Shopsmith Forums

Has anyone lowered there Shopsmith or heard of anyone doing this. I am disabled and use a scooter in my shop, but it seems the tool is 6 or 7 inches to high. Thanks Fred
I like doing a lot f wood turning, making small furniture,

I think you would have to remove the legs and mount the bases on a box frame or table of some sort.
I believe you would need to think carefully about the ergonomics of your work. If you would describe the types of work you do, others on the forum would be able to assist in the design of a base that would work best for you.

I agree with the idea of raising the floor. Using 2x6 framing and floor board you would gain about 6.5inches. Ramp on one side. Not much different from the setup we made when I had my pharmacy. I find a major advantage of the SS is the stability of the platform in all operations. Trying to drop the base would reduce the footprint, and might lead to instability.
Second idea, call SS, and see if they can make a ADA compatible base. You may be the first to ask, and the public relations of finding an answer might be significant. Or someone else may have already asked, and a solution may be available.
Best of luck to you.

Another idea:
Take the legs to a local welding shop. Bring the entire SS, if you can, or at least show them a photo of the SS so they know what you're needing. Have them cut 6" or whatever you need out of each leg and weld it back together.
I'd cut just a little below the mount holes at the top so you preserve the top and bottom of the legs and you can still use the casters if you desire. The weldor (person who welds and does it well) will have to do some minor fitting to get the lower part of the leg to meet up with the upper part due to the tapered shape of the leg. You could have them simply weld a flat plate in between the bottom and top parts resultant of the cut and offset the lower part of the legs to get the footprint of the SS back to original (stability for drillpress mode).
It would be easy with the right tools and the ability to use them.
Keep the cutout pieces just in case it ever needs to be restored to original height.
Post photos of what you end up doing.

sawchain, I do believe you could do what you have suggested.

When you look at your Shopsmith you see that the entire machine sits on two legs that are bolted to the Headrest (13) 517768 on the left side and the Base (1) 518379 on the right side.

If you simply unbolted the two legs and removed them, the rest of the Shopsmith could be lowered onto a platform (of your design) to be used.

As stated earlier, by jimthej, you would need to build this platform with great concern for stability. If I was doing this, I would make the platform at least as wide and long as the legs are now (at floor level).

Since you are thinking about lowering the center of gravity, bolting it securely to this lower platform would not adversely effect stability; in fact, it would increase stability..

Mobility of the finished unit might become an issue.

I assume you would work from your scooter or you would not be considering ways to lower the machine height. If that is the case, accessibility for the scooter would be an important design consideration.

Raising the floor would be the simplest solution, IMO. Someday, someone might want to sell the SS. Altering it's footprint might significantly alter it's value.

This is a good subject... I have been kept out of the shop with a knee problem for much of the last month. It is about over now and I have spent a few hours in there lately but a large number of us are right near the edge of possibly needing such mobility and working assistance either for temporary or permanent. I don't have any real answers but this knee has made me think a little. I am sure that there are others that visit this forum that use some form of mobility assistance in the shop since they have become so common. With luck maybe some of them will contribute some solutions.