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Re: Tools: Shop Smith- good not great
By:Paul G Jacobson
Date: 5/7/2010, 12:01 am
In Response To: Tools: Shop Smith- good or bad??? (Malcolm Schweizer)

There has been a Shopsmith in the family for over 50 years. I love the one I inherited, but I don't think I'd ever buy a new one. Too expensive.
There are a few things it does great----like crosscutting sheets of plywood, but setup is slow.

Yes, it can work as a drill press. But a dedicated drillpress can be squared up and left that way. For horizontal boring it is great. The table is a little small compared to better-grade tablesaws, but the extensions on the bed and table work great with wide materials. Nothing special here when working with long stock, though.

I love the band saw- but if I had to buy it new I'd get a bigger one for the same money. Never got the jig saw to work right. The jointer/planer can't run at the same time as the saw without special effort.

They sell an accessory stand with a separate motor which lets you mount the accessory tools, but then you just have expensive powertools and for the price you could buy better ones.

Overall, they are great tools if you have one, but for the money you could buy separate tools and leave them set up.
PGJ

Messages In This Thread

Tools: Shop Smith- good or bad???
Malcolm Schweizer -- 5/4/2010, 2:48 pm
Re: Tools: Shop Smith- good not great
Paul G Jacobson -- 5/7/2010, 12:01 am
Re: Tools: Shop Smith- good or bad???
graybeard -- 5/5/2010, 3:43 pm
Re: Tools: Shop Smith- good or bad???
Malcolm Schweizer -- 5/5/2010, 11:31 pm
Re: Tools: Shop Smith- good or bad???
Jim Hegg -- 5/4/2010, 3:04 pm
Re: Tools: Shop Smith- good or bad???
Charlie -- 5/4/2010, 5:50 pm
Re: Tools: Shop Smith- good or bad???
Jim Hegg -- 5/4/2010, 7:17 pm