Shopsmith Vs Midi lathe - Page 2

Shopsmith Vs Midi lathe · 09-09-2009, 10:35 PM

I have been thinking about picking up a good used Shopsmith or a midi lathe. Since I am primarly interested in the lathe aspects, how good of a lathe is the shopsmith. I figured that there are a few other uses i would have for it such as horizontal boring. Thanks for your inputs

ednl · 09-10-2009, 06:35 PM

Brad -

I have been using my shopsmith 10er regularly since 1977... I can vouch for what nearly everyone says about any shopsmith... it does nothing as well as a dedicated single-purpose tool... but it does five different things good... these days I use it primarily as a lathe and a horizontal borer... the shopsmiths' performance still exceeds my personal skill...

View image in gallery

it's not for sale... too sentimental... made in the same year I was born (much earlier than 1977 !!!)... but if you would like to give it a test drive, or just look it over, you've very welcome to come over one day - please send me a PM...

ed

CarvedTones · 09-11-2009, 09:10 AM

Well then, I will amend my advice. A ShopSmith with VS seems as good a choice as a midi for what you want to do. You have seen mine; once I added the extension there is no space savings over the ShopSmith. There can be a significant cost savings with a midi if you are looking at new tools, but even that disappears if you have an alliegence to a favorite color. I bought my lathe from a walk in Rockler store as a T-Day door buster, got the extension from PSI through Amazon to get free shipping (and then painted it black), got the stand on sale at HF and the shelves were from a FREE ad in the classifieds. I have a minimal set of tools and chucks, some of which also are HF, but also a few Sorby tools in the mix. I have spent about $350 total so far. The flip side is this is a single purpose machine with a 1/2 HP motor and a lowest speed of about 650 or so. I am quite happy with that.

Len · 09-11-2009, 03:31 PM

I have a Shopsmith Mark V Model 510. As others have said, it does several things in an okay manner. But none of them as well as a dedicated machine, except maybe using it as a horizontal boring machine. The few times I tried using it is a lathe, I found the high speed setting wasn't really high enough for turning spindles.

Len

Vetteman9956 · 09-11-2009, 06:43 PM

Well, I ended up finding a super deal on a Jet JWL-1236 that had been used only a few times. Guess this will help the wife and kids determine if they want to turn and I get the benefit of another toy for the shop. If they like it and stick with it for a while then i will look at upgrading. Thanks for all your inputs

froglips · 09-11-2009, 07:31 PM

But, but, but!!!!!

You'll be back, and we'll be waiting..........

Spin-cerely,
The Shopsmith Underground.

merrill77 · 09-19-2009, 01:17 AM

This post got me thinking back to last year when my uncle was extolling the virtues of his ShopSmith. I've heard quite a few people here say that the SS is good at many things but great at none. OTOH, I've found a number of people who think that the SSV is actually a _better_ woodworking drill press than most drill presses for - due to the VS, large table with good fence and micro-adjusting table. So, if you've used an SS as a drill press- what do you think?

BTW, the reason this ticked my interest is that I currently have a tiny benchtop drilll press that I'd like to upgrade. I'd also like to try out a lathe someday - primarily for spindle work, but it is probably not something I would use very frequently. And I'm pretty space constrained.

TIA!
C

froglips · 09-19-2009, 05:32 AM

I've found the drill press to be quite good. The variable speed on the MarkV's is a spin dial, so not as limited as with belts.

Space savings is one of the hallmarks of the ShopSmith.

One thing you hear is the top notch support from the company as well. My story? I purchased a new biscuit joiner attachment that I didn't use for about a year. When I opened it up, one of the carbide teeth had fallen off the blade.

I called them, they were very friendly, had me send it to them. They sent me a new blade. No charges.

Its that sort of treatment that earn life long loyal customers.

Jim

Len · 09-20-2009, 12:41 PM

You can see some pictures of a Mark V being used as a drillpress at: http://www.shopsmith.com/markvsite/ver_drl.htm

Note that you can also run long boards between the upright tubes and support them with tables attached to the horizontal tubes behind the motor head.

The horizontal boring feature, http://www.shopsmith.com/markvsite/hor_borng.htm , makes it very easy to use dowels (remember them?) for edge gluing boards to build up table tops, etc. No jigs required.

Len

froglips · 09-20-2009, 12:53 PM

Len! You wrock!! I'm so literal, it never occurred to me to run a board between the tubes.

Schaweet!

Jim

Originally Posted by Len

You can see some pictures of a Mark V being used as a drillpress at: http://www.shopsmith.com/markvsite/ver_drl.htm

Note that you can also run long boards between the upright tubes and support them with tables attached to the horizontal tubes behind the motor head.

The horizontal boring feature, http://www.shopsmith.com/markvsite/hor_borng.htm , makes it very easy to use dowels (remember them?) for edge gluing boards to build up table tops, etc. No jigs required.

Len

merrill77 · 09-20-2009, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by froglips

I've found the drill press to be quite good. The variable speed on the MarkV's is a spin dial, so not as limited as with belts.

Hmmm, it looks like the SSV only goes down to 700 RPM - which is quite a bit too high for large forstners and flywheel cutters. That's too bad - it was looking like a really good choice for me

Len · 09-22-2009, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by froglips

Len! You wrock!! I'm so literal, it never occurred to me to run a board between the tubes.

Schaweet!

Jim

Errr...It's in the "Examples" section of directions that came with my Mark-V.

Len

mountaintop · 10-08-2009, 02:40 PM

I understand you have purchased another lathe already but just another comment on this tread from a Shopsmith owner. The SS does have an issue finding somethings available for other lathes but Oneway chucks and second party tool rests are available and they can be converted to another lathe when and if you want. I do like the pictures of other SS that have dropped the metal legs and built a better stand for it. It does like to walk around the shop with off center wood. If I cut it round I can turn 12" without much a problem. I find the tighting of the wood the biggest issue as you move the head stock and then press a lever to clamp the wood in. I haven't lost any wood blocks yet but it isn't as good as the newer methods.
Yes I would love a Oneway or PM but it works for now.