I’m looking at a shopsmith with the jointer and bandsaw attachments, and I was just wondering if any of the other do-it-yerselfers around here have one and what you think. It seems like a well-designed and well put together system, but it’s always nice to have further input from folks you trust. I’ve never been the guy who buys the quality tools, but I figure it’s time to start.
So, shopsmith input?
They’re a nicely engineered system of tools that work off of one power plant. Although designed years ago, I see them occasionally for sale. My take is that they take too much time to change set up(s), which is inconvenient. These days I’d prefer to buy separate tools so you can leave set up’s set up.
Shop smiths are dinosaurs.
That’s funny, the quote I remember from their site when I looked at it was “most people who tell you the change-overs take too long have never tried a shopsmith”. They do claim that you can go from any function to any other in less than a minute but I’m sure there’s still an element of compromise in a “do it all” tool.
What I’m needing most is a bandsaw and thickness planer, and I’m sure the 11" bandsaw on the shopsmith is pretty small for what I want to do. My main factor is the space, though. I’m working in a 2-car (barely) garage that is covered with shelves on three walls, so my powertool space is at a premium. The footprint of the shopsmith is very attractive. But I do hear what you’re saying about a tool conceived and designed 50+ years ago.
I’m puzzled as to how the shopsmith would handle jointing and band saw configurations.
Do you have any links?
I bought a combo jointer/planer/mortiser used from Eagle Tools in LA.
I have a very limited amount of shop space dedicated for saw dust generation and
a combo tool was the only solution that would have allowed me to include those
very important tools in to my shop.
It’s taken me years to hone my mentally organize my tasks in such a way as to
minimize configuration changes and maximize time in a particular position…
ie. do all face jointing, then edge jointing…change to planer…do all thickness
planing…
Serendipity: I had emailed someone on craigslist about a week ago who had an ad for woodshop tools. I had written it off after not hearing back from him. I got an email back at the same time I got notification that epac had responded to my post. Result, I called the guy and just sent a paypal deposit to hold my new-used craftsman thickness planer and central machinery bandsaw.
Total cost: $200.
Cost of Shopsmith: $800
'nuff said.
I know central machinery is not the best quality (harbor freight), but for $100, how can I miss? I can do a lot of upgrades for the cash I’m saving.
Anyway, I now return you to your regularly scheduled China-built-products discussion already in progress… I almost feel like I just said something that might be pertinent to that debate, but I just can’t put my finger on it.
Oh, and here’s how they attach a bandsaw to a shopsmith:
craigslist is the greatest.
I even scan ebay and use the advanced search feature to limit
results to a certain radius from my zip code.
I’m on the hunt for a bandsaw with a ton of resaw capacity
so I check it regularly.
I got a cherry Powermatic cabinet saw for under 1000$…that’s
unheard of.
Is there anything better than a website with cheap used power
tools AND sensual massages available all in the same place?!
If there is, I don’t know about it.
My old man got one in the early 70’s. I don’t remember everything it had, but I remember using the lathe and bandsaw. He still uses it and it works as well as it did 35 years ago. The engineering on that machine is amazing.
My Dad has a ShopSmith. The jointer attachment is only four inches wide, and the sled is not very long. It was not sufficient for jointing long boards of balsa for surfboard construction. I wasted some wood using it and eventually ended up buying my own six inch jointer from Sears.
good hobbiest tool
almost got one myself but it went like hotcakes
I think with these four bench power tools you’re set
A good 10" table saw
A good 14" band saw
A good 6" jointer
A good 24" thickness planer
of course a good finish hand saw. cordless hammer drill and portable sander/buffer/rinder
having them all preinstalled in a large workshop… priceless
you can just about build a house with these as well as alot of wood skinned compsands or kook boxes…
because of bumblebees we’ve been forced to cut up all our wiliwili and convert it into boards and sheets for longer safe storage and future use. There’s alot of recyclable wood out there you can use if you have these four bench power tools. A dust collection system helps out too… we’re using those cyclone garbage can lid adaptors with a 6.5HP sears dry vac.
I’d use a shopsmith for its drill press, disk sander, bandsaw, table saw, and lathe versus its jointer or planer attachment…
Never underestimate the tool choices of your parents and grandparents
"craigslist is the greatest. "
If you have Firefox, this works really nice for doing Craigslist searches over a wide area. Just “add” the state(s) and keep hitting “next city.” Any listings of the item will pop up. You can cover every state, Canada, Mexico and Guam if you choose.
Shwuz,
I have one. I love it. had it for 15 years…bought it new at the Del Mar fair in SD, Yes i was one of those guys that shelled out $$ for a new one.
It’s great for the person with not much space. The idea that it is only good for small hobby project is a farce. I’ve built everything from 50 ft of cabinets to a baseball bat. The number of tools and things you can do with it it is mind boggling. Drill press, lathe, horizonal boring, 14 in disk sander, band saw, planer, shaper table, of course table saw. All this fits in a space of 3x5. So if space is limited, and you need tools, this might be your best bet.
The set up time really is not that bad, once you fully understand how it works, set up time is about 2-4 minutes max. Changing out tools, lets say from table saw to band saw is about 30 seconds. It’s not that bad. And for it being too small to rip larger pieces of wood like a sheet of plywood, I have all sorts of roller our feed tables, and fence extensions.
Now for the bad part. While the powerhead is great for band sawing, sanding, Drill pressing, shaping, surface planer etc. I wish the table saw had more hp. The motor is a 15 amp, and i wish it was a 20 amp. The only problem occurs when your trying to rip a long run of hard wood like oak or hard maple. I used to have a hard wired 220v Delta Rockwell Table saw with a beismeyer fence and 36 inch out feed table…That I miss. But that saw could cut a any type of wood all day long
If your limited on space, or need a work site do it all tool, this might be a good call.
You want thin, wide, and long veneers? That is your main goal? Checkout the Power Feeder video at the bottom of this link:
http://www.lagunatools.com/videos.htm#
But that is a roughly $6,000 setup. Looks nice though.
so now I can search for used power tools and sensual massages across
vast swaths of the country!?
craig really is a genius.
grew up with a shop smith with all the gizmos i my dad’s garage shop… good jumping off point but a huge hassle when you really get into building stuff… over the years he got sick of the change over time and slowly replaced each part with a dedicated tool… basically he ended up having to give the shopsmith away because this is a very common story… there are some good ways to save space with jointer/planer combos and with tools being so cheap today relative to when shop smiths were designed… i wold look at grizzly tools since the shipping will be cheap to you…
Just tried out my thickness planer, I’m in love.
I have a pile of balsa that I cut in Ecuador using a nice big table saw, but still wound up with some major inconsistencies in thickness. It required so much sanding after lamming it onto a board that it was basically unusable. I just ran my first sheet through the planer, set between 1/8 and 1/16, and it came out looking like it had been sanded to 400.
Things are really looking up now. 
need to find some gardening friends now I guess…
cause those things punch out chips like nothing else…
evergood wood head should have a thickness planer
what brand?
dewalt?
Ryobi.
I had my doubts, as I had read stories here and elsewhere about thin stock getting blown to bits in planers. I was afraid the planer head wouldn’t go low enough, and I was afraid I might have to tape the balsa to a stick of MDF or something to keep it stable. I need not have worried, it cuts 1/16 like buttah. Along with the bandsaw, this opens the doors to a whole new world of wood, time to make a trip down to Lowes and see what kind of deals they have going on.
But yeah, it makes a LOT of shavings! Is that stuff good for mulch or compost or something?