Look what followed me home from California...

[RFGuy]

Coincidentally there is a discussion on the Facebook Shopsmith Owners Group in the last day or so related to the Mark VII. I guess one of the weak points of the design is the nylon gears in the headstock crank design on the waytubes. Fortunately, someone has created 3D printer files for them and posted them there, so if you have a 3D printer or can get access to one locally, you can just make more of them for the Mark VII.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... ater&ifg=1

Also, here is an article someone posted about the Mark VII that I found interesting. Author was fairly negative on the Mark VII, so take some of his comments with a grain of salt...some good pictures of it though including a 1963 Popular Science article on the Mark VII.

https://shopsmith-tool-hunter.blogspot. ... vSbCpmNmLY

[JPG]

The older Mk7 is kind of a mystery to me in that it seemed SS was actually on a better track with it. It was definitely a step up from the MK 5 design. Where did it fit with the SS corporate timeline ? Do we know how many were made ?
Paul

I do not know the production numbers for the Mark VII, but the timeline was early 1960 for a very few years. Magna American Inc. was struggling the entire time. Speculation, but the melting cam problems likely contributed to it's demise. IIUC Shopsmith was discontinued by the subsequent corporate ownership.

As for why 'Shopsmith Inc.'(ala Folkerith purchase) only manufactured the Mark 5 and not the Mark VII only folks in Dayton know. Perhaps the bad reputation of the VII was the reason.

I believe the design details etc. of the Mark VII were accessable by SS Inc. because they reappeared in the 505 - 520 designs.

[StevenAyres]

A couple more differences come to mind:

Also, I expect because of the added torque of the main-table-mounted aux table, the VII main table has two trunnion locks, fore and aft. I'm using the aft one for the first time today.

... it seems like the Mark VII was at least a few inches taller than a Mark V. Is this the case?

Good eye! The VII shaft is an inch higher relative to my brownie.

[JPG]

A couple more differences come to mind:

Also, I expect because of the added torque of the main-table-mounted aux table, the VII main table has two trunnion locks, fore and aft. I'm using the aft one for the first time today.

... it seems like the Mark VII was at least a few inches taller than a Mark V. Is this the case?

Good eye! The VII shaft is an inch higher relative to my brownie.

One more thing that was a precursor to the 505-520. However they operate independently from each other(two knobs...)