Shopsmith Forums

I am new to this community so my apologies for my ignorance but I have a simple question. I inherited a Mk 5 Model 500 but its tubes are only approx. 20 inches across leaving little room for the work object. Do I need to buy and install longer tubes? Thank you! John

There is a group of people with the mentality that it makes sense to cut up a perfectly good Shopsmith to make it short. Like you found out, that makes it quite useless for most of the functions it was originally designed to do. You can either buy new tubes or possibly find someone from that group (tube cutters) and trade your cut tubes for original long ones.

jhcole wrote:I am new to this community so my apologies for my ignorance but I have a simple question. I inherited a Mk 5 Model 500 but its tubes are only approx. 20 inches across leaving little room for the work object. Do I need to buy and install longer tubes? Thank you! John

As stated by garys there is a group of us who cut tubes to make the Shopsmith shorter but we do have functional use for the shorter machines. But, to answer your question, tubes are often available on eBay or can be purchased new from Shopsmith.

Be aware that not all four tubes are identical in length. The upper two (Way Tubes) are 3/4" shorter than the lower two (Bench Tubes).

Welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy your new machine as much as I do.

Way tubes 1 3/4 x 52

Bench* tubes 1 3/4 x 52 3/4

* older greenies and early goldies are 1 7/8 x 52

garys wrote:There is a group of people with the mentality that it makes sense to cut up a perfectly good Shopsmith to make it short. Like you found out, that makes it quite useless for most of the functions it was originally designed to do. You can either buy new tubes or possibly find someone from that group (tube cutters) and trade your cut tubes for original long ones.

Come on Gary, that is not true. It limits the table saw size but everything else works fine.

JPG wrote:Way tubes 1 3/4 x 52

Bench* tubes 1 3/4 x 52 3/4

* older greenies and early goldies are 1 7/8 x 52

Does SS still sell the 1 7/8" bench tubes? I don't think so. If your machine requires them then be careful when you buy tubes on eBay. MANY sellers don't know what they have or are selling.

Thank you all for your quick and helpful responses; I will use your advice! To each his own I guess. I look forward to using the forum.
John

jhcole wrote:Thank you all for your quick and helpful responses; I will use your advice! To each his own I guess. I look forward to using the forum.
John

BTW Welcome!

Another simple question. In your experience is it preferred to use THE Shopsmith 10" Sanding discs (ie. $26 per set of 5 or 6) or are there suitable discs sold by other companies?
Thank you!

I assume that you’re talking about the 12” PSA discs. You can indeed buy similar discs elsewhere with aluminum-oxide abrasive. I haven’t tried them, so can’t compare the quality.

But my recommendation is to pass on the A/O discs, and spring for the Shopsmith ceramic discs. They are simply amazing. I have yet to wear one out, and that includes grinding metal with them. I have a whole stack of A/O discs that someone thew in along with a CL purchase, and basically have no need for them. Changing out PSA discs is a royal PITA, so in the long term the ceramic discs save you both time and money.

Now that said, I do have a steel disc dedicated to each sandpaper grit, so I never have to waste good paper just to swap grits.

If 12” ceramic abrasive discs are available elsewhere, I haven’t seen them.