Mini Mark V

[jcbrowne]

I found a Mark V (500) for sale with one accessory (Jigsaw) at a reasonable price (all the equipment for half the price of a power station).
My idea is to shorten the bench and way tubes and create a short version of the Mark V to power the accessories I have freeing my Mark V (510) for other work.

Does anybody have any experience with this kind of modifications?
I remember seeing a short version somewhere in the past.

So as not to lose flexibility, I hope to leave enough room to mount the work table to use with the disk sander on the opposite end of the accessory. I could always use the Mark V as a table saw if I needed to this way.

Thanks for your input
JCB

[SDSSmith]

I have cut down a number of machines. If you just want a power station, you can cut the bench tubes in half. Then, cut the way tubes to be 3/4" shorter than the bench tubes. Sounds like you want something between a full size Mark V and a power station. One machine, I shortened 18-1/2" and it was great for turning pens and bowls. It could also be configured to perform the other four functions, but the footprint was reduced to 53" long by 19" deep.

[nuhobby]

Not exactly along these lines, but has anyone thought of making a "headless" extra Mark V structure to support the OPR? I wonder if the spare parts in the marketplace would be friendly to that....

Chris
Shopsmith 510, Bandsaw, and other accessories

[charlese]

Not exactly along these lines, but has anyone thought of making a "headless" extra Mark V structure to support the OPR? I wonder if the spare parts in the marketplace would be friendly to that....

Chris

You have a good idea for some of us. My solution would be to buy a used Mark V, slide the headstock off and permanently mount the OPR. As for cutting it down - as Rob in San Diego does - That's also do-able. However you may find the need to weight the back end of the cut down machine.

[SDSSmith]

I have a bench cut down with just a 500 carriage and table on it. I use it for outfeed support and SPT tool storage. You could easily mount the OPR on it, I guess. Don't have one so I haven't tried. I have one of the old stand alone overarm pin routers that I picked up with another machine, so I can't justify the OPR.

[Nick]

Chris, Rob, Chuck -- You're really going to want to watch the final installment of "The Undiscovered Power Tool" because we have done exactly what you are talking about -- we have created a stationary routing tool (..the likes of which the world has never seen before... ) built on a modified Shopsmith frame.

We began by doing just what you suggest; we removed the headstock. This was a good start, but because the machine was used primarily in the vertical position, it's footprint was too large. So we shortened all four tubes by 21 inches, making it much more compact but still able to to be used in both the horizontal and vertical positions. This created another problem. Without the weight and the leverage afforded by the legs and the full-length tubes, the machine was overbalanced in the vertical position. It would tip forward if you applied pressure to the worktable or attempted to rout a large, heavy workpiece. So we took three of the under-the-Shopsmith storage cabinets (two #522319s and one #522320), removed the legs and casters from the Mark V frame, and attached the base and the headrest to the cabinets. To keep the cabinets from rolling when there was some routing going on, we installed four retractable legs, one at each corner of the storage cabinet assembly.

The resulting power tool is like no other routing machine on the market -- versatile, compact, plenty of storage, faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

With all good wishes,

[Ed in Tampa]

[quote="Nick"]Chris, Rob, Chuck -- You're really going to want to watch the final installment of "The Undiscovered Power Tool" because we have done exactly what you are talking about -- we have created a stationary routing tool (..the likes of which the world has never seen before... ) built on a modified Shopsmith frame.

We began by doing just what you suggest]

Add a provision for an under the table mounting of a router and I would say SS would have a winner.

How about using the overhead pin router arm from both sides of the table. This would remove the need for Router raisers and give the capability of having a precision router positioning cabilities for vertical above and below work along with horizonal. Wow I would think that would take the wood working world by storm.
Ed

[charlese]

"...-- we have created a stationary routing tool (..the likes of which the world has never seen before... ) built on a modified Shopsmith frame....
The resulting power tool is like no other routing machine on the market -- versatile, compact, plenty of storage, faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound."

Nice going Nick! I'll really try to watch the broadcast!

[nuhobby]

Wow,

At this stage in life I'm generally buying new equipment from Shopsmith to serve me through the long haul, warranted, and maintain a good partnership with the company we love.

That being said, I've been looking down the road at an OPR, and I was thinking of an extra Mark V just for it (mentioned above in many tantalizing posts).

All of a sudden, 50 miles from me, on the web, I found a very very affordable old Mark V, which I picked up today. It all works, and I've traced the serial no. to 1956/1957 range. I'm going to have quite the (enjoyable) dilemma on whether/how to fully restore it cosmetically, or just concentrate on holding the OPR system. Knowing me, I'll do both.

By the way, I have not researched this yet.... can the OPR system adapt to the original Mark V table, or does it need one of the newer/larger 510/520 tables? I'm sure I'll find a way regardless when I'm ready.

Everybody enjoy!

[jcbrowne]

I assume that the bars of all Mark V models are interchangeable.

If you cut the bars (shorten them) when you instal the OPR the lack of weight will render the setup unstable.

If this setup is the primary reason for purchasing an older model of Mark V and the lower bars are shortened (not the top ones along which the head slides) to any length that might be desired, you can mount the OPR facing the wrong way (namely back over the base).

You would then have a very firm support and you would avoid any instability.
By not shortening the top bars, and locking the swiveled end in a vertical position you would have the same stability as you would have with a full sized unit plus full displacement possibility along the upper bars.

It would seem to me that you do not need to lower the upper bars when using the old Mark V as a support of the OPR.

JCB