Shopsmith Forums

First of all, hello to everyone and dont hesitate
My grandfather passed away in late October and I found myself down in the basement to get away where we never dared to go and i see a table saw blade poking out under a giant pile of boxes and clothes in the garage. I had no idea this was ever even in the house and on NYEve I find out from my uncle it is a shopsmith, which i never heard of, next day my dad and i pick it up and unearth this crazy thing. I was really just getting rid of it for my grandma and i could use a table saw
got it to the house and i quickly saw i had zero idea of what the H i was dealing with, nor did my dad (his dad, other gpa, was a wood guy) and we are tool people. He took it as a lost cause on day one and i have had a good time proving him wrong over and over. I read and read and read about this and did as much research i could find before even turning it on thank god, and here i am
got everything working i believe, but the Speed Control has me wondering. It turns 2 full rotations to run between (what i think are) low to high speeds which doesnt seem right at all. After some minor repairs it does work just fine and the motor runs great. The crazy thing is that when i began the cleaning process and opened it up it was spotless. no saw dust, the sheaves are in mint condition, new belts, some accesories-still more to find.
This was definitely sitting in the same spot for a while and my uncles say he got this about 5 years ago from a friend and used to have the ER
needless to say i don't think it was used to do more than cut a couple 2x4s. My grandpa was 86 y/o and all his free time was spent with his boat so this got no use
I am learning as i go and have been successful so far
The dials were upside down and were all out of wack, it has pieces that dont even go with it, this seems like this is a madman's hybrid shopsmith creation but it works none the less. All the moving parts seem to be working like they should and i have made sure i dont skip steps when fixing things by trying the first solution and working my way down the list
Is this anywhere near normal for this? or do i even need to worry?
also, every diagram i see, the belt cover has only two screws, i have like 7 or 8
Im sorry about the long post but this has been a fun and crazy experience which should have been taped for youtube
Any other pointers or suggestion would be awesome

Don't be sorry. There are many long posts here.

Would it be possible for you to post a few pictures of what you have. This would allow a much better assessment.

Yes, hopefully within the hour, The Green Monster is at my dads house, they dont allow shopsmiths in NYC apartments, i will ask him to take a few.
What should he take them of?
these are a couple from my phone, first is before moving it still covered in stuff at my gpas house

Nice score!!

You will have years of fun with it.


Speaking from experience only ,,,
In case you haven't used the jig saw they are very addicting ,,,, the one you have has a device that blows the dust away as you cut ,,should be a plastic /rubber hose on it,,, it also has oil in it ,,,,, so be sure to check its oil level and maybe even replace the oil ,,,,,
How far along are you in checking things out?

you are doing it right by asking questions .


Hobbyman2

Thank you so much that is great to hear you have no idea
I have cleaned everything, waxed and lubricated everything, changed the power cord, got the speed control at least working
i had no idea what i was looking for when i was moving it so i only have bits and pieces. The jigsaw was not hooked up and had the wrong kind of blade, pretty much it was just resting there
tailstock wouldnt come out, even with a jack even so used a torch to heat and eventually remove it which actually cracked the base; tie bard was actually two pieces welded together which was probably the reason for that. But whatever needs replacing will get replaced but i still have to look for whatever parts may be there but it is a garage and basement full of 30= years of stuff on top of stuff so who knows
the machine is in wonderful shape all things considered and i am positive that whoever gave it to my gpa was not a handy dude at all (trying to track him down)
i have no handles, no power coupler, all the jointer pieces,a couple lathe pieces, with the chisels-brand new, i have used the saw and drill press up and down which run great
i have really only worked on it for 4 or 5 days, until 1 or 2 in the morning, i get up to my dads a couple times a month but my next step i am thinking is going to be using a tachometer to see how high and low the speed is going and then getting it to run perfectly, i actually cut out an access hole on the opposite side to make life easy
The best thing is that i have been wanting to learn woodworking for a long time and we were actually going to build a workshop in the spring and eventually buy all these tools, crazy things happen
It is not gonna get used heavily until spring so i have time for that
what would you do going forward if you were in my shoes?

Much will follow later, BUT those tubes were not intended to be removed!!!

If it were me,,,, I would start by upgrading the table and fence,,,, I find this is what I need the most.

You can find other attachments and gadgets on the net , or new from Shopsmith , I would buy new if you can,,,that way you know what you have ,,,, on the other hand ,,,,if you can find new old stock on the net it is just as good and may cost less,

The way I see it if its out there and no one is using it then why not use it.

Use sharp blades and take care of them , if you end up with the band saw learn to wind up the blades when you are done, also if you are going to leave a blade on the band saw for any length of time with out using it back off the tension , this will add more life to the blades .,,,don't forget to stop by here and ask a lot of questions and post a lot of pictures!!!


Hobbyman2

Haha, yeah one tube was jammed in the base and the other came out with the tailstock but i am replacing it either way, that was actually the very first thing we did was try to remove that and it took about 3 and a half hours

I as thinking the same with the table and fence, it just seems practical
Thanks for the advice on the bandsaw, out of all the tools i know how to use the band jig and table saw are 3 that i have never dabbled with but i am excited, my dad is great with all of them so i have a good teacher, i never really knew what a jig saw was used for and you are right, it does look very addicting, this whole machine is addicting
i forgot my original question about the speed dial turning two full rotations, is that something that happens?
I will say though the one thing i did not do yet is adjust the high speed setting, which i would think could be an issue, y or n?
Thank you for all your help, i am looking forward to the forums, its a whole new world in here

TBNYK wrote:I will say though the one thing i did not do yet is adjust the high speed setting, which i would think could be an issue, y or n?

It may or may knot be an issue. But here's how to do that adjustment if ya need it.

You have an "A" casting early greenie shopsmith Mark 5 which indeed has all those screws retaining the belt cover and a lack of an access hole on the back side.

Likely the control sheave does not have an oil hole.

I have never counted the revolutions on the control knob when adjusting the speed from slow to fast, but 2 1/2 does not seem to be unusual.

As for the 'stuck' tail stock, you did loosen the clamp!?

A word of caution, if something does not move easily as you think it should, do not engage gorilla nor heat to get it to move. Ask us for direction before that.

It likely has a gilmer drive system that although not bad per se, is not ideal, but it is very expensive to convert unless some of the stuff is already needing replacement

As for upgrading the tables etc. I suggest getting more acquainted with this beast before doing that.

Again, ask questions, we are quite willing to help here.

Oh and welcome to the madness!