Shopsmith Forums

I lost my whole wood shop in a fire. I am thinking about buying the mark V. Can you turn stuff as small as pens. Sounds like adumb question but i have never even seen the machine yet.

Hi, Nickoleyt - Welcome to the Forum! To answer your question - Yes you can turn pens on a Mark V. I'm sure some our pen turners will post you more information about pen projects on a Mark V.

Thanks Chuck,

how about a router table in combination with the Incra TS system.

nickoleyt wrote:Thanks Chuck,

how about a router table in combination with the Incra TS system.

You're welcome, although I don't have the Incra system, others do. There was a recent discussion about the use of the router with the Incra stuff. Here is one of the discussions (with photos) which may help. http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... uter+table

Don't get in too much of a hurry. It may take a day or two but I think you will get some very helpful replies from those more knowledgeable than I am.

nickoleyt wrote:I lost my whole wood shop in a fire. I am thinking about buying the mark V. Can you turn stuff as small as pens. Sounds like a dumb question but i have never even seen the machine yet.

I have turned lots of pens with my Mark 5, several people sell the proper adapters. Make sure you use a live center in the tale-stock.

yes indeed, the shopsmith is quite capable of turning pens and other small projects. it is much easier to turn small projects on a large lathe than large projects on a small lathe. however one of the short comings of the shopsmith is turning large projects. while the fit on the shopsmith the speed lowest speed is much too fast. you can add a speed reducer.[ATTACH]2234[/ATTACH]

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bettyt44720 wrote:yes indeed, the shopsmith is quite capable of turning pens and other small projects. it is much easier to turn small projects on a large lathe than large projects on a small lathe. however one of the short comings of the shopsmith is turning large projects. while the fit on the shopsmith the speed lowest speed is much too fast. you can add a speed reducer.

It looks to me as though you have a fine wood worker in training. The only problem that I can see is that you might need another Mark V. The demand for time on the machine may be on the rise.

Good Job, Love the photographs.

nickoleyt wrote:I lost my whole wood shop in a fire. I am thinking about buying the mark V. Can you turn stuff as small as pens. Sounds like a dumb question*but i have never even seen the machine yet.

OH WOW. I think you just sent a shudder throughout the forum. Losing your shop has to devastating. Then add insult to injury with having to deal with the insurance company. We all feel for you.

BUT on a happier note. Now you get to rebuild your shop, the way you want it now. Buy all NEW equipment and set it up to use. You can browse around here, http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/index.htm .
And here for info on the MKV.
http://www.shopsmith.com/markvsite/index.htm
There's a DVD you can order. The service you get from ShopSmith is by far the BEST you will ever experience.

I do my woodworking in about a 100 square foot area, but the average around here seems to be about 200/300 sq feet.

* BTW. The ONLY "dumb" questions we have here are the UNASKED ones.

Thanks for the replys, i have already ordered the DVD.

You wouldny believe the list of stuff i lost. some of the bigger items were an epilog laser engraver, unisaw with the full incra set up, RBI hawk 26" scroll saw, Jet 20" bandsaw, Jet mini lathe 2 yeras worth of pen inventory and supplies, dewalt 12" planer... the list goes on and on to depressing to keep going.

Ouch It's hard to believe how deporessing your loss is. I shudder at thinking about replacing my shop and inventory of assembly items. One collects many treasures over the years.

If at some point your are able to tell us more about the cause perhaps we can all learn from you. I wouldn't dream of asking so as to embarass yourself. On the other hand I suspect many of us use practices that could easily cause a similar mishap. One advantage of this discussion group is our desire to learn from each other.

Pen tiruning on the 520 is thrilling. Teaching my daughter and grandchild to turn pens on it even more exciting.

The TSIII Is a favored fence for cutting exacting parts for any project. I am in process of building a dedicated router set up that will utilize a dedicated Incra fence rather than one mounted on my 520. I found my own personal limitations due to a shoulder that doesn't work right made reaching under the centered table to work with the router nearly impossible. Not enough clearance. I also didn't like having the TSIII extended so far off the unsupported end of the 520. I had a fear of damaging an expensive tool. As I say all of this please understand I am retirement age and sometimes a stumble bum. The notion of a fence that is sized for the table upon which it is mounted and is a dedicated router table/fence is very attractive to me.

Now if you ask how I like the Shopsmith 520 overall. It is the finest tool I have ever purchased. I find every function it was designed for works very well. Changes from one use to another are generally simple and quick. I wouldn't even consider trading it for any other tool, or even a shop full of tools. Good luck with creating the shop of your dreams. fjimp