Shopsmith Forums

The last photo in this post shows one of the holes under JPG's hand. They are both in indentations in the casting.

Is there an attachment that mounts there?

To my knowledge nothing mounts there. I have never seen a discussion about them. Possibly a left over from something that never materialized.

It is a good place to store the 5/32" allen wrench so it is always handy. On my dedicated drill press I store the chuck key in one and a T handle allen wrench in the other.

As jsburger said, those holes are there to store your 5/32" allen wrench so it is always near you.
I inherited my Shopsmith from my Dad. He had his allen wrench hanging in one of those holes. I've kept it there ever since.

The explanation that always made the best sense to me was, the holes were for mounting the base to a stand or table like the 10E/ERs were mounted. Originally the legs were to be an option for the MK 5 but later became part of the base unit. The castings were not changed when legs became standard.

thunderbirdbat wrote:The explanation that always made the best sense to me was, the holes were for mounting the base to a stand or table like the 10E/ERs were mounted. Originally the legs were to be an option for the MK 5 but later became part of the base unit. The castings were not changed when legs became standard.

It doesn't make sense to me. I have never heard that the legs for the MK 5 were to be optional. Mk 5's were never sold with optional legs. There are no holes in the pivot end casting. Also if mounted on a Model 10 type base holes would have to be drilled for the fixed extension table tubes to drop through the base.

It has been decades since I heard that explanation. I do not even remember where or when I heard it anymore. I always figured that if the holes were for mounting it, then it was in the early stages of design and testing. Either there was minimal or no changes to that portion of the part so the casting was never changed. Of course, it could also have been a flaw in the original mold that was not important enough to replace for all I know.

I suppose the holes might be the remnant of an idea to mount the base pieces, but as noted they don't appear on the other side and those base pieces are clearly designed for mounting on the steel legs.

No doubt that plenty of people used those holes for holding allen wrenches, chuck keys, and i put screwdrivers and anything long and thin in them.

I was wondering if there was some attachment I hadn't heard of or forgot about. Maybe it was something they never ended up making.