Shopsmith Forums

Whenever i am turning a natural stock of wood and is even slightly off center, myshopsmith walks across the ground. I am working on concrete so i am looking for any way to clamp it down. I have the newet wheel upgrade.

Some put/hang sand bag tubes on the support tubes.

I'll leave this for the "turners" to comment on except to say that I am surprised that being offcenter a small amount is enough to walk your Mark V. What model Shopsmith do you have?

If you have some left over tool tray liner, cut some pads that will fit under the resting points of the legs.

Lower the wheels and coupled with the hanging sandbags as suggested, or the weight of a storage cabinet that hangs under your machine bench tubes, it should help offset the creep.

When I turn large bowls I trim them with a bandsaw even a chain saw at times to general contour in order to help with the oscillation and vibration on the tool I am using to rough in.

R.J. Decristiforo would even set up his jointer to bevel square stock 45 degrees to more consistent 8 sided size on long stock he was turning, before cutting it into shorter turning blanks.

A speed reducer helps sometimes on some pieces that have to have a off center component as part of the finished piece.

Also you might look at this for some tips on working with logs http://lumberjocks.com/Bearpie/blog/34225 He is using a large Powermatic, but the principles are the same.


Everett

Are the 'new wheels' not supporting any weight so the legs are carrying the full weight? i.e. are the wheels retracting. They may rest on the floor due to slop in the stem, but should not be supporting any weight other than their own.

This may be an RPM problem.

Build a collar around the legs using 2x4s on edge. Fill this 4" deep collar with pea gravel and I don't believe it will walk on you any more.

Just about anything will work to weight the MK V down. I have used dive weights but theses days they always seem to be left on the boat. My new method which seems to work well is a five gallon bucket filled about two thirds full of gravel. It has never fallen off and definitely does the trick.
Paul

I had considered an anchor point mounted in the floor and holding the SS down with a ratchet strap around the lower tubes.
Thought two was just turning the gravity control up from 4 to 8.
The last thing I considered and may try is to push the SS down from the ceiling joist of the shop. I was thinking maybe a couple of those jack like load stabilizers like they use in trucks or maybe even just a couple of pipe clamps configured to push...
That might get a little tough though for you guys that work outside in the drive.


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robinson46176 wrote:I had considered an anchor point mounted in the floor and holding the SS down with a ratchet strap around the lower tubes.
Thought two was just turning the gravity control up from 4 to 8.
The last thing I considered and may try is to push the SS down from the ceiling joist of the shop. I was thinking maybe a couple of those jack like load stabilizers like they use in trucks or maybe even just a couple of pipe clamps configured to push...
That might get a little tough though for you guys that work outside in the drive.


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A bottle jack works too. https://youtu.be/rQbzEz0-7X0

The other option, use the Shopsmith that has the highest rating
as a lathe.

Yes, I'm talking about that is approaching 70 years old, the Model 10.

The Model 10 is the ABSOLUTELY worst table saw, of ANY Shopsmith
EVER built! But, as a lathe, (and if you can bench-press 300 pounds
of cast iron) the best drill-press as well as lathe.

Period!

You want to keep a lathe from walking away, MASS is the best answer.

And, the Model 10, (10E Or 10ER) are your answer to the mass question.

A Model 10 can (and STILL does) build the Mark series. Can you build a
Model 10 with a Mark whatever?

steve