Shopsmith Forums

I will be honest, I'm a bit concerned about the health of Shopsmith Inc. Recent retirements there have significantly changed the company. Jim McCann is an excellent engineer, but he has to be nearing retirement as well only further eroding knowledgeable people at Shopsmith. And like the rest of thw world, the impact of coronavirus hasn't helped.

I hope I'm wrong but in that light I'm putting together a list of long-term support items for my Shopsmith tools. This should be a win/win -- an insurance policy for me and business for Shopsmith.

My list so far of things that would be difficult to replace:
Upper saw guard (mine has seen better days)
Spare planer knives
Conical sandpaper

The one thing I know I won't need is a power coupler. I am currently set for the next 1000 years. ;-)

I am sure I'm missing a few things. Any suggestions?

That is just a minuscule beginning list.

Mentally tear down your Shopsmith and list all those items you cannot go to ACE or the box stores for.

Then add the motors and cast aluminum items. Next add the extruded aluminum parts (fence for example).

If you are really concerned just begin an extensive overhaul of your current machine(s). When you get done you'll have a replical of my machine when it was new - many, many years ago. Are you worrying further into the future than that? These things last "forever" if maintained properly. I mean maintained, not repaired.

paulrussell,

You should be concerned about the health of Shopsmith Inc. since they ceased to exist a decade ago. RLF Brands LLC is the current name of the company. Basically the same company with a different name. You are correct about the changes in employees as many had been there it seems forever but have now retired. As far as stockpiling future parts needs that is a tough one to call. What will wear out, what may break or what may accidently get damaged is hard to say without a good working crystal ball. You could take a tip from the 17 Most Frequently Ordered Shopsmith Service Parts list as a start. As for me I hope they do stay around for a long time. I believe things will improve after Covid and as the new employees gain more knowledge about the different Shopsmith tools. Maybe new employees could spend a little time here on the forum learning about Shopsmiths. In the mean time I will continue using my different Shopsmith tools and if needed in the future shop for used parts like I do for the Model 10's.

Some of us old timers here have had that worry from time to time, and some of us have acted on it.

For me the best solution seem to be to get another shopsmith. At the time I had had my original shopsmith 30 some odd years and was starting to worry that it might fail at some point leaving me without the tool for some amount of time and thus unable to get things done that I wanted to do. Having a second shopsmith would mean that I could either switch to that machine or scavenge parts from it and keep going.

I got a basket case 510 and got what ever parts I needed to bring it up to a useful system. Of course then I wanted it to upgrade it too. So for a few more dollars it became a 520. Then there was a point were we were spending enough time "up north" that having another machine there seemed worth while so I got another one..... long story short, I have 6 machines now. Two of them are powerpro's and one is a 10ER that I still have not got back together but has new bearings etc. And to top that off I got a headstock which I planned to rewire to add reverse. It has sat there for years now.... not really seeing me ever getting to that project. And I have the guts of my old machine from the powerpro upgrade.

I can't say this is for everyone but a whole used shopsmith for about $200 has a whole lot more spare parts and having more then one can be very useful so I would add that to your thinking.

Ed

YES! I started 'collecting' when SS had a 'clearance' sale a few years back. Fortunately SS is still hanging on. Having multiple versions now I worry much less than back then since I now have fall back capability(as well as a vastly greater variety of SPTs).

I do think it is wise to plan for only used being a source(many of my spare parts were obtained that way). Prices were cheaper back then.

Parts 'unique' are the critical ones.

chapmanruss wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:38 pm paulrussell,

You should be concerned about the health of Shopsmith Inc. since they ceased to exist a decade ago.

Arg. Knew that but clearly forgot.

All:
Overall I'm most concerned about proprietary consumables and semi-consumables (such as planer knives). As several have mentioned, you don't know what will fail when. In my area machines come up for sale pretty regularly, and if the mothership crashes, they should end up even cheaper.

I have considered buying backups for my main table front extrusion and the fence extrusion, but mostly to pretty up the machine a bit down the road as these seem to get the brundt of wear.

I have debated the aluminum bandsaw table upgrade, but have never fotten to the point of pulling the trigger.

But like the rest of you, I hope my concerns are unfounded.

Which model do you have?

IIUC '500' rails are no longer available.

I run the sawdustzone form that started life as the forum for Ryobi BT3000/BT3100 saws. Parts have been unavailable for a decade or so now, but with 3d printing, affordable CNC machining of aluminum, machines comping up on craigslist and ebay, and some true ingenuity on the part of some of the faithful, the cheap little saw with a cult following keeps going.

Custom manufacturing of small batches or even 1 off parts is becoming possible. Hopefully as the technology gets better and cheaper we'll all be able to manufacture our own parts as necessary.

JPG wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 5:47 pm Which model do you have?
IIUC '500' rails are no longer available.

520 w/PowerPro