Shopsmith Forums

I saw a ad for one for sale, made from spare parts. I am wondering what a full sized Mark V can do well that a Mini can't. Reason I ask is I will likely be a PLINKER. Meaning, Plink around with small tasks. Rather then waste money on separate tools, I like the idea of a 5 in 1.
I am really Green although my Father and Grand Father both had Mark V's but had no idea what a Mini was until last night.

I think the man wants around $240 or so plus shipping freight.

Thanks..

a mini shopsmith is used like a power station to supply power for bandsaws, jointers, strip sanders, belt sanders, jig/scroll saws. it has no carriage so it does not work as a drill press, table saw or lathe. a mini is made by cutting the tubes basicly in half and there is not enough room for the carriage. another option is to cut 18" from all four tubes and make a midi shopsmith. that option leaves enough room to add the carriage and thus have all basic shopsmith functions on a smaller scale.

Welcome to the forum. I have several Mark V's of different lengths. A true Mini is made up on very short rails to replace a power station to drive the SPT's (bandsaw,sander,etc). It will have no table or table carriage to accommodated the table saw or other functions. I have some that we call Midi's and they are made up long enough to leave the table carriage in place to accommodated the table saw and some horizontal drilling although it is limited. Through trial and error I have decided that the shortest machine that still works well as a drill press is only 12 inches shorter than a full size machine. Also for every inch that you take off you loose that much capacity in the lathe.

Good Mark V hunting to you.

Thanks for the Intell. Won't work for me just yet then. It was a 1 1/8 HP motor and sounded like a good deal. Still might be in the future.

Unless, I have seen full sized frames for sale on Ebay. could one buy a full sized frame, remove the motor from a Mini and install it on the full frame. The reason I ask is the Mark V's I have been seeing are still rather pricey.

If I was like most of you here, and did projects on a regular basis then, sure $1,700 for a full would be considered. Which might happen if the wood bug bites me. Until then am trying to find a affordable way that I can talk wife into.

Since you are in the puget sound area, contact via PM and we can chat offline. I'm in Redmond and can probably set you up with something nice so you don't have to worry about freight.

pugetsoundwa wrote:Thanks for the Intell. Won't work for me just yet then. It was a 1 1/8 HP motor and sounded like a good deal. Still might be in the future.

Unless, I have seen full sized frames for sale on Ebay. could one buy a full sized frame, remove the motor from a Mini and install it on the full frame. The reason I ask is the Mark V's I have been seeing are still rather pricey.

If I was like most of you here, and did projects on a regular basis then, sure $1,700 for a full would be considered. Which might happen if the wood bug bites me. Until then am trying to find a affordable way that I can talk wife into.

Freight shipping is probably going to be pricey as well - you have to look at the total cost.

Of course, if your wife doesn't pay attention to shipping then maybe it doesn't matter

If you don't rush the purchase and keep on craigslist and claz.com you will most likely find a better deal on a full size shopsmith. I looked for months and was finally blessed to find mine for $100 ready to go. This is better deal than normal but the bargins are out there if you have the patients to search and wait.

pugetsoundwa wrote:Thanks for the Intell. Won't work for me just yet then. It was a 1 1/8 HP motor and sounded like a good deal. Still might be in the future.

Unless, I have seen full sized frames for sale on Ebay. could one buy a full sized frame, remove the motor from a Mini and install it on the full frame. The reason I ask is the Mark V's I have been seeing are still rather pricey.

If I was like most of you here, and did projects on a regular basis then, sure $1,700 for a full would be considered. Which might happen if the wood bug bites me. Until then am trying to find a affordable way that I can talk wife into.

The only thing different is the length of the way(upper) and bench(lower) tubes. They can be restored to normal by replacing the tubes. They typically go for around $40 for all 4. You may need to get bench tubes and way tubes separately. The way tubes are 3/4" shorter than the bench tubes.

JPG40504 wrote:The only thing different is the length of the way(upper) and bench(lower) tubes. They can be restored to normal by replacing the tubes. They typically go for around $40 for all 4. You may need to get bench tubes and way tubes separately. The way tubes are 3/4" shorter than the bench tubes.

That and the carriage and table. Plus all the standard accessories.

I think I'd wait for a $400 MK 5.

Looks like some pretty reasonable listings for 510s and 520 in the Seattle area, with bandsaws, jointers, and jigsaws on craigslist. Saw your mini up there too. Looks like some decent deals on 500s also but most need some work. If you decide to buy a used one, here's a checklistfor looking one over.

While I'm thinking about it, what websites do y'all generally look for used Shopsmith components on?