Shopsmith Forums

Some of you may have noticed that the blog was absent for a bit. That's because there was absolutely nothing to talk about, even the weather was quiet until last Thursday when we had about 10-12 inches of snow, but with no wind, no problems.

After the rush before Christmas, I couldn't bring myself to face the clean-up required in the shop so I stayed away as much as possible. Went down there today to start, and found Grandma's little decorative step stool that Grandpa had "mistook" for a real one, and found out quickly that it wasn't. Since it was a gift from the younger granchildren a couple of years ago, it had to be fixed and is now in original condition.

I also got to play with one of my gifts, a digital tape measure. It's a little big for most of my uses but those numbers are sure easy to read and tests proved it to be quite accurate. Measuring the widths of boards with accuracy should be a snap now.

One of the gifts I had asked Mrs. Santa for was not under the tree so I guess I will have to wait for the local store to put their small lathe chisel set on sale. I figure I need these to try my hand at turning small pieces.

While in one of the big box stores last week I was looking at some storage cabinets that would help organize the shop. Quite pricy, but I felt I would rather spend my time making projects than making cabinets. Carry's rolling cart shown today though got me reconsidering that decision. It is one fine looking piece and I'm sure more solid than any thing that could be purchased.

Judging by the forum posts, not many have taken time off like me and it is great to read the posts and see some of the projects in process or completed.

Well maybe I'll get down there tomorrow.

Have a Safe and Fun week!

Well.. last Friday I had a local estate sale pop up nearby that was listing a shopsmith.. Needless to say my wife & I stopped by and the SS was still there with the price marked down from $875 to $600.. Still too high for me (since I've already got one).. It was a model 500 + bandsaw + jointer along with various accessories.. I later found out that the man who owned it had made much of the furniture in the house with his trusty SS500, ranging from full desks (with dove tailed drawers) to night stands,etc -- all with turned legs. The work was very good but all appeared to be made of pine for whatever reason.. Anyway, someone ended up beating me to it and got the machine for $400.. I did get some other things though such as an entire set of outdoor christmas decorations made of plywood and all painted up nice (reindeer, santa,etc) for $15.. I just need to figure out how it goes together (it's in about 15 pieces with the largest being about 4' tall)...

My wife is waiting for me to get some of these other chores out of the way so I can do some more work in the house.. Recently I've been working on a 6 foot wide hexagonal planter in my front yard -- my first time with working mortar + bricks.. So far so good..

I'm just now getting a little time back in the shop/garage to work on the rocking horse. However, with the twins (the Guys) due in 16 days my list of Daddy-do chores seems endless. Wednesday I will put the store bought dressing table together, and clean the carpets. Can't have the twins throw-up on a dirty carpet. In a truth, I'm looking forward to spoiling the little darlings. Best to all, Gary

Yeah - I missed the Blog last week, but that was O.K. with me because ail I had to show was a partially finished plywood box. Newer photo is available this week in the "Snack Tray Cabinet" thread, that's now turned into an expandable workbench discussion and plans.

Back to the Cabinet - Yesterday I made a disgusting and silly goof. The problem was I followed the plans without thinking it out. The plans (a drawing - no.1 on page 28 for those interested) called for a 1" hole center located 2" from the edge of the base frames. After drilling all of those, I quickly found they should have been located at 2 1/2". Today, made new base frames.

Speaking of the frames, - to saw the miter on the 2 1/2" tall frames, I used the SS Miter Pro and stood the boards on edge. This worked very well with clean miters. Since the blade had to be 2 1/2" + high - had to be careful, (no upper guard) but the alternative would have been to tilt the table 45 degrees. I really don't like to do that. Spline slots were also sawn into the miters with the table flat. Only had to make sure the table was perpendicular to the blade for these operations. No Problem!

Yes, I wrote an e-mail to Woodsmith Magazine explaining their error, which became mine.

Hopefully, I'll be ready to turn the bun feet tomorrow.

Rick - There is a 10ER up here for sale for $50. At least I think it is still available!

Gary - I hope those new babies enjoy your sense of humor as much as I do. Glad you're feeling better.

John - Thought I'd drop a pic that'll show you the difference in weather we have around here. These were taken last weekend. This is our 50 year old Son racing. The second is our Grandson in second place.

Thanks Chuck.. Someone a few weeks ago was giving away a 10ER.. Unfortunately, I wasn't too interested in loading another SS into my already VERY crowded garage.. My wife told me this morning "I hope you know how to put that thing back together" -- referring to re-mounting the head-stock on the SS proper..

I forgot to mention that the other thing I picked up at the estate sale was a nice rolling bench for $25 that is ~2.5'x4' and has underneath cabinets. It's still made of pine & plywood but was lacquered so it looks nice.. I'll probably use it in the coming weeks to disassemble my headstock to check for problems internally -- I've been sitting on that task for a good number of months now!

My son's late Christmas gift:o (Walnut Highboy) is coming along nicely, now that I found a switch for the SS. Just got a message from SS that the switch I ordered back in mid-December has been back ordered.Bummer!

While I was without the SS I put together the Sand Flee drum sander wanna-be from Stockroom Supply. Had to use the Skil Saw but everything ended up square. (to my unbelieving delight)

The highboy has nearly 50 separate pieces for the case, alone. Since I used rough lumber to start with, every piece had been jointed "flat"and planed to 3/4. Since I hadn't started the sanding process yet, I ran all the pieces over the drum sander. I was amazed at how not flat they were!:eek: By golly, they're flat now!:D Just finished assembling one side with 4 divided panels. Everything went together without a hitch and every tenon fit. What really pleased me was that each groove and tenon joint was smooth and even on both sides. Hope the other side is just as easy! Gotta get some longer pipe, though. Fussin' with using two clamps to span the 66" from top to bottom is a real pain.

Hope to have it finished by Feb. Pics then.

Chuck:

Thanks for the pictures , As I write this, the snow is blowing, the wind is howling and they are forecasting several days of frigid well below zero temperatures, (in both scales F & C ), but at least we don't get fires, etc. Congratulations to the "boys" on their racing feats.

Gene:

As I have said before I envy the patience some of you have with those large projects. Looking forward to pics of the finished product.

Have fun

John

john wrote:Chuck:


Gene:

As I have said before I envy the patience some of you have with those large projects. Looking forward to pics of the finished product.

Have fun

John

Just think of them as a bunch of little projects.

Gene

charlese wrote:...John - Thought I'd drop a pic that'll show you the difference in weather we have around here...

Sure is some funny looking snow you got down your way!!

Hi Gene! Way to go!!:D Isn't it a great feeling of accomplishment when parts (all carefully crafted) actually fit? As we know, sometimes that doesn't happen. It's really a good thing to read about projects on the Mark V.

Can't wait to see a photo or two of the project.

Why not show us some of the stages? I know we'd all be interested in how it goes together.