Shopsmith Forums

A big thank-you to everyone on this forum who helped me figure things out.

As you probably know, a few weeks ago I bought what I was told was a 1982 Mk V Model 500 in good repair. . . . with a bandsaw, jointer, and scroll saw. The Mk V was partially disassembled and I was new to Shopsmith so I didn't realize that it had been retrofitted to a 510 . . . but some of the 500 parts were still there and some of the 510 parts had inadvertently been discarded. Thankfully between Shopsmith.com and eBay, I was able to obtain everything to fix any problems and re-create the 510 upgrade. Parts came from five different sources . . . a real Frankenstein project.

The base unit is now complete. I mechanically rebuilt the squealing headstock and cleaned, adjusted and lubed everything else.
The jointer needed to be de-rusted but it works great.
The bandsaw runs great with new ball bearing blade guides.
The scroll saw is updated to the latest blade holding system.
The bin holds everything else. All I need to buy now are some sandpaper discs and a set of lathe chisels.

The mechanical stuff is done. Eventually I plan to take some stuff back apart and do a better cosmetic restoration.

Huzzah!! I'm working wood again!!
Thanks again to all!

Time for saw dust !!

It all looks great Al.

Interesting hold down on the miter. Is that the FrankenMark part?

At some point you may want to try the Shopsmith Safety Grip for your miter.

Well, I did get the hold-down part of the safety grip but not the rest of the SS miter gauge. I did get the oddball miter gauge shown in the photo along with a matching rip fence and rails from something else. In fact, I got quite a variety of extra duplicate parts along with a pile of identifiable and unidentifiable stuff, some of which has already been scrapped.

I do like the miter gauge shown in the photo. It is VERY heavy duty.

Whoever gathered up the machine for sale must not have been familiar with it. Along with the base machine I got a mixed bin of most of a 510 upgrade and some of the old 500 stuff but not enough of either to make a complete machine. I spent about three hundred unexpected bucks on eBay to finish configuring the machine to my liking and some more money on bearings, belts, and such. It was kind of like building with an erector set.

Oh well, I spent more than I expected but now I have a full shop’s worth of equipment that’s now in excellent mechanical condition for a small fraction of what new stuff would cost. I’m happy about that.

And I did just order a set of lathe chisels like I said I needed in my first post. I ordered a used Shopsmith set listed on eBay for a nice price. I was considering spending more on a higher end set but I opted for what I did because they say Shopsmith on them. Brand loyalty, I guess.