U.P. along with a power station. I got the idea when my son-in-law and I attended a class at Shopsmith in Dayton back in '05. They had several Shopsmiths. One, set-up in saw mode had the INCRA 5000 sled with the jointer mounted on the end. Another Shopsmith was set-up with the Pro Fence Router Table System. If I remember correctly, another machine was in vertical drill press mode. Also included in the shop was a Pro Planer, and a bandsaw mounted on a power stand. One DC3300 served all.

What I'm getting at is that you can gain a lot of versatility and efficiency with the second Shopsmith. While the old "greenie", as a table saw, is not as good as a 520, it can still serve very well for a lot of accessories and applications.

Here's one Nick. Might make for a nice Sunday drive for you and Drew! I look forward to seeing the sessions - good luck in finding a suitable machine. I found the restoration of my Goldie to be a lot of fun. Cheers, Alec

http://syracuse.craigslist.org/tls/630493561.html

I'm still toying with the idea of upgrading my '61 Brownie (I call it a Goldie) to the 520 system. The only problem is the color mismatch. I would have to sandblast the gray carriage and repaint it to match my Goldie. Doing that would mean I would have to completely strip and paint my Goldie from top to bottom. Not that that would be a bad thing, I just don't have time to have my SS down. With the down turn in the economy, I had lost several orders (actually, that was good because I had a one-year backlog), but now things seem to be picking up again and orders are increasing. Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing Nick go to town on the one he acquires.

Hi Nick,
I googled a bit and ran across this oldie. Hope it helps


http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/tls/626878014.html


Andy

email sent from, john.guengerich@gmail.com
I hope it helps, it is alot closer to y'all than the units here in Cali.
Pink

Too bad you're not doing a 10ER.. The following would be quite a bit of work to de-rust alone.. Something tells me it might be a bit beyond your average 'TLC' :

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/tls/640801458.html

osx-addict wrote:Too bad you're not doing a 10ER.. The following would be quite a bit of work to de-rust alone.. Something tells me it might be a bit beyond your average 'TLC' :

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/tls/640801458.html

I looked on the Oregon craigslist and they had four Shopsmith's for sale over the weekend and I have never seen such junk in my life. Not only are they rusty some almost beyond recognition but parts are missing. My favorite is this one especially the included brake-drum

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Used Mark V's are plentiful on Craig's list. I purchased a 1981 500 for only $125. Ebay can be a little more expensive. I bought a 1989 510 for only $219. For some reason, many people are totally disassembling their Mark V's and selling every piece. I find it amazing looking at the number of bids.

I met a guy who does a great job buying on Craig's List & selling on Ebay. He often gets many extras thrown in such as power stations, crafter stations, etc. He buys/sells 10E/ERs as well from estate sales. The Mark V's he buys were bought, used rarely, and then sat for 20 years. He recently purchased an inop Mark V. Turns out it has a 220 VAC motor.

Tony