Shopsmith Forums

I found a M5 in really good condition the paint looks almost new. And it looks powder coated but the serial number is 264828 What year would that be looking at the year chart I came up with 1954!

Picture. Color?

The paint color only goes so far -- especially if it looks new. Many people do restorations. Sometimes with original paint colors sometimes with retro paint colors, sometimes with later paint colors, and sometimes with custom colors.

https://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/serialnumber.htm you can find a date code here looks like you are right ?

Serial Number 264828 would have been made in April 1954. The Serial Number/Vent Plate would look like the one below except with the S/N 264828. Serial Numbers in the 1980's didn't go nearly that high before the change to date codes replaced serial numbers.

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Besides the warning at the top, the plate includes who made it, that it is a Mark 5 and the motor HP.

Now to better identifying it. As was already said when restored it can end up pretty much any color imaginable. Other considerations are what parts may have been changed during a restoration and even the possibility of the Serial Number/Vent Plate being changed. A Mark 5 made in April 1954 would have the "A" Headstock. Two things quickly identify a Mark 5 as having an "A" Headstock. One is a high speed lock which is a strip of metal held on by the power switch that goes under the Speed Control Dial. The other is the Belt Cover has 8 screws holding it on to the Headstock. The original color of a 1954 Mark 5 was Green and Silver Hammered Finish Paint.