Shopsmith Forums

Anyone have any experience or recommendations when it comes to the 6" jointer meant for Shopsmith clones? One has become available and I am debating whether to purchase it or not. Biggest question for me is the weight difference between my Shopsmith 4" jointer and this 6" jointer. I can manage the 4" jointer okay today, but lifting the Shopsmith planer on and off the waytubes is a real bear. I am trying to find out the weight of the 6" jointer. If it is closer to the planer weight, that is probably a deal breaker for me. Also, wondering if the 6" jointer will be that much more useful to me than the 4" jointer. What I have today works for edge jointing, but the problem is the 4" jointer isn't wide enough to face joint a lot of the material that I work with if it is cupped or warped. One advantage/disadvantage of the 6" jointer is it has no guard (or mounting stud) over the cutterhead. So even if a board is wider than 6", I could still use the 6" jointer to joint it using the technique where you start on the jointer and finish on the planer with a sheet of plywood under the partially jointed face. This isn't possible on the Shopsmith 4" jointer because even if you remove the cutterhead guard, there is still a fixed mounting post that comes out of the jointer bed that can't be removed. I really need at least an 8" standalone jointer, but I can't fit one in my shop. Lastly, I am wondering if replacement blades even exist for this 6" jointer. Presumably they copied the Shopsmith 4" jointer design and scaled it up. If so, where can I get tapered 6" jointer blades?

P.S. I just found out that this 6" jointer (Shopsmith clone from Taiwan) weighs 88 pounds. My Shopsmith 4" jointer weighs 53.6lbs and that is with the extension fence on, so I guess it weighs over 60% more which is considerable to lift on/off my Mark V.

RFGuy wrote:One advantage/disadvantage of the 6" jointer is it has no guard (or mounting stud) over the cutterhead. So even if a board is wider than 6", I could still use the 6" jointer to joint it using the technique where you start on the jointer and finish on the planer with a sheet of plywood under the partially jointed face. This isn't possible on the Shopsmith 4" jointer because even if you remove the cutterhead guard, there is still a fixed mounting post that comes out of the jointer bed that can't be removed.

I'm not completely understanding this part. My old SS Jointer has a blade cover that is easily, perhaps too easily, removed leaving a flat bed. Are you saying that the 'newer' models with the featherboard have non-removable mounting hardware?

Lastly, I am wondering if replacement blades even exist for this 6" jointer. Presumably they copied the Shopsmith 4" jointer design and scaled it up. If so, where can I get tapered 6" jointer blades?

In this other thread: http://shopsmith.com/ss_forum/maintenan ... 16084.html Bill Mayo said he had two sets of blades. Interestingly, they were two different sizes. But neither was tapered so I think you'd have a reasonable chance of finding a current replacement.

- David

DLB wrote:

RFGuy wrote:One advantage/disadvantage of the 6" jointer is it has no guard (or mounting stud) over the cutterhead. So even if a board is wider than 6", I could still use the 6" jointer to joint it using the technique where you start on the jointer and finish on the planer with a sheet of plywood under the partially jointed face. This isn't possible on the Shopsmith 4" jointer because even if you remove the cutterhead guard, there is still a fixed mounting post that comes out of the jointer bed that can't be removed.

I'm not completely understanding this part. My old SS Jointer has a blade cover that is easily, perhaps too easily, removed leaving a flat bed. Are you saying that the 'newer' models with the featherboard have non-removable mounting hardware?

Lastly, I am wondering if replacement blades even exist for this 6" jointer. Presumably they copied the Shopsmith 4" jointer design and scaled it up. If so, where can I get tapered 6" jointer blades?

In this other thread: http://shopsmith.com/ss_forum/maintenan ... 16084.html Bill Mayo said he had two sets of blades. Interestingly, they were two different sizes. But neither was tapered so I think you'd have a reasonable chance of finding a current replacement.

- David

David,

You are right. Yes, it can be removed (see pic below), but I have never tried it. The problem is jointing 4" off of a 6" board, then using the planer to finish it would work okay. However, jointing 4" off of an 8" or wider board results in an unstable platform to then flip the board, place it on a sheet of plywood, etc. and run it through the planer. In other words, using the jointer->planer technique to face joint wide stock only really works when your jointer bed width is slightly smaller than the width of the stock you want to joint. Moving up to the 6" jointer helps, a little, but probably not worth it for the weight of lifting this jointer on/off.

Thanks for the link to the other thread. I still don't understand whether this clone has an identical cutterhead to the Shopsmith design (where it would need a tapered blade), or if straight blades are safe in it. According to this thread the taper vs. straight blade doesn't really matter (https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/main ... 8-s20.html).

I was given a clone bandsaw and the quality is very poor. That would make me question the quality of joiner. I would also think that it would be very heavy.

have a Central Machinery Jointer that fits on my Shopsmith. I have never had a problem with it. I have had the blades out for sharpening. They are not tapered.

It is heavy, right at 100 lbs. I had two of these and sold one.

I have never had a Shopsmith jointer and can't compare the two.
I

I have two of the TotalShop 6" jointers, and one is still in the box, which states a net weight of 43kg or 94.6 lbs. (See attached photo)
In my opinion it is way too heavy to add and remove from the MKV, so I would either let it live on the MKV or mount it on a dedicated stand. It's not a bad jointer, but it falls short of the Shopsmith jointer in several ways that are important to me: No feather guard, no tapered blades, no dust chute, overall lower quality casting, machining and painting.
Scott

Thanks Scott, Robert, shopsmithaddict and Dave. Appreciate all of your inputs. I was definitely tempted to purchase this one, but I have decided to hold off for now. I already know I have difficulty, i.e. my lower back hates me, whenever I put the Shopsmith planer on and off the waytubes. I am hoping one day to somehow locate it in my shop with a dedicated motor so I don't have to do this any more. Either that or abandon it for a lunchbox style planer that I can fit more easily. Thanks again for all of the feedback.

Sounds like a wise decision.