Shopsmith Forums

There was a mention on a pervious thread about adding more weight to the way tubes to cut down on the chatter. Years ago I was turning a large bowl and looked around the garage for something I could use to add some weight and discovered a great way to do it. I am a diver and had several old weight belts stashed in the corner. Just drape them over the tubes and you can easily add 60-80 lbs of mass to the SS. They stay put and are easy to remove when you are done. Weight belts are easy to come by. Just about everyone who has been a diver for a while has at least one collecting dust. Everyone went to integrated weight systems years ago and that replaced the old weight belts. Watch Craigslist for dive gear and they will show up and are usually cheap. There re divers everywhere including the Midwest.
Paul

I got an idea the other day of mounting a former high pressure tank I have under the "lathe" Shopsmith and putting a fill-hole with cap in the top and adding a drain faucet to the bottom (like your water heater has). By being in a basement shop I have access to floor drains if I were to want to drain it. The empty tank is about 40 pounds and it should hold about 160 pounds of water (Depending on shop location it may need some antifreeze. Mine will not). I figure that bolting it to rails in all 4 directions will further stabilize the whole leg assembly.