This last weekend we were wrapping up a visit with the Bro-In-Law and he said, "oh, wait, I've got to show you the Shopsmith!" We were then ushered into the garage and it was there that we saw the magnificent vision that is the Shopsmith. Advertised on their website as 'the five most needed tools - all in the space of a bicycle' the Shopsmith is a phenomenal item for the home woodshop.
The Shopsmith is a revelation of multi-unit engineering (if there even is such a thing). With more shifting parts than Optimus Prime, the tool can quickly assume the form of whichever tool you need next. It's: a table saw, a lathe, a disc sander, a horizontal drill, and a drill press. It's also cool as hell. The one we saw was an older model (it had a band saw too) and it had that great look of an industrial farm tool from the 1950s.
The unit turns on with a nice old-fashioned toggle switch and there's a dial that allows you to change the power to the motor. The dial is marked with the names of the tools, so you know where to set it depending on the use.
To buy the basic package off the shelves it's about $3000, but this is the kind of thing that you can probably scavenge for about half that.
RainDog: I do a lot of stained glass work and go read more DaveP: Mostly use my soldering iron for melting ptex to repair read more Dave: I think this is a good iron for larger stuff, read more Steve Cecil: I have a very old soldering iron, that I use read more Philippe Jegues: I do the usual with soldering irons, soldering electrical connections. read more
Shopsmith Mark V
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