Shopsmith Forums

Hello all,

I've been admiring the Shopsmith equipment and lurking the forum for quite a while. I'm looking at a few 10er units in good condition close to me, I would eventually use the adapters available to add a bandsaw and if upgrading the motor a planer.

I currently use.a Craftsman benchtop portable tablesaw, it is the cheapest model they made ten years ago but is sufficiently powered to do everything I've asked of it. I rip a ton of 3/4" to 1 1/4" cherry,mahogany, oak, and pine and it works well enough.

Do you think a 10er with the standard motor would give me comparable performance? What about when doing some occasional resawing with the bandsaw? I plan to eventually upgrade the motor but the shop budget is tight at the moment hence why I am considering the 10er's in the $200 and less range over the $500+ Mark v's available.

Also, what is the depth of cut on the 8" blade? 2.5" is what I would need, not sure if a 10" blade can be used on the 10er google seems to give conflicting answers.

Thanks for any info.

Basically HP of the motor and table size is how you should compare what you have with the 10ER. My guess is that you will be better with the 10ER.It has a lot more functions.

There are a lot of 10E and 10ER fans here in the forums, but the Mark Vs are very nice in my opinion. I also have a fairly tight budget for my shop but if you are patient you can build a NICE shop on the cheap watching for deals.

My most recent Mark V I got for $350 with a bandsaw, jointer, planer, jigsaw, belt sander, and some other random pieces. Sold the bandsaw, planer, jigsaw, and beltsander to a family member for $280 (hella good deal for them w/ a functional SS planer), and sold the jointer for $75 on craigslist. After a few parts I was out maybe 50 bucks for a Mark V. Could have made cash selling it all on craigslist. The one before that I got a bandsaw, belt sander, biscuit cutter, and a 510 with jointer for $400, after all was said and done I walked away at a cost of $0 and kept the bandsaw, belt sander, and biscuit cutter.

If you keep your eyes open on craigslist, and don't mind putting some elbow grease into it (lots of sanding, waxing, and oiling), you can really pull it all together.

My best advise for keeping a thrifty shop search is get a craigslist app and search "shopsmith" and "Shop smith" regularly to see what newly pops up. Just be aware of the going rate for everything and jump on the deals when you can.

The most I paid on craigslist for a SS item was a pro planer for $400, and it was brand new straight out of the box. So be patient and keep your eyes open.

I will admit last night I had hip mouth disease!!!! To my limited knowledge the Er cant do a band saw and the jointer is less then stellar. I think IMHO you have your SS machines confused. The Mark V and all of those after will have a BS and jointer attachment PPS, but not an Er send a pic if you can.
As far as your TS, get a good thin Kerf blade if you dont have one on it now, a nice Freud rib or mulitiuse/combo .
Until the latest versions the SS weakest point was using them as a table saw in my HO

True with 'stock oem' parts, but, there be ingenious folks who have used the model 10 over the years.

The 'jointer' that originated with the 10(model 4E) is essentially the same as the present day design. Only the mounting varies. There is a special head rest for the jointer and a 4 groove pulley for the motor.

That is not to be confused with the 2.5" shaper/jointer that fits into the table insert space.

Now about mounting SPTs, it can be done with a little 'innovation'.
Notice the hub on the headstock pulley.

While we're on the subject, Magna did make brackets and headstock pulleys for using Mark V SPT's on 10ERs. But the original ones are quite rare. The one in the photo below is the first one that I've seen in the wild. This machine is currently on the Columbus CL, with an asking price of $350 OBO.
Mighty rusty, but it does include the Magna "Adapter A", special headstock pulley, and a speed changer.

I would not hesitate about using a 10ER in any of the processes you mention. However, like Beave pointed out, a Mark V is a very attainable goal and a better machine for the SPT's, but you just have to use some effort (cleaning, maint. , swapping/selling). I bought a very good shape Mark V with a bandsaw, beltsander, jointer for 500 just for the SPT's that came with it, I decided to keep the Mark V and set it up as a sanding station, but that was just for convenience.

Remember once you have ONE SS you have 5 tools (or 7 with the M7).

Now with all of that said, I love my 10ER and use it all the time. I am so glad I purchased and rebuilt it. In many ways it is superior to even the Mark 7. The table saw works very well and with the new Freud blade, makes just as smooth a cut as the Mark 7. With the Jigsaw, it is a great package.

Either way you go, you can't lose. But don't count out a Mark V just because of cost, like Beave points out, cost can be deceiving ....

Hope it helps ....

BuckeyeDennis wrote:While we're on the subject, Magna did make brackets and headstock pulleys for using Mark V SPT's on 10ERs. But the original ones are quite rare. The one in the photo below is the first one that I've seen in the wild. This machine is currently on the Columbus CL, with an asking price of $350 OBO.

image.jpeg

Mighty rusty, but it does include the Magna "Adapter A", special headstock pulley, and a speed changer.

Damn Dennis, if that was closer ....

Oh yeah. That oem stuff too!

SAT!

Thanks for all the info everyoneI have found a few nice 10er's locally and will look to acquire a mark v as soon as a good deal permits.

I am a professional carpenter/cabinetmaker and have a slightly smaller shop at my home I am now outfitting versus the larger space I had previously. The Shopsmith will be at the center of it , I plan to use the Mkc tools adapter to run a Bandsaw on the 10er if the purchase works out, along with an additional 10er as a dedicated drill press/mortiser.

For space and workflow reasons I would like to combine a planer and tablesaw on one carriage utilizing two headstocks, does anyone think this would be possible space wise on the carriage? I would be using the Mkc tools adapter to run the planer and the planer headstock would have an upgraded motor. I have seen photos of two headstocks on a carriage online so I know it works for two saws.

Time is of the priority as we started moving all the other stationary equipment out of the old shop (RAS, shaper, router tables. Miter saw) and I have a backlog of a few months of customer work ready to go so I wanted to get a tablesaw/planer in action ASAP rather than setting up my install truck portable tablesaw/planer in the shop and having to move them every time I need to go out on an install.