Hello Shopsmith World

[Williams]

Hi there!

I inherited a 10ER this spring, and thought I'd share. I've done a fair bit of lurking around here over the past few months to see what in the world I now own and how to polish it up.
I have to say, the knowledge on here is astounding. I've learned that this machine (S/N R53534) was from the western factory, and was likely manufactured around 1951. It needs a lot of love, but I think it looks great for 70-ish years old. I've also learned from reading about these machines, that if I'm not careful it will try to take a finger as a trophy.
I'm fairly mechanically inclined but I have never attempted to restore anything like this before. Definitely looking forward to it. It'll be slow going. I work 50-60 hours a week and have a toddler, so my free time is limited.

History on this one: It was bought by (or given as a gift to) my grandfather's step-brother. It was new when it came to the family. I think it's possible that it was a gift because 1951 was right around when he was married. It stayed with him until about 20-25 years ago, when he gave it to his step-brother, my grandfather. My grandfather was a mechanical engineer by trade, so he picked up on all the tricks right away and even taught my mother to use it for some small projects. Since his death about 16 years ago, it has sat unused in my mother's garage in suburban Missouri, with plenty of humidity to begin the rusting process. When I bought a new place this past spring I finally had space to claim a room all to myself as a workshop, and I was able to re-house the Shopsmith from Mom's, and here we are. It wasn't until this weekend that I had time to set it up and take a look at what I had. I wanted to get it set up just to get photos for reference before I started the teardown. I included photos of the attachments because I don't know what all of them do. Supposedly it runs as-is, but I'm going to do the restoration before I plug it in. The wiring is cracked with exposed conductors at several spots, and there's no ground.
Please let me know what you think, and let me know if you can tell me any details on this wonderful machine.
Going to try to attach the pics now.

[JPG]

Welcome aboard!

We look forward to future posts showing your progress.

Ask anything. We will be listening.

[rpd]

Greetings, Nice to have all that family history with it.

It looks to be in very good shape and minimal rust.
If the bearings feel good, you most likely just need to clean up and rust on the way tubes, table tubes, etc.

Wet sanding with something mildly abrasive like a green Scotchbrite scrubber pad, or fine sand paper, or steel wool, wet with solvent, or WD40, or what you have on hand.

Then wax with paste wax for wood (not car wax) and buff, Johnson's paste wax, TreWax, BriWax, MinWax, will all work fine, there may even be a can that came with it.
And you should be good to go.

Oh, and check the wiring to see if any of the insulation is brittle and cracking, the plug on the cord looks newer, so the cord may have been replaced at some point.

Just out of curiosity, in the second picture, what is the part on the right side between the extension table and the white crate, not familiar with what it is, but it looks intriguing.

Looks like you have been doing your homework, but if you missed it, the post in this link has a list of 10ER resources that I put together.
https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/view ... 02#p274502

[chapmanruss]

Williams,

Let me add my welcome to the Shopsmith forum.

Since you have been looking around on the site for a while you may have already seen threads we may suggest. One may be mine called Shopsmith Model 10's What When and Where. From it you would know that your Shopsmith Model 10ER S/N R53534 was made in April or May of 1951. April is when the Model 10ER changed from double wedge locks to single wedge locks. You also noted it was made in the Western Plant which has me wondering when it migrated east to suburban Missouri.

Ron pointed out an item in your second picture he does not recognize and neither do I. It is the one indicated by the arrow in your picture shown below.

Williams accessories.jpg (93.25 KiB) Viewed 2552 times

Maybe additional pictures of that part may help identify it. If you have any questions on other parts we can help with that. All of the other parts in your picture above are Shopsmith parts except the Lathe Chisels.

One item I noted is the belt cover on your 10ER is an earlier one found mostly on the Model 10E. After 70 years things do get mixed around. It may be a replacement bought used from an earlier Model 10.

Do add to this thread to keep us posted on your progress and ask as many questions as you need answers to.

[JPG]

I'm gonna guess the mystery object is a drill mounted mini circular saw.

[Williams]

I think you're totally correct. It appears to be a drill operated saw attachment. I had no idea what it was until you pointed that out. I don't think it has anything to do with the shopsmith, maybe just ended up in the box of pieces. The only marking is "Bull Tools".

Also found this speed changer dial. Thought you might find it interesting. Don't know how many survived this long.

-RPD
Thank you for the link to your other thread. It's going to take some time to work my way through all those links.

-chapmanruss
Thank you for the specific info on my machine. As for the migration from West coast to middle America, I don't know... Yet. Plenty of that family is still around and may have answers.

[chapmanruss]

JPG,

Good eye as always. With the additional pictures it is easy to see it is a drill attachment for a small saw.

Williams,

The Speed Dial is a different format of the Shopsmith Speed Chart and I have several of them too that have come with Model 10's I have restored.

[JPG]

JPG,

Good eye as always. With the additional pictures it is easy to see it is a drill attachment for a small saw.

Williams,

The Speed Dial is a different format of the Shopsmith Speed Chart and I have several of them too that have come with Model 10's I have restored.

At the time I did not realize it had a right angle drive!

[SkullsquadronX]

Welcome to the Shopsmith family William.

I don’t have a 10 at this time. My boss has one sitting in this father’s dairy barn not being used. Thinking in time about picking it up for a dedicated drill press.

Well good luck with your inherited Shopsmith 10.

[Williams]

Hi there everyone! I posted here almost three years ago with photos of my inherited machine. With the exception of the replacement of the power switch that I broke during reassembly, it's done.

I did a 100% teardown, every nut and bolt. I de-greased, de-rusted, stripped, painted, and polished it all up. Headstock stripped down, new bearings, greased and reassembled. All parts are original except for the power cord (added a ground), the washers that go through the wood (pitted beyond polishing), the feed lever knobs (original was sheared off at the threads), head stock bearings (probably needed replacement decades ago), and the power switch (my fault, not being careful and broke it). I wanted to go for a nice blue finish, but after getting several parts refinished the paint started chipping when it struck other metal, so it wasn't really as durable as I was hoping. I went with a 3 in 1 machinery paint instead and it worked great. I got the way tubes polished to a mirror finish, and when I tried to set it up in the vertical position the headstock slid down no matter how tight I cranked the wedge down. I de-tuned the finish back down to 80 grit and it works great vertically and horizontally. I rigged up a switch that I had laying around until the proper one arrives, and it works great. Nice and quiet and smooth. The movements are all easy and things lock down tight.

I learned a lot from this project - a lot of times it felt like spending time with my grandpa again, and I realized that my kid is probably making the same memories along the way. I just have one photo to share right now but I'll drop some more on here another day. Hope you enjoy, I think I might have given it another 70 years of life.

The (very nearly) finished product

PXL_20230921_235413431.jpg (417.36 KiB) Viewed 661 times