Shopsmith, is it practical?

[MichaelBikel]

At the moment I work out of a basement (as a hobby). I am anticipating moving into a house with a garage and thinking about which tools and items in my shop I will have to part with. That being said I started looking at used shopsmith mark Vs online. I found two with all the fixings I like: table saw, drill press, band saw, lathe & planer. If I put the parts I like together I will be left with one unit/parts that I can sell to make it worthwhile, also allowing me to sell my current drill press, sander and table saw. I believe this will allow me to gain some space while effectively adding a planer/lathe/bandsaw to my arsenal which I don't currently own. At the moment for the price it seems logical but I don't know anything about the shopsmith, for example quality or if switching between machines is a pain in the ***. So my question for you guys is, is the shopsmith really worth it? Has anyone owned one and had good/bad experiences? Fill me in with your thoughts!

 

[usdemt]

I just refurbished my grandfathers Shopsmith 10. Built in 1946. What I can say is that it is by far the best built piece of machinery in my shop. That said its the worst tool to work off of like you describe. I use mine primarily as a drill press and occasionally as a lathe, sander or buffer. It is a great tool for someone with limited resources but it takes so long between setups that if you already own the other tools you would be a fool to sell them in favor of a SS. Its basically my drill press that I use a lot and on those rare occasions it does the other things. Its not a good table saw and not a great lathe but for my purposes its a great drill press and a semi decent tool outside of that. Even better that it has huge sentimental meaning to me. I know that the Mark 5s are very different but I also had a Mark 2 while refurbishing mine and it was an embarrassment to Harbor Fright in terms of quality and usability.

 

[2oolhound]

What I don't like about them is that while they might be 5 tools with 5 different functions you only have one of their functions at a time. When I think of how many times in the coarse of a job you jump from drilling to sanding to cutting and back again the idea of having to switch gadgetry around each time defeats the purpose. Hell I even cringe when I realize I have to change the chuck in my dp to drill a small hole with a bit that doesn't fit in the 3/4" chuck. Have you thought of adding on to the garage at some point down the road?

 

[gungatim]

something to think about is what you plan to build with it, and how often you will use each piece of equiptment.

typically the table saw is the premier tool in the woodshop. buy the best one you can, it gets used the most. shopsmith's are a rather poor though functional table saw, so keep that in mind (non tilting arbor, not a great fence, no cast iron wings, all the good stuff you expect on a quality saw is missing). think about ripping sheet goods on the shopsmith and if it is worth the extra effort.

things like planers, drill press, even lathe can be purchased as bench top tools and stored on a shelf until needed. for $300 you can get a great portable planer. unless you do a lot of resawing, a 12" bandsaw will serve for most needs (I have a Jet 12"). same with a lathe, do you really NEED a 36" capacity lathe? the midi-lathe's will do most anything you need and can also sit on a shelf. lots of used 4" jointers out there as well.

just something to think about, working in the shop is fun until you spend more time setting up and tearing down work stations for a series of small jobs. you may find it inconvenient to do all that work when you just need a quick cabinet or picture frame...

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I wonder if the whole point of the shop smith was they came from a time when the electric motor was the most expensive part of the machine?

Woodworking, as a hobby, has lost much of it's popularity over the last 30 years. You can find decent machines on CL for not a lot of money, all day long.

Phil

 

[Davefr]

IMHO the only reason to own one is if you lack the floor space and it's the only option for your shop.

They're jack of all trades, masters of none. Changeovers are a PIA.

If you shop for one don't pay top dollar. I see nice ones all the time at g-sales at give away prices. It's a buyer's market.

 

[SIX225]

Had one, but never really used it. I agree with the other posts that change overs are a pain. Never even tried to use the table saw. Wasn't much more than an arbor held with set screws. Too scary for me. Only reason would be for space considerations. Better equipment for the same about of money otherwise.

 

[Zeke]

Beware of a cult following of Shop Smith that keeps the prices higher than what they should be considering the overall usefulness of the thing. It was the prince of the heyday days of Popular Mechanics.

 

[Firebrick43]

Grandfather used one for thirty years in his 15x18 basement shop. Mainly did crafts, nicknacks and toys. Furniture was out do to lack of space and they would not handle ply sheet or large boards well.

He had it for space reasons. Set ups were a pain and in his later years I would have to change over when I visited which slowed him down.

While well made I would skip one and buy dedicated machines. Have you looked into a track saw? With a proper bridge and table they can do much of the ripping and cross cutting that a table saw can do with a lot of space saving because the work doesn't have to move

 

[Zeke]

Yes ^^^^ saw guides and dedicated track saws are the best way for a one man operation dealing with full sized sheets. AFA the combinations of the SS, you only have to consider those tools you would use only once in a blue moon. For the fact that the SS does support things like a lathe (turn it around and its a horizontal boring operation), disc sander, router table, drum sander, optional band saw as well as a drill press is reason to consider the combo machine.

For me, I'd likely have a stand alone drill press and table saw.

 

[MichaelBikel]

A lot of great feedback here, I guess I won't be looking at the shop smith. I will have to come up with a space solution when the problem presents itself. Thank you all!