Refurbish an Old Shopsmith <PERSON>
Introduction: Refurbish an Old Shopsmith <PERSON>
I first saw a Shopsmith in a friend's father's garage years and years ago. From when I first set eyes on one and learned what they were and about, I really wanted one. A couple of years ago, one popped up at Home Resource where I live, a building and construction reuse store and community hub - they are an Instructables member's dream warehouse. It was for sale for $225, and looked like it had been left outside a bit with lots of rust and corrosion. When we plugged it in to test, it tripped the circuit breaker and wouldn't really turn on - so the price was knocked down to $200. I felt confident I could rebuild it and get it back to its former glory - and it's been a wonderful learning journey to do so! I'm publishing this Instructable to give confidence and a few resources and tips to anyone else who's interested in doing so.
For context, a Shopsmith is an interesting tool to have - it's basically a Transformer and swiss army knife of shop tools, with the ability to change between a few different tools: table saw, drill press, disc sander, lathe, and horizontal borer. You can also add additional attachments like a bandsaw and belt sander. All is powered by a headstock that has a motor and "gears" to change the speed of the output spindles for different uses. What's great about them is if you have a small shop space, you don't have to buy all of the above tools - it's 5-8 tools in one! Changing up between them takes a little time and practice, but for what you pay you get a lot of value. Read on for how you can take an old one off Craigslist and get it in tip-top shape.
This Instructable is entered into the Fix It Challenge.
Supplies
You will need a number of various tools for this project. You don't need many power tools, however. I used all of the below plus lots more.
* Mallet/hammer
* Screwdrivers - both phillips and flathead
* Pliers and vice grips of various sizes
* Wrenches and socket sets
* Wire strippers and various electrical fittings
* Drill and/or angle grinder with wire cup wheel
* Bench grinder with wire wheel
* Steel wool and sand paper/emery
* Spray paint and primer
* Degreaser or solvent
* Grease and oil and Johnson's Paste Wax
* Paper/cardboard
* Gloves, safety glasses, ear protection, dust mask
* A variety of replacement parts, depending on condition of your machine
* Time and persistence
Step 1: Determine Your Shopsmith Model and Do Research
Shopsmith has been around a long, long time, so there are a number of variants out there. 626
The original Shopsmith is very old and there are few parts and resources out there for refurbishment. The Mark V, kinda the 2nd iteration, has been around the longest and there is lots of information, replacement parts, etc. out there. I highly recommend this version. My Greenie unit is from 1955 or so, and it's amazing that parts made for the same version in like 1985 still are mostly compatible. The Mark 7 is the newer version, you'll likely not need to do much in the way of refurbishment if that is what you have, and will probably need to get newer parts directly from the Shopsmith website. They sell parts for the Mark V to this day, which is great!
To help identify yours, see this page on Shopsmith's website. This Instructable will focus mainly on the Mark V since that's what I have and is the most serviceable and inexpensive to refurbish. I would stay away from the original version if you come across one, it may not be worth the effort and time to dig into from what I've heard from friends.
As with any project of this magnitude, you'll want to do your research. These resources were invaluable in my quest to fix up this amazing old beast, looking through them will give you a good idea about what's involved and provide more details than I can reasonably include in this Instructable:
* Jacob's Shopsmith Repair Parts Store - This was my go-to for all of the replacement parts such as bearings, belt, switch, etc. This guy has an amazing set of videos linked from his website as well as on YouTube. Pro tip: go to the website, there are several videos listed there that are private YouTube videos - he had a paywall for those links previously, but has since released them for free and they have a lot of great, specific info. He used to repair headstocks as a service, but has since retired. 626