Shopsmith Forums

I am new to woodworking. My initial ambition is to create some cabinets for my garage/patio. I plan to purchase a Mark 7. What other machines or accessories would the community recommend that I consider? And why would these purchases be of use to me now or later?

Thanks for the benefit of your experience!

Cheers,

What other machines or accessories you might want to get depends upon what you intend to do in the future.

A couple of things come to mind for your cabinet build.

First of all, I assume that you will be building them from sheet good (plywood, MDF, etc.). A full sheet is very heavy and bulky — not a lot of fun to wrestle across a Shopsmith, or any tablesaw for that matter. You may want to have your supplier break the sheets down into more manageable pieces. Even so, I’d recommend two roller stands, one for infeed, and one for outfeed. I’ve been very pleased with my Rockler flip-top stand, which happens to be on sale right now. I also have one of their regular roller stands. But at the sale price, I’d just get two of the flip-top stands.

https://www.rockler.com/heavy-duty-fliptop-roller-stand

If you want to break down the sheet goods yourself, a track saw is an excellent investment. Festool has an intensely loyal following, but comes with a premium price tag. I have the Makita, which is an excellent saw at a better price. Other major manufacturers include DeWalt, Triton, and now Kreg.

Do you know what type of joinery you’ll be using? For the face frames, common and relatvely easy joinery methods include pocket screws, biscuits, dowels, and loose tenons. You’ll need jigs and/or tools to use any of these. Shopsmith makes a very nice biscuit-joiner attachment: https://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cat ... joiner.htm.

For an overview of face-frame joinery options, check out this Rockler article: https://www.rockler.com/joinery-methods-face-frames

I agree with JPG but it also depends on what you already have. Although not limited to just woodworking, a shopvac, air compressor, miter saw, clamps, drills and drivers, chisels, sanders, etc. are necessities.
Almost everyone on here also has the SS jointer and bandsaw ,extremely good Shopsmith products that show up in good used condition quite often. The SS belt sander is very nice, too.

Garage cabinets are fairly simple. The Shopsmith should do everything you need to build them. I built these cabinets for my garage on my Shopsmith.

To do cabinets and to really realize the potential of the MK 7 I would buy the belt sander, band saw, jointer and the shaper fence. That being said all of those are available used on CL for significantly less than new. You can build a better shaper fence than you can buy for about $50. Many times you can buy an used 510 SS with all those accessories for less than the price of just the tools new and end up with a second SS. If space allows having a second SS makes things much easier.
Paul

something Like this is nice to have around when you work by yourself single roller support stand in fact a couple of Them may be a good idea JMO

https://www.harborfreight.com/132-lbs-c ... gK0XfD_BwE

What you need to buy in tools will depend on how you wish to make the cabinets. The Mark 7 is an excellent start and note the items it comes with. As for additional tools they are easy to add on with the Shopsmith as your base tool. Figure out the cabinets you wish to make and how you wish to construct them then find which tools will help you get the project done. Future projects can be planned out in the same way and what tools are needed to complete it which will guide you on future purchases.

JPG: "What other machines or accessories you might want to get depends upon what you intend to do in the future."

Of course! But, apart from simple cabinetry, I cannot anticipate my goals. So, presumably, suggestions might have value in the construction of simple cabinetry. Future purchases can await future needs.

BuckeyeDennis, we're on the same page. Those are EXACTLY several items I have considered because in the past I've struggled to break down 4x8 plywood sheets using a small table saw or circular saw.

Thanks!