Shopsmith Forums

I got inspired to start up a new thread after some recent exchange on the venerable "Share Your Magna Memorabilia!" thread. If there's anything that searching through old Magna artifacts has taught me, it's that there's a ton of material out there that collectively paints an interesting story and timeline of the early days of our favorite 5-in-1 woodworking system, and the men and women who brought it to us. And while it might not be as exciting or educational as "Word of the Day" toilet paper, it should be a fun reminiscence - I hope you'll jump in and participate.

This Month in Shopsmith History - July 1955

70 years ago this month saw the release of some new capabilities for owners of Shopsmiths, both old and new.

• On the new side (Mark 5), the Magna Sprayer first appeared in the Magna Accessories catalog - priced at $49.95, the same as a jigsaw or jointer.

• On the old side (Model 10ER), the Special Mitre Gauge was released. This mounted the new and improved Mark 5 gauge on a 10ER table bar, giving those users access to improved features like the accessory safety grip.

July 1955 also saw some price increases

• The 10ER Power Mount Adapter jumped in price from $4.95 to $6.95 (The future Power Mount Adapter Kit - with "B" casting, mounting tubes, and special headstock pulley - would subsequently be priced at $12.95. Having recently sold on eBay for as much $450, the very rare Kit seems like a good investment if you can find one!)

• The Mark 5 Key Switch and Outlet Box accessory (two of which were recently featured in the Memorabilia thread!) increased to $7.95, from its original $6.95 price.

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Cool!!!

Fun to see these historical items. I already have one for November.

Interesting that the Accessory Catalog made it from my area clear across the country to you John.

Powr Tool Center at 4808 N Lombard Street in Portland Oregon is only 24 miles from me. Powr Tool Center is long gone. The building now has a restaurant & bar there.

Funny to see the old type of phone numbers beginning with two letters. I am old enough to remember those. I grew up south of Portland and our phone number started with OL4. To dial that number on the catalog now it would be 503-289-8762. No, I didn't try the number.

Great idea, John! I love it.

This Month in Shopsmith History - August 1947

The month of August 1947 represents the Big Bang for Shopsmith history as Magna Engineering Corporation was officially founded on August 15, as noted by this reference to the 7th anniversary of the founding being celebrated in 1954, from Magna’s employee newsletter.
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In addition to organizing the company, founders Bob and Frank Chambers and Hans Goldschmidt initiated some complementary legal maneuvering that same month: filing the patent for their “Convertible Material Working Machine” on August 18 (I’m glad it didn’t end up being called the “CoMaWoMa” - SHOPSMITH is much catchier!).
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The Model 10 below is the working protype from the patent drawings. Ther are some noticeable differences.

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Something I did notice in the patent drawings is the Lathe Tool Rest parts 80 & 81. Like the 8" Lathe Tool Rest that originally came with the Model 10E it is two parts as shown in the picture below along with the Arm and Post. Magna soon changed to a single cast part for the 8" Lathe Tool Rest which is still used today.

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Happy 78th Anniversary, Magna!

These guys started something pretty special 78 years ago today. The subsequent 3 months were pretty eventful as well…
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Loved the 13.95 price of speed changer.

This Month In Shopsmith History - September 1959
The Price Is Wrong!

With the release of their September 1, 1959 Price List And Accessory Catalog, about a year into their stewardship of the Shopsmith/Magna product lines, Yuba Power Products did something unprecedented - they lowered the price of the basic Shopsmith system!
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Comparing the two 1959 price lists above (both are Yuba), we see the short-lived Mark 2 was cut from the product portfolio by the time of the September printing. So perhaps without a low-cost model in the lineup, Yuba was grasping for ways to stem the bleeding of their market share - Mark 5 unit sales had cratered, dropping more than 40% in Yuba’s first year of production (figures below are from John Folkerth’s original business plan for the “new” Shopsmith, Inc., published as part of the book, “How To Write A Winning Business Plan”).
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