Shopsmith Q & A video

[cooch366]

I don’t know if this has been posted yet, Q & A with Nick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lWD4zhIIeI

[GetterDone]

I have seen this Video.

I don't think it has been posted here until now.

I really like Nick.

Does Elizabeth have a Chip on her shoulder?

She has been with the company for a While.

Some of her statements Sounds like she has A bad taste of the past experiences.

[edflorence]

I don’t know if this has been posted yet, Q & A with Nick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lWD4zhIIeI

Thanks for posting this link...it is a good interview and I look forward to the next one. Nick sounds pretty pleased with the company's progress so far, and optimistic about the future. All good news.

[RFGuy]

Thanks for posting this as I wasn't aware they had released a new video. I have to say I was impressed by the honesty and transparency displayed. Shopsmith owners rarely get any insight into the company and I believe it has been this way for a long time, so refreshing to see this change and I hope this continues into the future with more of these kinds of sessions. I enjoyed most of the video and found it very helpful. However, the end of the video was difficult to watch. The CEO and Director of Ops for a woodworking machinery company should know the difference between a belt sander and a drum sander. They don't have to be woodworkers themselves, but they should know the market they sell into. Honestly it is embarrassing that they don't know the difference so to suggest that the 6" belt sander is equivalent or even better than a drum sander is surprising as they serve very different functions. The website changeover is a sore point for me, but maybe recently the website has improved? I stopped looking at it. Frustrating when you don't have easy access to all of the parts diagrams and part lists for the products you own. For example, can you even find this for the planer that was discontinued? They say they want to sell parts to existing customers including legacy customers which they call the used market. Step one in that is providing documentation on that legacy equipment. You don't have to keep every old website link working for this forum, but at least have the basic documentation, that was on the old website, easily accessible on the new one. JMO.

[cooch366]

Thanks for posting this as I wasn't aware they had released a new video. I have to say I was impressed by the honesty and transparency displayed. Shopsmith owners rarely get any insight into the company and I believe it has been this way for a long time, so refreshing to see this change and I hope this continues into the future with more of these kinds of sessions. I enjoyed most of the video and found it very helpful. However, the end of the video was difficult to watch. The CEO and Director of Ops for a woodworking machinery company should know the difference between a belt sander and a drum sander. They don't have to be woodworkers themselves, but they should know the market they sell into. Honestly it is embarrassing that they don't know the difference so to suggest that the 6" belt sander is equivalent or even better than a drum sander is surprising as they serve very different functions. The website changeover is a sore point for me, but maybe recently the website has improved? I stopped looking at it. Frustrating when you don't have easy access to all of the parts diagrams and part lists for the products you own. For example, can you even find this for the planer that was discontinued? They say they want to sell parts to existing customers including legacy customers which they call the used market. Step one in that is providing documentation on that legacy equipment. You don't have to keep every old website link working for this forum, but at least have the basic documentation, that was on the old website, easily accessible on the new one. JMO.

The insight was indeed refreshing, and I to also appreciated the openness and transparency presented by Nick & Elizabeth.

After building my own Shopsmith mounted drum / flea sander, I’m in TOTAL agreement with your assessment and had the exact same thoughts as you. I respectfully and wholeheartedly heartily disagree with Elizabeth’s comments regarding that a drum sander is not needed and stating that the belt sander fine as substitute. As we know they are two distinct, and useful machines. I also thought that her comments dismissing a potentially new product idea is part of the reason that the company is behind the times. I respect her experience being with the company, since 2018, but believe that sometimes experience & longevity breeds complacency and stagnation. I am of the opinion that if (and hopefully when) they offer a sanding drum (mine is a 20 inch not 14 as presented) it could be a quick, easy, and reasonably priced option for the Mother Ship to expand their product options, generating additional revenue.

JMHO…. Steve

[DLB]

The website changeover is a sore point for me, but maybe recently the website has improved? I stopped looking at it. Frustrating when you don't have easy access to all of the parts diagrams and part lists for the products you own. For example, can you even find this for the planer that was discontinued?

Improved, not to be confused with finished. They have addressed at least some of the parts diagrams issues. There is a planer diagram identified as a Pro Planer. I don't have an SS planer and am not familiar with the internals, but I wouldn't have guessed this was a Pro Planer. (Because I don't see anything to drive the cutting head.)

Like many FAQs I see, I'm wondering where they got the questions. I would think there would be a lot of interest in their planned support for parts unique to conventional headstocks. I see several "Not Available" parts in the Conventional Headstock list. I know we're the old customer base, but I think it would have been nice if the opportunity to submit questions was included on the Forum.

- David

[JPG]

Wonder where they got the questions from.

[algale]

The CEO and Director of Ops for a woodworking machinery company should know the difference between a belt sander and a drum sander. They don't have to be woodworkers themselves, but they should know the market they sell into. Honestly it is embarrassing that they don't know the difference so to suggest that the 6" belt sander is equivalent or even better than a drum sander is surprising as they serve very different functions.

I partly agree. But I also blame the phrasing of the question for the answer it provoked. The specific question asked was, "Can you make a drum sander that would support at least 14"?". No doubt the author of that question meant a thickness sander with a 14" inch long drum. But technically that isn't what they asked for. They asked for 14" long "drum sander".

The Director of Ops/owner is/are right that the Shopsmith belt sander would be better choice for most, if not all, operations one could imagine using a 14" drum sander on. In any event, Shopsmith already offers a 3" and 6" long drum sanders (at least they used to; I haven't checked the site lately), and there's a plan for a longer, homemade drum sander in the older PTWFE (I haven't checked the newer editions).

As for a Shopsmith-brand 14" thickness sander, if Shopsmith designed and made one from scratch can you imagine the price? Not less than $1500, I'm willing to bet, and probably closer to $2K. There would be a tiny market for one because there are plans on this forum and all over the web to build home-built thickness sanders for next to nothing. There was no market for the Shopsmith edition Sand Flee finish sander (which is just a drum and a table) and that thing was priced substantially less than Shopsmith would have to price a thickness sander designed/built from scratch.

[HopefulSSer]

I'm not as ready to give them the benefit of the doubt. When I think of a drum sander I think of what the questioner was obviously thinking of. And the size of 14" makes it even clearer. When I googled for images for "drum sander" just now, only 1 of the first 30 images was of what I think they were discussing, which I'd call a spindle sander. The rest were what we're calling in this thread thickness sanders.

At minimum 3 people were involved in making that video -- Nick, Elizabeth, and a cameraman. No doubt there were editor(s) and reviewer(s) in addition, all of whom were probably from in-house so should know better. No one questioned that confusion? Doesn't present a good look.....

[RFGuy]

Google "woodworking drum sander" and you will see common competitors like Grizzly, Jet, Laguna, Powermatic, Supermax, etc. The industry commonly call these drum sanders. Going to their company websites shows they call them drum sanders. You may think of them as a "thickness sander" which is what they do, but the industry doesn't call them that. Also, try googling "woodworking belt sander" and you will see what you expect for industry competing products to the Shopsmith 6" belt sander. Two VERY different animals, in my opinion, so I stand by my prior post. IF they didn't understand the product terms, they should have asked someone in the know or researched it themselves. The CEO and Director of Ops should have known their own products and how they fit into the market they are selling into. JMO.