Shop Short: It's Shopsmith Season!

Añadido: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Welcome back to another shop short, and this is more of a shopping short, if you will. That's because spring and summer are excellent times to get great deals on used Shopsmith tools. Now, why is this a good time? Well, because active hobbyists are off doing other hobbies.

[00:00:18]They're active in sports. They're working in the garden. They're on their boat, things like that. And oftentimes, they're cleaning out their garage and basement and uh getting into other hobbies.

[00:00:30]And that spring cleaning often leads to the sale of unused tools. So, this is when I'm shopping for Shopsmith equipment. Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and even on eBay can be great places to find these tools. Now, there's a lot of varieties. The Shopsmith equipment has been made since the 1940s, and you'll want to make sure you know what it is that you're seeing before you leap at a purchase. Also, when you do find a multi-purpose tool like a Shopsmith Mark V, for example, you're going to want to make sure that you're getting everything that you think you're getting. So, in this video, we're going to talk about what you should expect to get at a bare minimum, and maybe your deal's going to turn out better than that. Now, this is a Mark V model 520.

[00:01:15]Uh this is one of the more recent machines that has been made by Shopsmith, and uh the name Shopsmith is thrown onto a lot of tools. So, you want to make sure you know what you're looking at.

[00:01:28]The base machine without the tables and without the guards is pretty much the same as it was since 1955, but they're not all built exactly the same. So, first order of business is make sure you know what you're looking at. Um the earliest machines were two-tone green. There's nothing wrong with them, but they do have a 3/4 horse motor, which is the smallest of the motors that were put into this power plant. The power plant on your Shopsmith is known as a headstock. If you fast forward to today, and for the last 10-15 years or so, there's been a couple versions of this headstock. Some of them are electronic variable speed. That headstock is called the Power Pro headstock. Now, here's the cool thing. You could buy a 1955 headstock, and it could be converted to the most modern electronic variable speed headstock. You can get kits to do that from Shopsmith USA.

[00:02:29]But, the giveaway is on the front of the machine here. Is there a dial that you turn by hand?

[00:02:35]Is there a keypad or a flat screen?

[00:02:38]Those are the most recent ones. The Power Pro either has push buttons or a flat screen. Those are highly sought after because they have the largest motors ever installed in this machine, and they work over a huge speed range.

[00:02:55]So, they're great for slow speed, things like turning or drilling metal, and they're fine at high-speed operations, such as shaping, little bit of routing.

[00:03:05]On the end of the headstock, over on this side, you will find the serial number or a date code. You can go to Shopsmith's very own website, and using the serial number, you can track down when your machine was made. That'll help you have a rough idea of what's going to be included with the machine. Now, at the very least, if you want this machine to function as a table saw, you're going to want to make sure the seller has the components that you're going to need to do that. And that means the headstock, the base, the carriage for supporting the table all need to be in place.

[00:03:42]Secondly, the main table and the extension table were always standard equipment. So, those items should be included. Depending upon the vintage of the machine, there should be an upper guard and a lower saw guard.

[00:03:56]Since about the mid-80s, those have been standard fare.

[00:04:00]Now, the model 510 and the model 520 are some of the more recent machines in that their saw guards are fantastic. They're good at dust collection and they also include this upper saw guard that has something called a ripping knife. That ripping knife goes down into the saw insert along with the blade and regardless of how much of that blade you have exposed, you have the exact same distance between the blade and the ripping knife. Early machines had what's called a splitter.

[00:04:31]Now, on those that have a splitter that's attached at the back of the machine, they are designed so that when the blade is fully projected, that splitter is close to the blade. The higher you raise the table on those earlier machines, the greater the gap is between the blade and the splitter. Now, that distance between the blade and the splitter is an opportunity where the wood can close up on the saw curve and catch or squeeze the back end of the blade, which happens to be heading up, which is not good. So, having a ripping knife as we have here on the model 510, the model 520, and the recent Mark 7, you've got the best technology available from your saw.

[00:05:19]Additionally, you're going to need a miter gauge for making cross cuts and miters. That should be included with the machine and a rip fence. Now, this machine has a very beefy rip fence. The 5 10 and the earlier Mark 5s have a narrower rip fence fence roughly the size of half of this thickness.

[00:05:41]Now, I just moved a couple of the safety pieces here. Um since the mid-80s, Shopsmith has included a safety kit that includes a push stick, a push block. This has got a a rubber back backing on it.

[00:05:55]Um and some form of a fence straddler. Here you can see again, this is designed to straddle the fence on the larger 520 fence system, where this one is narrow, fits on the model 500 and the model 510. These are used like a push stick, but for pushing narrow stock between the fence and the blade. Something else that was standard fare and that you're going to want to have is the the 12-in sanding disc. The 12-in disc is not only used with abrasives for sanding, but you do use this exact tool for doing some alignment and setup of the machine. So, it may be something that the current user of the machine doesn't have together with their Mark V. You're going to want to make sure you track this down. Also, if you plan on doing sawing, the saw blades are mounted on their own individual arbors.

[00:06:51]There were two different lengths of these arbors, one for the model 500 and then a longer version for the 510, 520, and the modern Mark VII. I say that because there was a Mark VII in the 1960s that was similar to a Mark V model 500.

[00:07:08]It doesn't have this feature with a longer arbor.

[00:07:12]Um likewise, there might be a dado set.

[00:07:15]The dado set has its own arbor. Maybe there's a molder. The molder knife the cutter head for the molder uses the same arbor as the dado blade. Now, maybe your thought is you want to do some wood turning, and that's part of the reason why you're buying Shopsmith tools. Well, you need to make sure that the standard accessories have been included. Um one of the things that was standard was a spur driver or a drive center. This goes in place of where our saw blade currently is located and uh this allows us to drive a spindle. On the other end of the machine, there needs to be a tail stock. The tail stock would go in place of that accessory table that I have on the end and in this should be at the very least a standard piece of equipment called a dead center or a cup center. This goes here. Now, if the person that you're buying this from has been doing some turning, they may have upgraded to a live center. This is a very similar center but with a ball bearing that allows us to spin coolly over the entire length of your turning. This one you put a little bit of wax in here and that helps to lubricate it but this will slowly but surely begin to burn its way into the end of your stock.

[00:08:33]So, you're going to going to need to repeatedly tighten up the quill in order to keep everything centered between the drive center and the cup center.

[00:08:43]Additionally, for the lathe, there needs to be a tool rest. This again was standard fare. In the early days, this was all done with set screws and modern times they use these little levers.

[00:08:55]These can be upgraded onto an older tool. I actually took mine off. I prefer the set screw in this position but that's something that should be included with the machine. You may need to track it down. Another important feature that should be standard is a chuck. This is a chuck that's used for drilling. It can be used for holding small drums for drum sanding and other things. And if you track down the chuck, you're going to want to have the key for the chuck. Now, your Shopsmith was made with a place to hold this key. So, they may have the chuck and say, "Hey, we haven't found the key." It might be stored in a hole on the end of the leg here. And look at this.

[00:09:40]I already have one there.

[00:09:42]That's where I store mine.

[00:09:44]Additionally, on the end of the machine might be a long 5/32 hex wrench. Some call it an Allen wrench. Um I typically upgrade this to more of a T-handle configuration.

[00:09:59]Um but at the very least, this was included with the Shopsmith when it was purchased from the factory. And a final potential must-have is a coupler or coupling. Um these are used to drive any accessories that might be included with your machine. I have a few of them behind me here. The belt sander, band saw, jointer, items like that can be mounted to the end of this machine and powered from the headstock using this coupling. Now, those only work if you've got the proper drive hubs on these power take-offs on the side of the machine.

[00:10:37]And if those accessories have their own matching drive hubs. So, these are some things that I would look for if purchasing a used machine.

[00:10:47]Um try to track all these items down.

[00:10:49]Also, do yourself a favor, leave your name, phone number, contact information with the seller just in case they come up with something else that they forgot to include so they can reach out to you and get those items to you.

[00:11:02]Now, one last thing I'll tell you.

[00:11:05]Just because it was included from the factory doesn't mean that it's included from the seller. Just make sure that you're in great communication with the seller, that you're sure that what was included uh with the machine when it was purchased from Shopsmith, that those items have been tracked down, and they are included with the machine.

[00:11:24]Um what we don't want to do is to be pushy and bossy when we're getting a great deal on a tool. When it comes to pricing, here's where I get kind of conflicted because not only am I a buyer, but potentially I'm a seller of these tools. And my family, if they don't use the tools after I'm gone, they may choose to sell them. I hope they get the most from them that they can. So, here's kind of a rule of thumb for me.

[00:11:48]I look at what was the purchase price when the model that I'm considering was sold to the original owner. And I'm willing to pay up to, but no more than half of that amount. So, looking at about a 50% depreciation. Um if there's other accessories thrown in, that's great. Uh typically, if I'm not in the market for a jointer, I'm not adding value to the machine for another jointer. I've already got one. Um it may be I will leave something behind so the seller can sell that separately. That's just me. Um there are folks that have gotten tremendous deals on equipment, and that's great as long as the seller was doing it with their eyes open. I hear people saying, "Gosh, I only paid $75, and I got every special purpose tool and a dust collector thrown in."

[00:12:39]Well, I suppose good for you. I feel bad for the seller. Um it may be they just needed the stuff out of the garage right now to make room for their boat, so good for you. But uh I I I hope that the sellers are selling and pricing with their eyes open.

[00:12:55]At the same time, I see ridiculously high prices being asked by sellers.

[00:13:00]Sellers who jump onto shopsmith.com, and they see the price of a modern 520 or Mark VII with a PowerPro headstock, and they assume that their 30-year-old Mark V model 500 is the equivalent of that machine. It's not. It sold new for under a thousand dollars. You're not going to get more than five hundred dollars for a Mark V model 500. So, um we'll do a follow-up at some point. I look forward to your questions, comments, and cheap shots. How much did you pay for your machine?

[00:13:33]Make it a great day.

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