My coworker was getting rid of it, said if I came and got it I could have it, I know have it. It’s about 6’ long and 2’ at its widest. Funny thing is he sold me on drill press, but now I’m not sure I’ll ever use it.
Anyone have experience with one?
Here’s the website.
https://www.shopsmith.com/mark7site/
My dad has one. Depending on what attachments you got, it does all kinds of stuff decent. Jack of all master of none kinda deal. He has table saw, drill press, belt sander, and several other attachments for it and all it’s ever used for is the big belt sander and a lathe. If you want a drill press you’ll be miles ahead posting to see if anyone will trade it for a drill press.
My buddy has one, it's always configured as "not the tool you need right now" .
You need to plan your project out in the proper steps to avoid having to change it from one tool to another too often.
They're great if you have limited space for a wood shop, they're bad if you actually have enough room to have a table saw, drill press, lathe, bandsaw and sander all as separate tools.
I have a radial arm saw instead.
Yep, had one growing up. Wasn’t cabinet maker precise but was good enough to make home projects go smooth enough.
Free is the correct price and they work for limited space. However, you are always switching tools.
What attachments did he give you?
Attachments are everything that came with it new. It was barely used. So table saw, sander, drill, lathe, rip guard, lathe tools (unused), sanding pads, miter saw grip, two manuals, multiple table tops to extend the table saw, etc. It's so much stuff.
To compare that to the things I've used on house projects, which are a table saw, and miter saw. Other than that I've never used any of those tools this thing does on a house or car project. I took it thinking I'd make something with the kids, and after watching the 30 min Youtube video on it the guy made it look easy. In reading the steps to switch from tool to tool, it makes it seem more complicated.
My FIL has one and while he does not use t any more, health reasons, he used the crap out of it for a long time. It looks like a decient way to pack a bunch of tools into a tight space.
ShawnG said:My buddy has one, it's always configured as "not the tool you need right now" .
You need to plan your project out in the proper steps to avoid having to change it from one tool to another too often.
What he said
Seriously. If you leave it set up as table saw, or drill press, whichever you use most, you'll only be wrong 50% of the time. If you are a hobbyist and have the discipline and skill to plan a project so that you can only change from machine to machine once, you're golden, otherwise it will take you four times as long, maybe five.
Dad has had one for years and years, still does. I had one for a little while and then got rid of it when I no longer had space for a woodworking shop.
It does:
Table saw (badly)
Disc Sander (great!)
Drill press (passably)
Horizontal Boring (great!)
Wood or light-duty metal lathe (passably)
If you're a serious woodworker who has lots of dedicated space, then you'd rather have dedicated tools. But a shopsmith can get you through projects just fine if you've got a smaller space (like a 1 car garage). You do develop a mentality of planning your projects (which is good even for when you DON'T have a shopsmith any more). The nicest thing is the infinitely variable speed drive, which comes in really handy for drilling and lathe work.
Everyone has said everything about it from a usage point. I'll add remarkably easy to work on. I replaced the main shaft bearings and inspected/cleaned the rest of the power head on mine. It was my dad's. I also bought some new 5/8" arbors for it as the OE circular saw arbors are 1-1/4" oddballs. The arbors inexpensive to buy direct from Shopsmith and will allow you to use other brands of 10" blades. I hear they updated the sliding shaft because of accuracy issues. I may buy a new shaft some day, but I have a track saw and miter saw anyway.
You'll need to log in to post.
