Shopsmith Forums

Recently I bought a 'grab bag' of what was left of a Shopsmith (not much) after a barn roof collapse. For my $200 I got a SS bandsaw which I really like, a few needed SS odds and ends, a Ringmaster (glued up first bowl yesterday), and an odd piece of aluminum that probably came off a barbeque grill.
When I went to pick it all up, the seller threw in a B&D Workmate 350. This has got to be the most versitile tool there is, short of the Mark V itself.
When working in lathe mode it is my grinder stand. In tablesaw mode I clamp my old 500 table & carriage to make an in/outfeed table. It is a vice, or with an old coffee tabletop clamped on top, a small worktable. And like my SS it stores away in very little space.
The only downside was that the barn collapse had broken one of the plastic cranks on the front of the workmate. I was able to order a replacement for only $5, and after it arrived I set about the 5 min task of driving out the roll pin that held the handle in place. 2 hours later I was done. Not only was the roll pin rusted firmly in place, but it was made of hardened steel. After cutting away the handle with a dremel I tried to loosen the pin by compressing & twisting it with vise grips. It shattered just above the hole. It ate two drill bits and an easy-out before I was finally able to drive it out (using the carcass of the easy-out as a punch.)
So goes my typical well-planned day. A 5 min job turns into hours and to the outside world I've little to show for it.
"Hey hun, look! I spent my day installing this little piece of plastic!" :-)

Years ago when my father died I inherited a workmate, I too love the thing. We had a Black and Decker outlet store nearby so I was able to buy extra dogs and spare parts real easy.

For years I used it to set my power miter saw on. I have a 3x5 piece of ply that has a block mounted to the underside. I clamp the block in the workmate and have a really nice stable work table that can be set up anywhere and storage is nothing more than finding a place for the sheet of ply.

Very very few if any projects are done in my shop that the workmate wasn't used. Like I said I love it!

I love these too!!

And I didn't know you could buy new handles...
https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=3897

paulrussell wrote:and an odd piece of aluminum that probably came off a barbeque grill.

I got a chuckle out of this. First the line about the barbecue grill reminded me of a line in a British sit-com we like where a museum curator was debating if they had a Pterodactyl wing or part of a very old umbrella.
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Then the long time required for a 5 minute job... Been there, done that, got the T shirt...
Shortly after our son got married (to the wrong woman, now married to the right one) about 15 years ago we had acquired an old mobile-home down the road from the farm. It was in awful shape and an attempt to rent it to someone who would fix it up for most of the rent failed. Our son was looking for a cheaper place to live for a few years so we moved him in there. It was impossible to heat so we decided to blow in some insulation. It already had some thin fiberglass in it so I said that I would pickup a batch and if we needed more we would get it. My wife asked how long it would take and I said that all we had to do was go along drilling holes in that thin aluminum and blowing the stuff in, no big deal. Then I uttered those famous words that have been repeated back to me so often... I said that with one person drilling, one person positioning the nozzle and one feeding the insulation... "two hours tops"...
When we finally finished two and a half days and a truck load of insulation later, those words "two hours tops" were forever emblazoned into family history.
The question, "how long will it take" is now automatically answered with "two hours tops"...

Workmates are a lot like Shopsmiths. Everybody needs at least two.
I had one and I inherited another from my father. If you think one is stable, put two side by side and clamp a board with both of them. It is like you sat the board in concrete.
It is nice to be able to fold them up and hang them on the wall in minimal space.
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Right now I have a pair of Rockwell Jaw Horses on my hit list...
They may have to wait a while. I have spent too much on live horses, old tractors and #$%& property taxes this year.
They sell them as singles but I think a pair would work very well together.

Ed in Tampa wrote: I have a 3x5 piece of ply that has a block mounted to the underside. I clamp the block in the workmate and have a really nice stable work table that can be set up anywhere and storage is nothing more than finding a place for the sheet of ply.

Yes, that's exactly what I did with the old coffee table top (incredibly solid) - but since I wrote the original post with my thumbs on a cell phone I was keeping the length of the description as short as possible.

My wife is amazed to find out that some of the cheap furniture I broke up and stored for a year or so ago actually had a purpose. The top of the coffee table is now a portable workbench, and the sides from a Sauder cabinet are now serving as storage shelves in the garage. I think it is difficult for people to think that there are options even better than recycling: reuse and repurposing.

Then again I have a hard time figuring out how my neighbor is going to repurpose 20 years of hoarding that has rendered his garage door unable to close due to the accumulation of junk. Inside his house he does not have floor, he has paths winding between stacks of boxes and old newspapers. A path from armchair to tv. A path from TV to kitchen. It is really kind of sad, and a firefighter's nightmare.

But I do love my Workmate -- after reading some of the replies I wonder if my Workmate needs a mate? Hmm. Maybe after the last kid has moved out it will be two Shopsmiths and two Workmates...... or maybe a Jawhorse. Just watched the Jawhorse video, and although there are some dubious examples of safe cutting, the Jawhorse itself looks very complimentary to the Workmate and the Shopsmith.

The old workmates are definitively better than the "newer" ones. I found a old one (not sure how old) at a yard sale for $5.00. One of my best finds because my newer one (early 90's)was worn out. I wonder if the new handles fit on the older table (slight crack).

I love my Black and Decker Workmate. One of my favorite uses is to hold my router table. When not in use they both get put on the shelf and out of the way.

Have a great holiday and say thank you to a Vet.

I took one of them old 50's chrome and colored tables with the plastic chrome sides around them and too the legs off and put a 2 x 4 down the middle and clamp it into my workmate and makes a great breakdown workbench. I found a second workmate at a yard sale the other day. The wood top needs to be replaced but the taller folding legs works great. Now like farmer said they are like SS's and maybe I need one for each of my SS's wow I need to be looking for some more of these to catch up.

berry wrote:Have a great holiday and say thank you to a Vet.

Especially thank those who gave all...
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I was never in the military. One of my grandfathers was in Europe in WW-I. My father tried to go at the start of WW-II but they wouldn't take him so he spent the war testing aircraft engines 12-7-365 and farmed. He only missed the day I was born. I was just a kid during Korea and by the time Viet-Nam heated up real bad I was married with 3 kids and a little older than they liked. I can't say I ever wanted to go... A lot of my younger friends went. Some came back in better shape than others. Several still can't talk about it much.
While I was never in I do appreciate those who have served and always did even when it was unpopular. Thanks...