Non woodworking uses for a shopsmith

[davebodner]

I'm still awaiting the coffee grinder attachment.

[roy_okc]

I used my 500 to thread a bunch of 80/20 extrusion when I built my CNC router. Aligned the table a la horizontal boring, set a guide along the back edge of the extrusion, put the tap in the drill chuck and the sanding disc on the left post, and hand turned the disc to thread/unscrew. I also made a few trim cuts in some aluminum parts on the bandsaw. Probably some other things that I don't recall.

[roy_okc]

I'm still awaiting the coffee grinder attachment.

Even better, hook up to a blender. Margaritas by the barrel anyone?

[Ed in Tampa]

I use mine to sharpen lawn mower blades the disk sander does a fantastic job.

Also use it to cut oasis a product used in flower arranging. My wife often gets jobs where she must cut up pieces 4 and 5 ft long. Sorta like Styrofoam only different sucks up water.

And don't tell anyone but I have used my Shopsmith bandsaw to cut artificial flower stems that were nearly impossible to cut any other way. They usually have a steel core which doesn't do the saw blade much good but I always use an old blade.

[beeg]

They usually have a steel core which doesn't do the saw blade much good but I always use an old blade.

Ed, have ya tried using side cutters or electricians pliers?

[nuhobby]

I had a bicycle where the kickstand never sat just right. I took it off and ground a new facet on the aluminum leg, using the SS disk-sander. It worked great!

Chris

[rcplaneguy]

12" dual laser Porter cable miter saw with a warped aluminum fence (3 piece fence). Was warped when new but I lived with it for years. Tried to buy parts when it was 7 years old, but none available (not like Shopsmith!). Finally made some jigs and used the SS conical disk sander to fix. Was tedious, but it worked!

[davebodner]

When I was cleaning up the front wheel of my 1972 Moto Guzzi Eldorado, I was able to chuck the front wheel cover(?) onto the Shopsmith.

(Not my wheel)

With the wheel cover spinning on the Shopsmith, polishing it was much easier. The wheel cover fit perfectly on (I think) the dado arbor.

[Ed in Tampa]

They usually have a steel core which doesn't do the saw blade much good but I always use an old blade.

Ed, have ya tried using side cutters or electricians pliers?

I did this only after a bolt cutter failed to make much progress. Side cutters and electricians pliers ended up dented.
I suspect they use what ever steel is available at the time. Could not cut it with plier like methods but cut like butter on the band saw. Go figure????

[bffulgham]

I like to keep back issues of magazines because "I might need something from one of these articles some day". And, when I needed something, finding the right magazine and right article was usually a challenge. And, organized storage of said magazines was an issue.

The LOML needed to keep track of the articles she edits for a higher-education magazine and also experienced problems finding who, what, and when.

I have a scanner that is sheet-feed only and will scan both sides in one pass. It will also save those scans as "searchable" PDFs.

Brainstorm 1: I'll scan all of these magazines and we can use the built-in search functions on the computers to find the articles we're looking for.

The first 10 or so magazines I cut apart by hand using a straight-edge and utility knife. It was slow going, and I wound up getting snags and tears on the edges that would interfere with sheet feed scanning.

Brainstorm 2: Use the panel sled on the SS to "rip" the magazine bindings off.

Works like a charm: http://www.bfulgham.com/JAlbum/2013/201 ... g/ScanPrep

It worked so well, that I ripped the bindings off of all my school annuals and scanned them into both PDF and JPG formats.

No more storage issues for magazines