Meet Nick Cupps, the new owner of Shopsmith

On Thursday, October 5th, 2023, 84 Shopsmith fans descended upon the Shopsmith factory just north of Dayton, for a two-day long even to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Shopsmith tool's creation. Yes, we did miss the actual 75th anniversary, which was in 2022, but we were pulling out of a world-wide pandemic, so we put the meet-up off by a year. 

Anyway, immediately following the introductions of the company staff, Shopsmith's president, Bob Folkerth, added:

"And there's one more person I'd like to introduce you to. This is Mr. Nicholas Cupp, who as af last week is the new owner of Shopsmith."

I had the privilege to interview Nick a few days later, and I'm sure you will find his vision for the future of the company as interesting as I did.

Should a Shopsmith user also own a Track Saw like the Festool, Makita, DeWalt, Mafell or even a clone?

I've owned and used a Shopsmith Mark V since 1987 and over the years have developed a a pretty clear picture of what operations make sense to do with the Shopsmith and which are better handled by some other hand tool. What may not be intuitive at first is the fact that when cutting a large piece of  lumber or plywood, no matter how large your table saw is, it's often easer, more accurate and safer to take a portable saw to the wood rather than the wood to the saw.  

Just think about the space you'd need in your shop (or driveway) to rip down the 8' length of a sheet of plywood.  That's 8" ahead of the blade, 8' behind the blade, and whatever space you'll need for yourself and likely a helper. That's somewhere around 20+ feet of clear space! 

Now, think of that same cut being made with the wood in a stationary position with the saw gliding down its length. Get the picture?  It just makes sense to use a hand-held circular saw to rough cut our stock into reasonable sizes, and then we can move to the Shopsmith for joinery, if needed. 

So have you tried to make accurate cuts with a Skill saw? Yeah, me too. Based on that experience I have been drawn to the European approach of a plunging circular saw that follows an extruded aluminum rail, that itself has a non-skid backing and can also be conveniently clamped in place with clamps that integrate below the track.  These plunge saws were originally brought to market in Germany in the 1980's by the company now known as Festool (formerly Festo), but now that the patents have expired and are now in the public domain similar tools have flooded the market. 

Whether they are called a "plunge saw" or a "track saw", the advantage of these saws over what our dads used is that not only are they guided laser-straight along the rail, but the edge of the rail features a sacrificial strip that supports the edge of the cut, right where the blade is exiting the cut and where otherwise we'd be looking at tear-out. 

I've been playing with a Festool plunge saw at work for several years and finally have decided that in the coming weeks I'll be taking the plunge (#SeeWhatIDidThere?) and will add one to my shop. Which one? You may be surprised, but I've decided that I'm going to buy a WEN saw! WEN you ask? Yep. After much research I believe that for the amount of use most DIYer's are going to get from a track saw it's wise to stay below the $200 investment threshold, including the track.  I'm debating between these two models and may actually buy them both just to get a true comparison.  What do you think? 

WEN CT1065, which uses a 6.5" diameter blade https://amzn.to/3tWGTZN

WEN CT1272, which uses the popular 7 1/4" diameter blade https://amzn.to/3eRFDCK

Keep watching the "My Growth Rings" Youtube channel for more. 

OEM Shopsmith Accessories made in Taiwan while Clone parts are made in the USA!

An OEM part or accessory is a component manufactured by the "Original Equipment Company" who offered it in the first place.  Every so often someone posts a photo on the Shopsmith forum or on one of the multiple Shopsmith Facebook groups after they were surprised to receive a set of casters, (or a saw arbor, a lathe drive center, etc.) that it was clearly printed on the package that it was "Made In Taiwan"!  This is by no means a new thing.

Shopsmith Headstock Rebuilt Kit

I remember back in the 1980s when I first started working in the Shopsmith Factory Showroom in Dayton, Ohio that many of these components were being produced in Taiwan and were repackaged in packages that disguised the country of origin. I can recall a perforated anti-fatigue matt, that was in use in one section of the factory, that was filled with little gold oval stickers that said: "Made in Taiwan". The workers in that area were instructed to remove these stickers as they repacked the parts into tubes and display packages. Someone eventually called them on it and they began printing the country of origin in small print on the package, but they still don't disclose this information in their catalog or on their website, which is why I think customers continue to react with surprise when receiving their orders. 

So that brings me to the title of this post. Way back in 2010 (I'm typing this in 2020) I received an email from a gentleman asking if I'd be interested in testing an aftermarket Idler Bearing that he was producing and selling on eBay. At the time Shopsmith had announced that they were changing the Idler Shaft because the water pump bearing assembly was no longer available and that they needed to change the bearing to a higher speed version for use in the PowerPro headstock. I wrote about the Idler Shaft change here. Anyway, he sent me two to test and they worked perfectly. At the time he was exploring alternatives to selling on eBay because eBay and Paypal (the owned by eBay) we taking so much from each sale, but all these years later he is still active on eBay and on Amazon. See links below.

His company produces the "BLUE MAX" silicone replacement bandsaw tire, but more importantly, his company is producing with CNC equipment in the USA "clone" accessories for use on Shopsmith tools. I'm talking such things as lathe drive centers, live centers, 5/8" table saw arbors for the Mark V 500, 510, 520 and Mark 7. And of course, they have silicone replacement bandsaw tires. They even sell drive belts, Poly-V belts and Gilmer belts for the old pre-1962 Mark V's. On top of that, they have an adapter that will allow you to mount a Delta, Powermatic or Craftsman faceplate, or any jaw or 4 jaw lathe chuck you might want to mount.  They also offer a "Shopsmith Rebuilt Kit" that includes belts, bearings and even that idler shaft I was just talking about

I certainly do not want to take away profitable sales from Shopsmith, but the fact that these are high-quality American-made parts makes them worth a look.  BTW, they do offer a keyless chuck that is made in China but was modified for use on the Shopsmith in the USA. If you have any questions about the country of origin, send them a note prior to placing your order. 

Click this link to see American Made Shopsmith Accessories for sale on eBay and buy American!  

Here are his items listed on Amazon: American-Made Shopsmith Accessories for sale on Amazon.

I suggest checking the price on the same items on eBay and Amazon before purchasing to get the best value. 

Live Center, Cup Center, Dead Center. What's the difference when spindle turning on a lathe?

Just posted a comment on a Reddit thread about a cup center that was burning and squealing and it occurred to me that we haven't talked about these on this blog yet, so the time is now.

I concur that a live center is preferred, but a cup center is still useful. The keys to using a cup center are: 

1. 

   L to R Shopsmith Live, Cup and Drive Centers
   

   Use a non-metal mallet to drive the cup center into the end of your stock. Make sure that the outer ring of the cup is at least slightly impressed into the end of your wood stock. If you fear that the center is going to split your wood you can use a drill to create a shallow hole prior to driving the center into your wood. Drive the drive center into the opposite end and if you like, hammer both centers into both ends. I do this so I can flip the spindle end for end during sanding.
2. Add a little dab of paste wax to the cup. This step is often skipped, but a little furniture paste wax is a big help. Use Johnson's or Minwax or Brewax. The brand doesn't matter, just don't use car wax. 
3. Insert the cup center into the tailstock and the drive center onto the drive spindle and insert your wood between the centers. Put just enough pressure onto the wood with the quill that the wood is trapped, but not clamped between the centers. There should be no end shake or play, but the tailstock shouldn't be under stress. 
4. Turn, turn, turn, turn but keep an eye and ear on the cup center. It will beige to loosen due to friction, so every so often turns off the lathe and double-check the tension between centers and if needed adjust the quill out to increase the tension.

That's it. Even with these instructions, I suggest that you get a live center as soon as you can justify one. Also, check out the video Doug Read just posted on Youtube on spindle turning. He is using a cup center because that's what comes standard with the Shopsmith Mark V and because he is turning something that he can complete in just a few minutes. 

 

Here's an eBay seller who is producing on a CNC lathe here in the USA, drive centers, live centers, saw arbors and more for Shopsmith users. Click this link: Shopsmith Accessories For Sale on eBay

Shopsmith SPT (Single Purpose or Special Purpose Tool) Stand and Accessory Stand

Ever since Magna started producing the original 10ER jigsaw and jointer, owners of them have struggled for a good solution to store them when they aren't mounted on the Shopsmith. Other owners have had their shop space grow and desired to mount their excellent Shopsmith Special Purpose tools on their own stands. Enter the SPT stand and the Accessory Stand. Offered on and off since the 1950s, these stands have been sold without motors for use as simple storage stands or with motors and switches.  One interesting iteration featured a centrally-mounted motor with a through-shaft that would drive two tools simultaneously. This stand was even sold for a time as a bade for a Magna tilting arbor table saw and jointer combo.  

These stands show up on eBay from time to time and are listed under a variety of names, so you might need to do some clever searching to track them down. 

Here's a good starting point: Shopsmith SPT Stands for Sale on eBay

Click pics to "Biggie-Size"

Shopsmith Steady Rest and a story about why I built my own.

Back in the mid 90’s I did repair work for a couple antique stores in the Dayton and Waynesville, Ohio area. I was getting out of clock repair but due to some of these same shops knowing about my woodworking skills they continued to call be when they had particularly challenges issues. One such challenge was a shop that purchased a couple highboy cabinets that had sat in a couple inches of water in a flooded basement until the bottom of the feet (similar to those in the photo only slightly taller) began to mold and rot. My challenge was to mount those legs on my Shopsmith Mark V and support them without the use of a tailstock. I had to remove the rotten portion, drill a recess and turn a replacement part with an integrated tenon (think dowel) that would be glued into the original leg before final shaping and finishing. I couldn’t grip the leg with a chuck without damaging the pristine parts so I used Satellite City “Hot Stuff” CA glue to mount them to a scrap block screwed to a faceplate.  That allowed me to drive the work on the lathe, but now I needed a steady rest to support the balance of the weight and to make sure that if the glue failed that I wouldn’t lose all my hard work.

At the time Shopsmith made two steady rests, shown at right. One for spindle turning that mounted in the carriage, opposite of the tool rest, and the other mounted on the lathe duplicator. The problem with those designs was that they were made to eliminate whipping in thin spindles, but they didn't capture the project. 

That lead me to construct the steady rest you see here. It is made from layers of Baltic Birch plywood, three Shopsmith “T-Nuts”, Art. #514491, and a couple short pieces of Art. #518074 T-Slot Channel miter track extrusions. Additionally I used three rollerblade wheels and mounted it to the Mark V way tubes using the clamp from a Lathe Duplicator. (Art. #51335601 Lathe Duplicator Clamp, Art. # 513743 handle)

Eventually I need to shoot a video of this, but for now you have more info than I did when I built it! 
I finally got around to shooting a couple videos:

Where there's a will, there's a Shopsmith!

I was watching Curt from the Youtube channel "Wood Reconstructed" tonight and watched him resawing some 6" thick planks on his "Greenie" Shopsmith Mark V and on his Shopsmith bandsaw and just couldn't help but think "Where there's a will, there's a Shopsmith!". I was inspired by that thought to create a new tee-shirt on Zazzle that I know I will wear with pride. Feel free to order your own and I suggest clicking this link to sign-up for Zazzle's newsletter for weekly discount codes.  

Click the pic to order your tee-shirt and to see some of my other designs. 

 

When is a Shopsmith Mark II not a Shopsmith Mark II?

As is so often the case I don't have time to write this now, but I did want to get this content off my PC and into your hands for your edification. So the question was, when is a Shopsmith Mark II not a Shopsmith Mark II? When it's modified with a variable speed pulley and sold by Montgomery Ward as Ward's Powr-Kraft "Dyno-Shop". The first pic is a headstock that I purchased from eBay and intend to add to a Mark II frame, but the other pics are from listings and articles from around 1964 when this was offered for sale. How many sold? I have no earthly idea, but if you own one, please type the serial number into the comment field below and tell us a little about how you came to own it. 

"How to reverse the directon of my Shopsmith Bandsaw"

Why the odd post title? Because I have noticed a recent uptick in searches on this blog for this very thing.  So let's just cut to the chase: When you are standing in front of your Shopsmith tool, with the switch facing you, the SPT (Special Purpose Tool or Single Purpose Tool) such as the bandsaw, jointer, beltsander, scrollsaw, jigsaw, etc. should be mounted on the left end of the base, as shown in the photo with the jointer mounted in the proper position. I guess because people who sell used Shopsmith tools tend to load the tool with every SPT it will hold you'll often see Mark V's for sale with SPTs mounted on both end or just on the right. This is wrong!  If mounted on the right, not only will it be a long reach with the quill to even reach the tool with the power coupler, but once connected the tool will run backwards.  The exception to this is the strip sander, which can run in reverse, and the sprayer/air compressor, which can also run while being powered backwards.  The other exception is if you happen to have the SPT mounted on the old Shopsmith Mark 7 on the current a Mark V or Mark VII with a reversible PowerPro headstock or on a Shopsmith Crafter's Station, which also runs in reverse.

I remember talking to a guy in the Factory Showroom in Dayton about an issue he was having while bandsawing with the board wanting to lift from the table during the cut. He said "I have the hold-down set as tight as I can..." It was then that I knew, and now you do too.