Shopsmith Forums

As always John, very interesting relics. Thanks for taking the time to share your finds with us, I always look forward to your posts.

DarrenDD wrote: ↑Tue Apr 18, 2023 2:03 am Thanks for taking the time to share your finds with us, I always look forward to your posts.

Darren - I appreciate the feedback! And thank you for being the 250th response to this thread!! That along with nearly 17,000 views is far more interest than I could have hoped for when I started it.
. I look forward to seeing more of this community’s finds as well - keep ‘em coming!

Onboard Instructions

Here are a couple of examples of Magna using the plastic cover of their products - in these examples, a Greenie bandsaw cover and a Mark 2 belt cover - as the foundation for their stick-on instruction sheet for quick reference.

The Mark 2 example in particular is one that is rarely seen, due to the relatively few of those machines having been produced, and the far fewer of those belt covers having survived (as part of the overall cost-cutting effort of that system to get it to an affordable price point, the cover was made of very thin - and unfortunately, brittle - plastic).
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Unfortunately, in the case of the label inside the belt cover on the Mark 2 that chart was not repeated in the Owner's Guide.

The Belt Sander had an instruction label on the back side of the Backup Plate. It is shown below on a December 1984 Belt Sander.

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For anyone wanting to add or replace that Belt Sander Label the PDF below is a replica I made. Simply print on 8-1/2" x 11" self-adhesive label paper.

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Mark VII Advertising Mat Book

This is an item that was supplied by Magna American to independent dealers to help with their local advertising campaigns for the Mark VII, Sawsmith, and Magna Line tools. These contained full print ad layouts (just fill in your own business name and location), logos and other graphics for custom print ads, and even some scripts for radio spots. Hilarious!
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Consumers’ Research Bulletin article on the 10-ER

This is a 1952 publication similar to today’s Consumer Reports (Consumers’ Research apparently being the precursor in the family tree - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumers%27_Research). At that time, Shopsmiths had gained a level of popularity that warranted inclusion here.

They certainly don’t pull off the lab-coat-and-necktie look in the workshop like Mr. DeCristoforo!
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I find it interesting that even though the article was from May 1952 the picture shows an early Model 10ER with the larger Base and 4 bolt Headrest. In 1952 the Model 10ER would have the smaller Base, a 2 bolt Headrest and single wedge locks for the Headstock and Carriage.

Additionally, I cannot understand why it was listed as only three speeds, 875, 1750 & 3500 RPM's (as per the Owner's Guide) when it is easy to reposition the pulley alignments to allow for 4 additional speeds. The Owner's Guide only covers using the 2" to 4", 3" to 3" and 4" to 2" pulley combinations and ignores the protentional of using the 2-3 and 3-4 pulley combinations to get the 4 additional speeds as shown in the chart from the PDF below.

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chapmanruss wrote: ↑Tue May 02, 2023 12:15 pm I cannot understand why it was listed as only three speeds, 875, 1750 & 3500 RPM's (as per the Owner's Guide) when it is easy to reposition the pulley alignments to allow for 4 additional speeds.
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Table of Speeds Model 10s.pdf

I would imagine they felt uncomfortable discussing any method of use not explicitly endorsed by the manufacturer...

My self. I consider the skewing of the belt to attain those additional speeds to be not very realistic. It also requires readjustment of the motor mount height / belt. Possible - yes.

Early Magna Accessory Packaging Style?

These are a bit of a mystery to me… Picked them up in a couple of online auctions sometime ago. I wasn’t necessarily attracted to the accessories themselves, but the packaging of each was very unusual!

One is a standard, 3-position motor pulley (labeled ‘3/4” PULLEY’), while the other is the alternative, 2-position headstock pulley (labeled “13/16 PULLY [sic] 2 STEP (137-1X)”) used to increase depth of cut on the 10-E/ER.

They’re both fairly early Magna vintage (company location is listed as San Francisco on the labels), but any other details are unclear. Anyone recognize these and have more of the story of their origin?
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