Shopsmith Forums

I am relatively new to Shopsmith. I've purchased a used Mark V with plans to become proficient in its use before retirement. I will be attending the Shopsmith traveling academy in early September, so expect to learn much there. However, the Speed Increaser is on sale as an email special now. Can anyone comment on its usefulness? I've come to the conclusion that its not really an acceptable replacement for a router after a post on the Yahoo SSUser Group forum. However, are there other uses that make it worth the purchase price?

Hi Randy,

At top speed the Shopsmith runs at about 7,500 rpm. the speed increaser moves this up to around 10,000rpm. It is basically a routing shaping tool.

Of all my experience with Shosmith equipment I've had the worse luck with this tool. It's been back to Dayton 2 times. I will admit that part of this is my fault. Trying too deep cuts will break the tool. The guts of this tool is a aluminum wheel driving a nylon or similar material disc.

I'm in the market for a good router table system. I sell power tools and this is what I've come up with: JessEm "Mast-R-Lift" with a Milwaukee 3.5 hp. EVS motor & switch, JessEm "Mast-R-Fence, Mite-R-Slide, Phenolic Router Table Top & Insert Ring Set. I will build my own base.

Bill G.

Hi Randy,

I do not have a speed increaser myself, but I understand it is for doing shaping only, and at a slow speed at that. The academy instructor doesn't even recommend buying one. Its 10,000 rpm speed is less than half of the recommended routing speed you need for most routing/shaping applications.
It will be a much wiser decision to purchase a router table set-up.