Shopsmith Forums

Help don't know where to start. I have been given my brothers ShopSmith Mark V with what looks to be all the bells and whistles. Band saw, jig saw, belt sander, jointer, standalone planer, etc. Also have a brand new 500 to 520 upgrade kit still in boxes. ShopSmith has been in storage for the last 5-6 years. Everything seems to turn by hand, but have not applied power to it to see if it works. Some of the movements to swap out the different attachments are a little gritty. The standalone planer has some rust on the infeed and the outfeed decks but the cutter still turns and seems to be reasonably sharp. The other decks on the ShopSmith itself are in good shape but needs to be cleaned up for use. Overall unit seems to be in good shape just a real good cleaning which I will be starting to do, but if anybody has any thought on how to proceed, I would appreciate it. I do have the owners manual, the self study course and the Power Tool Woodworking book from ShopSmith, which I will begin looking at and reading. Thanks for any help.

Hi and welcome to the "funny farm"
We like pics if you have the capability.
A serial number would also help.
If you have the owner's manual curl up with that good book and have a good weekend read.
Read the sticky posts in this forum for new owners. A lot of good info there.
Come back here with any questions. There a lot of good guys here who are willing to help
The Sawdust sessions on the Shopsmith corporate site have a lot of good info as well as pictorials.
If you did not post your location please do so. There may be someone nearby who can give you some personal help.
Bill V

Yes Bill, I am already reading the user manual and am looking at doing a general clean up of the unit. I will need to take a look for the serial number. I am assuming it is on the headstock somewhere. By the way I am in Brooksville, Fla. Looks like I have a challenge on my hands, but look forward to it. Thanks Jr.

JR
Serial number is on the end of the headstock on the vent plate that covers the upper shaft. If it is a newer unit it will have a date code sticker on the headstock.... somewhere... the placement is inconsistent.
We are not too far apart if you get into real difficulty.
Bill V

wa2crk wrote:JR
Serial number is on the end of the headstock on the vent plate that covers the upper shaft. If it is a newer unit it will have a date code sticker on the headstock.... somewhere... the placement is inconsistent.
We are not too far apart if you get into real difficulty.
Bill V

That be the one in the 'middle' so to speak.

JPG wrote:

wa2crk wrote:JR
Serial number is on the end of the headstock on the vent plate that covers the upper shaft. If it is a newer unit it will have a date code sticker on the headstock.... somewhere... the placement is inconsistent.
We are not too far apart if you get into real difficulty.
Bill V

That be the one in the 'middle' so to speak.

You beat me to it.

As everyone has stated, searching the forums for specific issues and sticky posts are awesome.

There are folks all over the country who are contributing their knowledge.

Jacob Anderson has been repairing headstocks and other items for many years and has some free YouTube videos that will help you get a good basic perspective. http://jacobs-repairshop.com/youtube-videos/

I also updated a PDF document written sometime back by Nick Engler and folks at Shopsmith at the time, that was designed to help someone in evaluating buying a used Shopsmith. Obviously you were gifted with one that sounds amazing, but the principles of evaluating the tool is the same.

I added linked photos from these forums adding labels to parts and additional commentary that you might also find useful or informative.

It is located at http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... 90#p185690 in the Maintenance and Repair forum and titled Buying a Used Shopsmith Revisited.

Good luck with your project and welcome to the family!

Everett