Fun Old Tool Project

[surffly]

Well I got this old Shop Smith Mark 5 a while ago. Its missing a few small things but all and all its there. Plugged in and she started right up. Basically I want to clean and lube her up and get her working 100%. The girlfriend wants to do some wood working....(insert joke here)
Not sure if ill paint the unit or just clean them off
I need to track down and manual and source some parts


I have
-compresser
-jig saw, dont think its missing anything
-table saw, think its missing parts
-few other parts im not sure what they are
im trying to figure out how to run it as a lathe


Anyone have one of these?

 

[camit34]

Maybe some bowl turning? Always wanted to learn that.


I dig it! Nice!

 

[surffly]

Told the girl friend that she needs to make a ton of salad bowls or im going to sell it....lol

 

[Useful Idiot]

Awesome. I love old tools. (no homo)

I lucked into an old South Bend drill press last year. A little oil and a scotchbrite and it was good as new.

Been looking for a medium sized lathe this summer, even though I don't have power to my garage yet. Horse before the cart, I guess.

 

[Redbird]

My Dad had an old Shop Smith similar to that one. Not as big though. Katrina took it, otherwise it'd be in my shed right now

 

[Basement rat]

Sorry man, if it were me I would:

"Run, Run so far away"

Sure, its cool but you will never get the accuracy of that thing to match the accuracy of any one of its specialised tools on its own.

Whats better, a Swiss Army knife or a box of real screwdrivers, scissors, knife and plyers?

Everything is a little too half assed for my liking. I would however clean it/ rebuild, use it for nick nacs and a conversation piece in the garage.

 

[surffly]

We aren't going to the moon with anything built on this. It's just for some light wood working things.
My girlfriend is a art teacher and enjoys fun at projects and this will be more them enough for anything she will want to do.
Also where it is being set up is short on space.
Also it was cheap for me so it is what it is.