Shopsmith Forums

Not trying to complain about any Shopsmith function, but I have retired (getting older) and moved to a slightly bigger shop. I am keen to improve my workflow and have a one time cache of money to spend. I have a 500 upgraded to 520 with power pro head, so a nice machine. To my thinking anyway, either a stand-alone table saw or stand-alone drill press would have the most impact upon ease of workflow. In all my years, I have never had a tilting arbor table saw. My initial one was an old Delta saw with a tilting table. I then went with the Shop Smith. If I do buy a table saw, it will be my last so it will be a SawStop 3hp. Cabinet saw. Very pricy, but what a fantastic piece of machinery. Or I could get a nice bench top drill press removing the need to have to rotate the ShopSmith up on its end, something that become a little more difficult each decade. I had the lift assist, but it gets in the way of pen making on the lathe and makes the carriage somewhat difficult to slide to the end so I took it off. My tubes and legs are 1955 or so vintage so perhaps do not quite match up with newer models. So to all you ShopSmith users. What do you think? What are your thoughts. I already have stand-alone jointer, planer and router table so no worries there. Also have ShopSmith band saw. Thank you for all your time and thoughts.

I like the functionality of the ShopSmith full size drill press, but I also like my Woodpecker's drill press table. I'm not sure something like that would easily attach to the ShopSmith and be easy to reinstall and keep accuracy. I would lean toward a benchtop drill press first.

I have had mine about two years now and I love it.

Its a RIKON 12" with variable speed. WoodCraft sells it for $529 but it goes on sale from time to time.

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/12-v ... 6582000b6e

I like table saws and was fortunate enough to find a Sawsmith 2000 from Shopsmith. They were only made for a couple of years but I do really like the large table and the really heavy fence it came with. I also have a Shopsmith configured as a dedicated drill press. There are old threads about making these. Mine is made from an old Greenie but has a 510 headstock on it. I built initially to use a 500 table but have acquired a 510 table to upgrade it.

As much as I like the table saw I find the drill press provides the greatest advantage. It's just there ready to go when I need it for drilling a chucking up a sanding drum or wheel, and I expect to use it soon for shaping and some routing. For the small amount of space it takes up it is really worth it to me. If you have the space get both.

If time is any issue with your endeavor than consider both , wenn makes a decent drill press that wont break the bank . at times I would like to have the room to own more stand alone tools , you can set them up and go from one machine to another , especially the table saw and drill press , especially when duplicating mortis and tenons . combine the stand alone tools with the SS , a power station for spt's and you have a perfect combination with out needing a pole barn . JMO

Get the cabinet saw. Then if you have the space, pick up an old Mark V or 10E/R, and set it up as a dedicated drill press. Your existing machine can still do everything else, and most of the changeovers will be history.

Dennis, you beat me to it. That is exactly what I have done. You won't be sorry.

My advice is to buy nothing now. First get busy turning out projects. After you make a dozen or so projects you will find out what additional tools will fill your needs. To me, this makes far better sense than buying now when you haven't established your needs yet.
The money will wait in the bank until you need it.

jbwoodshop,

I lucked into a barely used, reasonably-priced 3hp SawStop 36" PCS a year and a half ago. What a well mannered beast it is. The included blade is OK, but putting a quality blade on makes cuts effortless and clean; with a Forrest WWII 40T installed, it sings through 2" walnut, crosscutting or ripping. The fence is rock solid when locked. I can use magnetic featherboards and jigs on it. I've not yet cut anything other than some tests with the blade tilted, but it is smooth and easy to ease into a desired angle. The blade raises and lowers similarly smooth and easy. The only drawback on mine is the caster setup is the PCS style which has two non-swivel casters, like a shopping cart, so it can be a bit of a pain trying to maneuver it in a tight shop; if you're shop is remotely tight, I'd recommend getting the ICS-style base, which all casters swivel.

Here's a thought. Do you really need 3hp? Will you be often cutting thick hardwoods? From my readings on the Sawstop Facebook group, few hobbyists regret having the 1.75hp machine and a quality blade, which would save close to $500 which would cover much or all the cost of a drill press.

Do not overlook he ability of the SS to function as a horizontal drillpress. Takes some mindset changes, but having done that myself, I rarely go to vertical.

Before setting up a dedicated drill press I used horizontal boring mode a lot. It is fine for all sorts of drilling, but I worked with metal and plastic a lot in addition to wood and that involved drilling in more sheet goods where a vertical drill press is much more effective. When you need to drill a number of holes in one piece that aren't neatly arranged in a line or grid then relocating the piece for each hole will be much easier in with a drill press. I think vertical operation will also be better for shaping although I haven't tried it yet.

However, I do want to suggest that when someone says they can get individual machines for the same price of a multi-function Shopsmith ask them what brand of horizontal boring machine they are getting and how much it costs.