Well, it wasnt really that long ago, I did drive a long way to get it, but it wasnt in another galaxy.
I Guess that is a corny way to start this, but I'm going to run with it anyway.
Got a great deal on it, and it was exactly what i was looking for because it came with Jointer, Bandsaw, Belt sander, Disc sander, strip sander, lathe duplicator, etc.
The cool thing about a shopsmith is that it is a jack of all trades, so no point in having one if it aint going to do everything for you.
pretty cool isnt it.
So right off, what I started using it for was the belt sander (with metal too, which I am sure shopsmith frowns on, but I do it anyway)
I immediately took the blade off and set it up as a belt / disk sander. Totally, cool, using it all the time.....
The strip sander, was sitting at the other end of the base, just resting there, looking lonely when I thought
I wonder.....
and the plan for a triple tool shopsmith was born in my brain.
Started doing some digging, handily enough the shopsmith motor has 2 drive points on it. Problem is the one that is open runs faster than the one the current belt sander is on. Which means I need gearing to slow that down.
As much as I like to over engineer things, I also like them to be simple. I decided to do all this with belts and pulleys
Pulley size can slow down the speed, single shaft runs down to the other end, belt up to the strip sander, and voila!
I ordered some parts, did a little machining of some brackets, and off we went.
The big problem I had was belts. I had a hard time getting the belt size figured out. After a few orders I did finally understand what i was doing wrong and think I have that all figured out now (famous last words)
finally have it all worked out. Single power switch runs all 3 sanders, which is handy. And of course the shopsmith motor is variable speed, which is also handy. And it lets me move from sander to sander easily as I am working with a piece.
Cherry Pie
DD
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