Shopsmith Forums

I ask in this forum because I am curious for those that have had a SS for some time, who still use a stand alone table saw? I have a TS and I like it but I really am cramped space wise. I listed my TS on CL and got calls immediately. I got cold feet and pulled the ad. It's a Jobsite saw and easy to roll around outside. Anyway, just curious if you still have and use a TS and even if not, do you WANT one?

For the record, if it matters, i have a 520 and a 510 now.

I've never had a table-saw. I do have a chop saw, but I wish I didn't most of the time (no place to put it). It does come in handy now and then, though. It's easier to port to the back yard or deck than my SS.

When I built my 30' X 40' dedicated shop 5 years ago I bought a Powermatic PM2000 table saw. I have a stand alone Powermatic 6" jointer, Powermatic 14" band saw, SS band saw on its own stand, SS Pro planer, Performax horizontal drum sander and both a SS MK V dedicated drill press and a SS 10ER dedicated drill press. I also have a SS 520 power pro double tilt MK 7 and a SS MK V 520 shorty. Before I built the shop I worked out of my garage and the SS was my only table saw. It did everything I asked of it for years.

I forgot the stand alone router table and the SS power stand that usually has an old style SS jig saw mounted with sanding strips and the stand alone Teal SS scroll saw.

I had a real table saw before I got my shopsmith. I sold it(back in about 1976).

I still have other stand alone tools, a bandsaw, two jointers, three miter saws, planner, drum sander and a pile of router tables. Right now I have 3 shopsmiths in use, one is "upnorth" waiting to be returned home and a 10ER all taken apart and wait for me to have time to work on it again.

I feel I have no need for a table saw and certainly no place to put it.

Ed

Stand alone TS, BS, jointer, lunch box planer, drum sander, compound miter saw and router table set up. I have a stand alone SS BS also besides the Delta, a SS jointer besides the stand alone, belt sander, ER dedicated DP, greenie shortie for the belt and disk sander. An other ER for lathe work and what ever.

Had a stand alone contractor saw. Got rid of it after becoming convinced my 520 could do everything the contractor saw could do and needed the space. I have never regretted it but if I had the space I might have kept both. My only stand-alones are a 6 inch jointer and a 13 planer.

I have a half dozen Shopsmiths in the shop but I also have a Ridgid TS-3650 table saw that I really love. I have 2 other smaller tablesaws in the woodshop and another in the farm-shop. I plan to move the one in the farm-shop to the little shop building by the sawmill, put one saw from the woodshop in the farm shop and the other in a barn down the road that I am doing a lot of work on. Hopefully when the music stops they will all be in the right place.
I also have a 6" long bed stand alone jointer (also a SS jointer) and a 5 HP Foley/Belsaw planer/molder/ripsaw in the woodshop. My scroll saw is not Shopsmith but I do have a new older Shopsmith jig-saw. Older model but never used. (I haven't used it either but I do expect to). I have a Ridgid oscillating spindle/belt sander and a Delta compound miter saw in the woodshop.
There is also a LOT of misc. "crap" in the woodshop that I am determined to move to another building very very soon.
I do have a Craftsman RAS in the Farm shop that will move to the little sawmill shop (12'x18') to be used for end trimming lumber.
The woodshop is in its own room (24'x40') in part of the basement. I would rather it were in its own building but love having it where I can walk down there and "do something" anytime I like, day or night, in a heated and air-conditioned room (no extra cost). Just that makes up for any other little inconveniences.

I bought my Mark V 500 new in 1980 and until 2006, I used it for all of my woodworking. But I really missed my fathers old small table saw, which I used for my 4-H project, many, many years ago. In 2006 I bought my PM64 and use it daily, but I also use my SS for sanding and drilling and with my special purpose tools. My SS will always have a place in The Woodshop Below.

Before I bought my 520, I used a little Craftsman table-top saw that was permanently mounted to it's own table. The 520 is a MUCH better saw, so the little Craftsman got relegated to beater duty, such as cutting metal. Then I bought my Shopsmith bandsaw and jigsaw used, on dedicated power stands, and so my SS jointer can stay mounted on the 520.

I love my 520, and I don't really mind doing changeovers. But I eventually started feeling that I could get more done in the available time if I had more dedicated tools, simply in order to reduce changeover time. So I bought a 10ER and a 10E to dedicate as a wall-mount drill press and a lathe.

And then I realized that table saws in general aren't the best design for cross-cutting long boards, or for making lots of dados in shelf units. So halfway through building a crosscut sled for my 520, I shifted gears and picked up a 50's-vintage Dewalt radial arm saw. And then a big 70's-vintage 14" 3hp Dewalt industrial radial arm saw. So now, not only can I easily crosscut pretty much anything, I can keep one RAS set up for precision crosscuts and miters, and the other for dados.

And then I had the chance to buy a brand-new Powermatic PM2000 cabinet saw for about 30% of retail. It's a 5hp, 3-phase unit, but a phase-converter panel only cost a couple hundred bucks, and I could get an idler motor for free. So I snapped it up, as I do prefer a tilting-arbor saw, and being able to use a fixed out-feed table. It's not in operation yet, but it weighs in at about 500 lb., and it makes even 10ER construction look positively lightweight. I'll post a review here when its up and running.

And then, I had a project that required face-jointing about 100 boards of 6" wide rough-cut cherry lumber. Way too big a job for the SS jointer. So for $75 I picked up a 40's-vintage 6" jointer with a 60" bed and a 3-phase motor. Yes, the roughly 400 square-foot shop is now very full!

If I could keep only one machine, it would definitely be the 520. But if you have the space, standalone machines are very nice to have as well. Cost wasn't even much of a consideration. With the exception of the PM2000, the machines cost an average of around a hundred bucks. But my dirty little secret is that once all are in operation, I'll probably have spent more time restoring and wiring them than I would have ever spent on 520 changeovers. But hey, it's a hobby, and I enjoy it!

BuckeyeDennis...pics?