Specifically the MK V.

How good are these things? It seems that they can do alot.

Table Saw, Lathe, Disc Sander, Horizontal Boring and Drill Press.

Was cruising around on Craiglist looking for a drill press and came across them. Some like new ones for around 500.00. Can't say I have ever seen them before, but from what I can tell they have been around a long time.

Looks kinda neat.

My Father In Law loved his.  He bought it a long time ago, no idea if the build quality has changed.

You should be able to find great prices on them from people trying to unload them so they can purchase dedicated machinery.

Truth.  

My Uncle has one and has made some nice stuff with it. His biggest bitch about it is the constant reconfiguring that you have to do. Over time he purchased dedicated equipment. It sits idle in a storage shed these days.

Jack of all trades master of none deal. If you have any interest in doing or building or fixing stuff yourself, you'll quickly get frustrated by such a machine. The limitations of them, plus having to set it up for a specific task, and set it up back to what you were doing, on and on. As others have said, great prices can be found because people realize they aren't all they're cracked up to be.

This thread is relevant to my interests. I have very limited garage space. Recently, I've found myself in need of a drill press and bandsaw. Even cheapy tabletop units priced together approach some of the used Shopsmiths on Craigslist. It's tempting for a guy like me who does occasional light-duty work and needs a tiny footprint.

I had a neighbor who bought one back in the mid 1990's and the only thing I remember about it was him bitching that the table was warped.

Kinda works for a retiree that turns out pens,checkerboards, and wooden Christmas toys every once in a while.
It has limitations. But a guy could do woodworking in his living room if he was so inclined.

The constant reconfiguring will wear you out and make you want to buy dedicated machinery. Works great for occasional use. but if you can buy one cheap enough it's always worth It.

Had a friend that had one. His observation was "good for lots of tasks, great at none". Good if you can't afford separate pieces of woodworking equipment. Me, I bought separates as they went on sale, built some things, even a tornado dust collector. It's nice moving from one tool to another without having to reconfigure every time you turn around. Just my 2 cents.

I inherited my dad's Mark V, purchased in the 80's and it still works great. I mostly use the table saw, drill press + a new Shop Smith vise that works with it, and the drum/disc sander. It can also work as a lathe and a bunch of other tools but I have never tried them. What is nice about the Shop smith is that it has pretty good power and it's fairly stable.

The Mark 7 is better with the digital speed dial and it has much lower speeds.

The great thing about these things is that they are still in business. I've been buying upgrades and new parts that make the Mark V better. The deluxe caster wheels made a huge difference, the old ones broke apart after 35 years. Their vice works with the table and makes clamping stuff for the drill press much easier. I'll probably give it a tune up with new belts/lube/etc next. A lot of the vacuum attachments are standard too so that they can work with any vacuum or dust collector.

My father Has the Johnson craft version He picked it up in 1984 and pretty much wore it out.  He replaced it about 4 years ago with the shopsmith.   They are fantastic tools they work as advertised and there not hard to use.   he has band saws. planers.  jointers, Disc sanders you name it and he does Some crazy accurate work with it.   Most people want to blame the tool for there screw up but they should be blaming themselves for not understanding the machine and how to properly operate it.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/

http://www.shopsmith.com/#

Link is to Shop Smith users forum with lots of good members willing to help out.

I bought my Mark V 500 from a guy in Penn Hills, PA. about 3 years ago.  It was made in the mid 1980's and not used much.  Shop Smith had an infomercial in the 1980's (might be the pioneer of the genre) that demonstrated the machine.  They also had traveling salesmen demos at Malls and State Fairs.

They still enjoy factory support and the forum has several members that rebuild and service them, Bill Mayo in Florida has spare parts for older units.  

Friend built his house with one in the 1950's.  I have used mine to make a cedar glider, 9 ft x 7 ft Jeffersonian bookcase, American Girl Doll furniture, a kick ass fire truck toy box and gunsmithing tasks.

Many SS forum members make "Shorty's" out of MK 5s by cutting the way tubes or remove the top part and mount the power head and tubes to a beam and make a dedicated drill press.

I use my garage as a workshop, so the MK 5 works well for me since it can be moved and stored away, taking up the footprint of 1 or 2 bicycles.

They can do so much and have some unique features/issues that its hard to cover in a few lines.

My FIL had one.  Big, chunky and took up a lot of space.  

It sat for about 3 years until he died.  My BIL sold it for $1500 to get it out of the barn.

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A bench top drill press and a mid sized bandsaw or smaller (delta/jet 14" is what I call mid sized) will take a lot less floor space than a shopsmith.  And work better in the long run.

If shop space is limited, you can also put larger tools on mobile stands, and push them into a corner of your garage when not in use.

Generally speaking for something like this, if there's a lot of used ones for sale, there's a reason.

My dad has an older one with a bunch of extras that I am sure he would sell less than that. Maybe its time to post that thing

Grandfather had one years ago and I don't even know what happened to it.


We started out with a craftsman radial arm  saw which can do a lot of things but then we got a table saw.

Then a dewalt chop saw.

What I think would be real nice is a chop miter saw with those trombone tubes that allow it to be a radial arm saw.

Table saw  and the chop saw see most of the work I do.