: I've seen a bunch of these with loads of attachments for sale lately at good
: prices and I'm tempted to buy one. My current table saw is old, wimpy and
: uses oddball blades (9"). I have a couple of drill presses and a
: router, but not much else. I can see where a bandsaw, jig saw, lathe,
: jointer, surface planer, and belt and disk sanders could come in handy for
: boat building and other home projects (plus I'd have a new table saw with
: extensions). I can get all of this for $1400-$1500 (used), which is a lot
: less expensive than buying single function tools and takes up much less
: space.

: Any guidance from the woodworkers out there would be greatly appreciated.

Boy; that's a lot of negative comments about shopsmiths. I can't help but notice however, that few of these comments come from people who own shopsmiths. Another thing that few seem to consider or allow as an advantage to the shopsmith is that the basic machine, which comes stripped, without accesories or options, is able to perform 5 useful tasks very well yet takes up no more room in a basement or small workshop than a bicycle and has wheels and locks so it's a cinch to move about and reposition. 1. It is a fully serviceable 10"table saw with an infinite speed dial and, athough it has a smaller table the newer ones come with a series of extension tables that you can configure in a number of different ways. These will even allow you to rip or crosscut full sheets of plywood without breaking a sweat. 2. It is an infinite speed lathe with a 16" throw and centers far enough apart for good-sized spindles. 3. It is an infinite speed drill press with a tilting table and two rock-solid motor head support columns. 4. It is an infinite speed 12" disc sander that is excellent for scarfing 5. It is an infinite speed horizontal boring machine

Yes, you have to take a few seconds to switch from device to device, from function to function, but an advantage of this is that, since you're using the same table from tool to tool oftentimes the angles are already setup. Once you get used to it, switching functions is really a cinch. One just has to plan their work to take advantage of each setup just as one should be doing this with a shopful of freestanding tools.

Other devices are available as accesories also. I have a free standing pin router table with a drop arm and a PC heavy duty router, a free standing surface planer (which is available as an attachment also) an attachment band saw which sets up in about two seconds, an attachment strip sander, which also kicks butt for free hand sharpening knives, mower blades and those cheaper chisels, (good ones I hand hone) an attachment bisquit joiner, an attachment 6"jointer/planer, a free standing belt/disc sander infeed supports and a shopsmith dust collector. All are high quality tools, easy to use, easy to interchange and racks can be made to hold most of the attachments on the wall when not in use. Admittedly, accesory prices are high when new, but it is easy to find them used as you've noted. I did, I got all of the above plus numerous hand tools, saw blades, shaping knives, dado blades, clamps, dust bags, forstner bits, chisels, rasps, router bits, try squares, calipers, Japanese wet stones, woodworking books, woodworking magazines and much more,(One full sized van and two fullsized pickup truckloads to be exact) a near complete woodshop for $2,300. I've had mine for four years now, used it on all kinds of tasks and I love it! As for the amount of shopsmiths available on the used tool market, I think that many of them were the former posessions of older woodworkers who have gone to the big woodshop in the sky. I also think that perhaps many are so cheap because the inheritors don't know what they have or how to use them. Such was the case with mine anyway.