# Shopsmith



## jtfoodguy (Nov 29, 2008)

Is the lathe on a shopsmith very good? I had a chance to pickup a shopsmith cheap and I passed it up but now I'm wondering if I did the right thing. I've been thinking about getting a lathe.

Thanks
John


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## Bruceh (Feb 7, 2009)

Hi John,

I bought a Shopsmith mark V new almost 20 years ago and have used the lathe several times. Just the other day I turned a 2 1/4 x 2 1/2 piece of pine into a dowel that I then shaped into 2 knobs for drawer pulls. 

I use the shopsmith with my 12 in disk sander and also an inflatable drum sander alot. If I had to do it all over again for the new price that I paid, I'd buy a shopfull of regular tools. New the shopsmith is pricey. It's huge advantage is that you get a lot of different tools for little space but I've found that it is quite under powered for some things. (not under powered for the lathe). I also prefer a table saw where the blade goes up and down and not the table.

I have some books by Nick Engler where he does amazing things with the shopsmith by setting up other jigs for fluting a turned piece on the lathe using a router. Also using a router mouted to actually cut coves and beads with a router while the piece turns on the lathe.

If you can get one at a steal of a price, then it is a great tool. 

Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions on it.
Bruce


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

This is just my opinion but if I had a choice of a shopsmith or a stand alone lathe, I would not buy a shopsmith. You can do some great spindle work on one or small things but if you get into hollow forms, big bowls, etc. IMHO they aren't much good. I would much rather have stand alone tools as the one my brother had and sold was a pain to setup or change all the time.


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## Bruceh (Feb 7, 2009)

Bernie,

You are absolutely right. The shopsmith's strength is in it's small foot print but as I mentioned before, if I had it all to do over again (and I just did these past 10 months), I'd have individual tools instead of the one.

I was reading a thread on this forum about mounting a router table to a table saw, which I initially thought might be a good idea. Then I read a response that struck home and that was the fact that you'd be setting up the router table for a cut and discover you need the table saw and have to lose your settings.

This has happened to me a bunch of times on the shopsmith where I was using it in drill press mode and then needed a disk sander or a table saw but it was set up for repetative drilling.

So it does have limitations over individual tools.
Bruce


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

That was the biggest problem my brother had when making furniture. He would get one thing setup and then have to tear it down to use another part of it. I am glad I was there because I was also thinking of getting one. I vowed after watching him cuss that I would never by anything but individual tools. He finally sold it and now has all individual tools plus I don't see him cussing as much.


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## jltaylor (Feb 11, 2009)

Hello John and all .. 

I have two Shopsmiths. One from 1952 (10-ER) which I leave in drill-press mode all of the time .. it is fairly heavy and works just fine as a drill press .. The other is the more modern Mark V (1984) which I leave in lathe-mode most of the time .. by moving the headstock, I use it to drive a small bandsaw. I have a stand-alone bandsaw, too, but the small unit does what I need most of the time .. 

Normally, I am happy with the Shopsmith as a lathe, after replacing a couple of the stock parts with custom parts, it does a pretty fair job for pens, bottle stoppers, spindle work, and such .. Bowls and such are on my list of things-to-do-soon, but not there yet. I say "normally" because, ""something"" has happened that I cannot keep the tailstock and the headstock aligned .. I don't know if a setscrew has worked loose, or fallen out, or what has happened .. I am rather frustrated at this point.

I will say that I am considering getting my old Delta midi lathe back from my father-in-law. At least until I get the issue worked out .. I sure do hate to give up the variable speed turning possibilities of the Shopsmith ... 100 rpm (with adapter) to over 5000 rpm

Thanks for reading this far .. haha 
--jeff


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 6, 2006)

Welcome, John. I own a Shopsmith MKV and that is what I use to turn pens. I haven't gotten into bowls or spindles yet but bowls are in the near future.
The late great wood turner, Rude Osolnik, used to use a Shopsmith exclusively in his turnings. So, I guess it's hard to argue with experts. I would say your choice of tools depends on what you have access to or what suits you best.


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## fredhub (May 5, 2008)

John, 

I've had a Shopsmith for over 24 yrs. Bought it when the only workspace I had was a two car garage that held two cars....
I've been fortunate to grow my workspace to a 24' x 24' shop with stand alone tools but I still use the Shopsmith. I still use the lathe portion and keep the belt sander set up and the disc sander handy. I turn pens, spindles, small bowls, etc. and it OK for that. If you can get it cheap enough, go for it.


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## jtfoodguy (Nov 29, 2008)

I passed on the shopsmith after the negative responses, I'm now looking at a 1951 craftsman 9x36 lathe with three face plates and a link belt, in excellent condition for a 125.00. I would appreciate your comments and suggestions on this one also.

Thanks 
John


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