Shopsmith mark v

[racer1]

Anybody have a shopsmith?..Are they any good?...Found one reasonably priced. Has bandsaw and all kinds of extras. Any opinions?...

 

[Phoenixl37]

If your short on space & money, Yes, used machines can be a good deal. Not sure about replacement parts I bought mine in the late 80's new, so far everything I've needed had been available through Shopsmith, they used to offer a rebuilt head(motor) for it, & tech help was really good, not sure if they do/are anymore. I used it a lot for several years. You learn really quickly to make all your matching cuts before changing to the next function. I have now bought all the same tools individually, but I'm keeping the Shopsmith in case I ever need to use it. I only used the lathe 1 time.

 

[AZ Pete]

Had one. They are not rigid enough for use as a drill press. The table is too small. The variable speed is good so it makes a good disc sander and a good lathe. I sold mine and got a cabinet saw, drill press, jointer, and a planer. Much happier and much better quality work with the individual machines for cabinet and furniture making. If you have to have a combination machine get a Hammer.


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[Squashfest81]

Shopsmith owners are a passionate people. My 60's Mark VII is one of the best additions to my garage. These mid century multi tool machines are just classic.
Two major complaints come up. First is the table saw is a tilting table. This is obviously not ideal for any real angle cutting. If you are aware of this, and safe, it is not such a problem. Second is the complaint of changing setups. Some planning should be taken, but this should occur no matter your tool options. My bandsaw lives on the end of the shopsmith with the table set up for the tablesaw on the other, blade removed. To switch between the two operations takes seconds.Twist a set screw and switch to a 12in sanding disk. If you want to turn wood, go for it. Tip it vertical and you have a drill press. I have a seperate drillpress, but it's a second one if needed. And this would be a 1.25 horsepower 700 to 5200 rpm variable speed drillpress with an oversized table.
You can still purchase them new. Parts and upgrades are available. There is also an enthusiastic following. Shopsmith.net

 

[Jere]

I have one my grandfather bought from a cabinet maker that retired. My grandfather built a lot of his last house with it. So the machines do work, but maybe not as well as some tools on their own.

The table saw table is my only complaint too much flex, but an extension with supports is supposed to take care of that issue. I just don't want to spend the money to get the table extension from ss.

As for rebuilding it is super easy and is really just a couple of bearings. Make sure to get the dual bearing quill, there are ways to add the second bearing to the quill but why spend money if you don't have to.

Also try to find one with all the add ons you can, buying them all at once will save some cash too. As far as adds on go you can add old non shopsmith tools if you have matching pulleys. The variable speed speed let's you have some leeway with pulley sizes. For example I picked up a 1940s craftsman jigsaw with no motor for $20. I bolted it to a board, clamped it to the ss table, found a pulley and a belt on eBay and run the saw from the shopsmith headstock.

So they are pretty versatile if you want a good hobbist do all wood working machine.

 

[Regnar]

I had one for a few years. The old saying "Jack of all Trades but a Master of none" fits the ShopSmith very well.

Seems to me the Table is by far the worst part of the whole system. As a Table saw it flexes and if you want to take a lighter cut you have to move the table UP. As mentioned before a 45 degree cut means you are tilting the table to 45 degrees. Table also flexes while drilling holes in drill press mode.

Now some of the good. It works great for boring holes in the end of long stock. Needed to drill holes in the top of 8ft 4x4's and it worked great.

I had the belt sander and disk sander almost always set up and both of those worked great.

Bandsaw worked OK. What is nice is you can gear down the head and cut metal.

What was the nicest thing about the whole unit was the Head. It was smooth and quiet. If they could do the same thing in a traditional saw table they would probably have a real money maker.

I bought mine for the use of the Table Saw. If I was to do it again I wouldn't purchase it and go buy a Track Saw and save the time and aggravation.

 

[SILVERPLATE]

Saw a couple used ones for sale at the Pate Swap Meet last weekend.

 

[PugetDude]

A Shopsmith is a well-built, variable-speed, all-in-one tool whose primary function is to waste time.

If you're hell-bent on owning the brand, consider buying 5 and setting each one of them up for a specific function. Used ones are cheap for a reason.

But as others have stated, the table saw top is way too small to be practical. The variable speed head is great for the bandsaw, drill press, and lathe functions, though.

I owned one (briefly) in the late 1980's; sold a few weeks after buying it really cheap at an estate sale. It looked like it had only been used once or twice; which was probably true... Bought a new drill press, table saw and used bandsaw with the proceeds, and still had money left over for ~100bdft of hardwood...

 

[Garage Dog]

I have owned a Shop Smith for 30 some years and used it a fair amount when it was all I had. The most significant draw back is that using SS as a table saw is a little spooky - small table top, poorly supported for any larger stock and the blade is exposed underneath the table.

My SS still works but is rarely used other than as a drill press or a lathe. As a lathe it is really very nice.

Over the years I acquired a cabinet saw, joiner, planer, shaper, band saw, drill press, sanders, etc. IMHO there is really no comparison between the SS and quality individual pieces.

I think the SS is fine for more of a hobby / light duty occasional use personally.

If I only had the space or money for one piece of equipment, I would probably buy another one, unless my primary need was for a table saw.

GD

 

[Falcon67]

Well, my dad has a Mark V (if I recall it right), probably a late 50s early 60s model. He was an engineer for IBM and used the SS extensively for home projects. The ones I recall were a complete house remodel adding a bedroom, dining and a bigger kitchen, all the kitchen cabinetry, some furniture (one piece of which I still have), Pinewood Derby track for the local Scout group, detail work on a 20x24 garage, a steel tube framed go cart and who knows what else. So it can be used for a lot of things, and a lot of things done well IMHO. I would agree that if the space is available, separate machines will do more work.

 

[WanderingSol]

I too have a Mark V I bought new in '85. I use the table saw, drill, lathe, bandsaw, scrollsaw, and jointer functions. It is not the best at anyone of these functions, but I have limited space and must wheel it outside the garage to use. I never dared to rip 4'x8' sheets on it, but 2'x8' worked okay with additional supports in front and/or behind the blade.

 

[Capt Chrysler]

Just bought one (1984) for a friend 2 weeks ago for $200.00 with an extra motor. I look at it everyday and wonder why he wanted it. As he has all these tools already, stand alone. O well........................

Capt. Chrysler

 

[Toymeister]

Sorry for the late reply.

I have bought six of the mark v models and three of the er 10 models. It is cheaper to buy ss with extras and keep the accessories. That. You want and sell the extras, often at a small profit for 1000 I have a cast iron drill press, planner, 20" scroll saw, bandsaw, deticated belt and disk sander jointer and 1 x 42" sander. I kept 2 mark vs and one er10.

Shopsmiths later mark v are the 520 model which has a larger table. This resolves most, but not all, negatives of ss. I can say this I can buy parts for a 1955 ss and repair it myself. I cannot do that with dewalt

 

[Ross/Kzoo]

I bought a used Shopsmith when I first started woodworking and a couple years later I bought a new one. After a few more years I was cutting full sheets of plywood for my projects. The center of gravity is sooooo high the the saw wanted to tip over while cutting the 4 x 8 sheets of plywood. I decided right then and there my safety was worth more than the Shopsmith so I sold it and bought a cabinet saw, much safer. JMHO.

 

[Norcal]

About 3 of them ended up in my favorite scrapyard in the last few years which is where they belong IMHO, one or two also were donated to the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore & were sold so somebody must have wanted them.


I prefer standalone machines, a ShopSmith does a lot of things, just don't think they do them well.

 

[Toymeister]

Cost and space savings are 2 factors not discussed here. They are cheap used but expensive new. They are smaller than stand alone machines. If you have space don't consoder one.

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[Train]

I've had mine since the late eighties. I don't what they do now, but that then they had their own blades to fit their off size arbour, so if you wanted to use a standard blade, you had to buy the arbour adaptor. That being said, the table saw *****. There is no blade adjustment, tilt and height are adjusted with the table. I have since bought a regular table saw but still keep the Shopsmith for it's other features. Surprisingly, the ability to bore horizontally gets used by me a fair amount.

 

[Toymeister]

The saw is equivalent to a 300.00 big box store saw maybe 250.00. Bandsaw 300 to 350 jointer 250. Belt sander is yards ahead of hf 200 model. Planner somewhere between a 400 and 600 dewalt. No idea on the scroll saw but it appears quite high end

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[Ross/Kzoo]

The saw is equivalent to a 300.00 big box store saw maybe 250.00. Bandsaw 300 to 350 jointer 250. Belt sander is yards ahead of hf 200 model. Planner somewhere between a 400 and 600 dewalt. No idea on the scroll saw but it appears quite high end

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I don't see how you can even begin to compare, like apples and oranges. The Shopsmith uses the same motor for most if not all the accessories. One motor burned up = ~ $3 ,4, 500? A space saver is all can say about it, I owned 2 of them.

 

[Toymeister]

I often get ss with standalone power heads with ss deals so yes I am comparing apples to apples. I see you 2 ss amd ask you to match my 9

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[Ross/Kzoo]

Could you speak English?

 

[Toymeister]

For those that are not tracking all 6 ss major attachments can be powered by there own motor and stand. Often people do this when they have more cash or space. yes it is a bit counter intuitive for a space saver

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[smokey0810]

I got my mark V from my dad a few months back. He had all the accessories with it and then some. I also have a DeWalt contractors table saw, that I keep as my primary table saw. SS is set up as drill press (horizontal boring is great) and band saw so far. Not bad cause it was free, and parts AND upgrades are readily available from their website.

 

[MN4x4]

If you are EXTREMELY limited on space, you MIGHT consider one. But even then I'm not sure.

Look at it this way:

If it's a 5-in-1 machine, that means that there's an 80% probability that it won't be set up for what you need to do with it. You'll quickly tire of going back and forth.