Shopsmith Forums

I just saw this project posted over on LumberJocks, and thought you guys would like to see it too. Check it out.
The turning was done on a Shopsmith with a speed reducer. Here's a link to some process photos. I strongly suspect that the process used to "stretch it out" (the glued-up blank) involves a Ring Master, but the author didn't give any details.

Wow

That's beautiful work and further proof of the fact that the folks who say the Shopsmith isn't a good lathe (table saw, drill press, etc.) aren't really familiar with its capabilities.

Berry took the word right out of my mouth!
Wow!

Good grief! That is gorgeous!

That really is amazing. True art. As far as people bad mouthing the lathe capabilities of a Shopsmith they need to try one. Besides, turning isn't really about the machine. It's more about the person doing the turning !
Paul

algale wrote:That's beautiful work and further proof of the fact that the folks who say the Shopsmith isn't a good lathe (table saw, drill press, etc.) aren't really familiar with its capabilities.

Alan, let me be the first to say, the table saw function of ANY Shopsmith is
barely adequate. ESPECIALLY my Model 10 stuff, Those are trim
saws at best.

My brother, the one that just (finally!) got a Model 10, has a
table saw, that has extension tables that cover a 8 foot by 8
foot area. (My first apartment would fit under that table!)

Now, drill press, (both versions) and lathe, state of the art!.

Disc sander? EVER see one that you could advance the disc into a piece of work?
Me neither. Best disc sander on the market! Using the sanding disc, after cutting
on the table saw, everything lines up, even after making a compound cut.

Cutting and sanding to length? Getting 27 pieces cut to 1 or 2 thousandths variance?
try THAT with something else, especially after an angled cut!

steve

skou wrote:

algale wrote:That's beautiful work and further proof of the fact that the folks who say the Shopsmith isn't a good lathe (table saw, drill press, etc.) aren't really familiar with its capabilities.

Alan, let me be the first to say, the table saw function of ANY Shopsmith is
barely adequate. ESPECIALLY my Model 10 stuff, Those are trim
saws at best.

My brother, the one that just (finally!) got a Model 10, has a
table saw, that has extension tables that cover a 8 foot by 8
foot area. (My first apartment would fit under that table!)

Now, drill press, (both versions) and lathe, state of the art!.

Disc sander? EVER see one that you could advance the disc into a piece of work?
Me neither. Best disc sander on the market! Using the sanding disc, after cutting
on the table saw, everything lines up, even after making a compound cut.

Cutting and sanding to length? Getting 27 pieces cut to 1 or 2 thousandths variance?
try THAT with something else, especially after an angled cut!

steve

Steve,

You and I will have to disagree on the table saw issue.

I've used what I consider a barely adequate table saw. I purchased it new in 1999. It was a big Sears-branded "professional" contractor saw manufactured by one of the big table saw manufacturers. It came with a big cast iron table, a big cast iron extension wing and a 1.75 HP motor. It looked impressive as heck. It also came with a rip fence that could not hold alignment, trunions that heeled the blade when I attempted to make bevel cuts, a loose-fitting miter gauge with a terrible-to-use hold down, a splitter that was impossible to align and a hassle to put on or take off and its dust collection was next to useless. Even with a 1.75 HP motor (5/8ths HP more than my 520), that table saw would stall out or burn cuts I routinely make with my 520 and that are glue joint ready.

Obviously it will take me a lot longer than your brother with his table saw built into an enormous platform to set up the extension and floating tables of my 520 to cross cut very long boards or to set up my homemade outfeed table to make very long rip cuts.

But based on my experience with a barely adequate saw, I utterly reject the idea that the time it takes one to set up to make the cut is an important criteria when it comes to judging the adequacy of table saw (at least for someone who is not in a business where one uses a table saw and thus one's time is money).

I've never used any of the Model 10s so I'll defer to you on its capabilities in the table saw department.

Al

algale wrote:

skou wrote:

algale wrote:That's beautiful work and further proof of the fact that the folks who say the Shopsmith isn't a good lathe (table saw, drill press, etc.) aren't really familiar with its capabilities.

Alan, let me be the first to say, the table saw function of ANY Shopsmith is
barely adequate. ESPECIALLY my Model 10 stuff, Those are trim
saws at best.

My brother, the one that just (finally!) got a Model 10, has a
table saw, that has extension tables that cover a 8 foot by 8
foot area. (My first apartment would fit under that table!)

Now, drill press, (both versions) and lathe, state of the art!.

Disc sander? EVER see one that you could advance the disc into a piece of work?
Me neither. Best disc sander on the market! Using the sanding disc, after cutting
on the table saw, everything lines up, even after making a compound cut.

Cutting and sanding to length? Getting 27 pieces cut to 1 or 2 thousandths variance?
try THAT with something else, especially after an angled cut!

steve

Steve,

You and I will have to disagree on the table saw issue.

I've used what I consider a barely adequate table saw. I purchased it new in 1999. It was a big Sears-branded "professional" contractor saw manufactured by one of the big table saw manufacturers. It came with a big cast iron table, a big cast iron extension wing and a 1.75 HP motor. It looked impressive as heck. It also came with a rip fence that could not hold alignment, trunions that heeled the blade when I attempted to make bevel cuts, a loose-fitting miter gauge with a terrible-to-use hold down, a splitter that was impossible to align and a hassle to put on or take off and its dust collection was next to useless. Even with a 1.75 HP motor (5/8ths HP more than my 520), that table saw would stall out or burn cuts I routinely make with my 520 and that are glue joint ready.

Obviously it will take me a lot longer than your brother with his table saw built into an enormous platform to set up the extension and floating tables of my 520 to cross cut very long boards or to set up my homemade outfeed table to make very long rip cuts.

But based on my experience with a barely adequate saw, I utterly reject the idea that the time it takes one to set up to make the cut is an important criteria when it comes to judging the adequacy of table saw (at least for someone who is not in a business where one uses a table saw and thus one's time is money).

I've never used any of the Model 10s so I'll defer to you on its capabilities in the table saw department.

Al

Come on Al comparing a Sears zip code saw to a real saw? Major company (Orion??)
Which is now out business. How about a Ridgid 3650 table saw for around $600 which had none of those defects. My motto only buy from Sears things that do not have motors or engines. Exception appliances which seem to do well.

Oh by the way there is a fix for heeling. Besides aligning blade to fence or miter slot make sure the trunnions are in the same plane in all directions.

Ed in Tampa wrote:
Come on Al comparing a Sears zip code saw to a real saw? Major company (Orion??)
Which is now out business. How about a Ridgid 3650 table saw for around $600 which had none of those defects. My motto only buy from Sears things that do not have motors or engines. Exception appliances which seem to do well.

Oh by the way there is a fix for heeling. Besides aligning blade to fence or miter slot make sure the trunnions are in the same plane in all directions.

Who made that comparison, Ed? Not me! I said my old table saw was an example of a barely adequate one and tried to list the things that made it so. By the way, it was NOT a zip code saw and not made by Orion but IIRC by Ryobi. It cost about $500 in 1999.