I know the ShopSmith is not the best tool in the world, but for my situation, it is. That said, I have learned to accommodate some of its shortcomings, and have worked on overcoming some of the others. To that end, I finally got around to wiring up a 4-way switch so that I can now reverse its rotation for sanding my turnings. I'm makin' sawdust in two directions, now, and likin' it. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming. Just had to gloat. tom koehler
"sbnjhfty" wrote: Being an amateur... Why reverse for sanding? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I asked my son's shop teacher that question, and he said, "Just reverse the sandpaper." He was just kidding.
When you sand, there are little wood fibers, like hairs, that all get laid down in the same direction, and not removed. When you reverse the rotation, these "hairs" have to flip over, and lots of them get taken off. If you reverse a few times, most of them will get gone. If you apply lacquer sanding sealer to the surface, it binds these hairs, so they can't do their flip-flop, and they get removed sooner. (This is my theory--I can't actually see what they're doing.)
On Mon, 4 May 2009 21:05:50 -0500, sbnjhfty wrote (in message ):
Leo L. explained it perfectly. In addition, I am cheap, and do not use sanding sealers of any kind. Just one more item to buy and find a place for, and clean up after. Reversing is cheap and efficient. I believe the results are readily apparent to me, as I am working.
At this stage of my own development as a turner - bowls in particular right now... I use a straight tung oil finish, as it is food-safe. It also does not stink up a small house as lacquer might. It is an easy finish to work with and is very tolerant of dust. It takes a while to set up, but I am not a production turner, and am not trying to earn any money from my stuff, so I have the time.
Never underestimate the flexibility of a ShopSmith. When you're working in a garage shop and the wife still wants to put the car in there in the winter, the ShopSmith works wonders.
With a little ingenuity, you can figure out how to hook up all sorts of components, especially with the older units made in the fifties. I have been able to connect a small band saw and a small 4" jointer to mine.
Well heck, they were made to do that. Of course you can increase ingenuity required and decrease cost (usually) by adapting to something non-SS for add-ons, but both jointer and bandsaw were made for them from early days. I use the belt sander a lot. Jigsaw (not scrollsaw, and no longer made) has been less useful. Don't have and have never been able to justify cost of bandsaw (even used they are generally too costly - a regular bandsaw makes more sense for the money)
Certainly for faceplate work, moving to the back spindle is the easy reversing option for sanding.
I developed a kludge for low variable speed (without the stinking overpriced & kludgy speed thing from SS) when my speed changer bearing died and I had work to be done, didn't want to wait for parts before doing it - strapped a variable speed DC motor to the ways, driving the jointer shaft (which drives the main shaft, of course). I've since picked up another (rather abused, but cheap) old greenie which I hope to convert to internal DC motor drive, without the Reeves.
I have upgraded both my greenies to the newer poly-V drive - one via shopsmith ($$$) and one via eBay (less $$$). The Gilmer belts not only get annoying as they shed teeth, the toothed pulley was actually showing heavy wear after a mere 50 years on my original (bought new by grandpa).
On Tue, 5 May 2009 9:46:28 -0500, mac davis wrote (in message ):
that is what I have done in the past, and it works but is an aggravation, as I have to dismount the bandsaw drive nut from the back spindle.
I do have a speed reducer unit, and this is the impetus for the reversing switch. I can now reverse the work piece without dismounting the speed reducer and moving it to the rear shaft, etc., etc.
As my shop space is extremely limited and my interests widely sweeping the whole sawdust spectrum, another machine in my basement is out of the question, no matter how good the machine is.
You make good points, all the same. Thanks. tom k.
On Tue, 5 May 2009 9:31:06 -0500, Christopher Zona wrote (in message ):
yup. I have the bandsaw unit and use it a lot. I cut 2 holes in the housing opposite the blade tension adjusting screw and the tension scale, so I can take the blade tension off without removing the shell. Keeping the blade slack while it is not in use is healthier for the blade and healthier for the drive tires. I also got an excellent resaw blade from another company (Wolf-something?). The SS resaw blade is a waste of time, money, and otherwise good steel. I made an excellent rip fence for my bandsaw, and can produce very good results when resawing anything that will fit on the saw. I also cut a hole in the lower part of the bandsaw shell, so I can stick a vaccuum hose in there, while doing a lot of resawing. tom k.
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