Shopsmith Forums

Brand new to the Shop smith world. Just purchased an old "greenie" at an estate sale. Serial no. shows it to be a 1956 model. This thing was in great shape and came with a box of accessories and a jointer attachment all for $250. I'm in the process of cleaning and lubing it and maybe some paint. Not even really that dirty. I plugged it in and it ran thru all the speeds nice and smooth. It's missing a couple of small parts but nothing that's major. Can't wait to get it going and start playing with it!

First, Welcome!

There are no stupid questions. So do not hesitate to ask some!

Congratulations on your "new" Shopsmith, and welcome to the forum!

Thanks to all. I've wanted one of these since the 1st time I saw one on TV. Sure could never afford a new one and this one will suit my needs. It needs the saw gaurds, the saw table hand crank, the accessory drive thing, and 1 of the saw table elevating gears is stripped. Other than that it appears to all be there and functional. Haven't fired up the jointer yet but it rotates real smooth by hand. It needs some good cleanup. Thanks again, and I'm sure I'll have questions.

Welcome to the Shopsmith Forum

If you did not get a Owners Manual with it check under the Maintenance and Repair section for Shopsmith Large Format Drawings, Illustrations and More by Everett Davis. This will be one of the first three topics. In it you will find a wealth of information on the Shopsmith tools. Some are directly linked there and others are on “My Google Drive” with documents too large to be directly linked. Everett has become the Shopsmith historian by saving and restoring manuals and other documents. You said yours was made in 1956 so a manual having the correct parts list and drawings have not been restored and posted there yet. Everett is working on them. The first three Owners Manuals are there and the operation is the same for all Mark 5's with the exception of the high speed lock that came on the early Mark 5 with the "A" headstock (serial number 312507 and below). Maintenance is the same except the "B" headstock has the access hole under the rear name plate to service the idler sheeve and back of the speed control. Most of the changes made to the "Greenie" Mark 5 was in the headstock. I have the 5th edition of the manual which is likely the one that originally came with your Mark 5. So if you have any specific questions about headstock parts I could try to get you a copy of the parts and drawings pages.

Again, as JPG said feel free to ask questions and picture are very helpful in describing a problem.

You said

It needs the saw gaurds, the saw table hand crank, the accessory drive thing, and 1 of the saw table elevating gears is stripped.

The saw table hand crank, if I understand you correctly, is the the knob and lever assembly for the pinion shaft that the stripped gear is on. This can be found used or new from shopsmith along with the gear. The accessory drive thing would be the coupler and again it can be found used or new from Shopsmith.

The saw guard for it did not originally come with it but was an accessory item. That guard set is not as common as the later Mark 5 guard shown below which will work on your Mark 5. The original Blade Guard is for a 9" blade but the one shown below can take up to a 10" blade.

Thanks! I downloaded the summary manual but I'll check those others out as well. Have been looking thru parts on the shop smith site as well as e bay and such. You are correct on the knob and lever assy., and the pinion. Didn't know the guards didn't originally come with it but I will be getting them as well as a couple of nice to have items. Thanks again!

If you buy the guard set I showed before make sure it has all of the parts shown in the picture. I have seen them for sale on ebay quite often without the heavy wire loop on the front of the upper guard called the shoe. Without it the guard will not lift over the stock being cut and therefor the guard is useless.

We all have our own preferences and perhaps you want a guard that is closer to the vintage machine you own....... However that guard is not all that nice to use. In fact while I like to have guards in place this one just was too much a pain to use that I didn't use it.

Shopsmith later came out with what I think is a much better guard with clear plastic top guard, and a better way of mounting things. The initial version had a small dust port and an upgrade came out to fix that issue.

The bad news is I don't see the initital upgrade at shopsmith anymore, the lower guard upgrade is still shown:

https://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cat ... wguard.htm

So from a user stand point I'd look for the newer plastic guard rather then the old metal one.

Ed

Good stuff to know and I thank you. I like having guards in place so I'll see if I can get the newer one.