A collection of short videos to help you get the most out of your Shopsmith tools.
Using a dime to set the all-important gap between the mortising bit and the mortising chisel.
Stick-on measuring tapes you can use to adjust your table height in thousandths of an inch. To download tapes you can print and apply, click
A simple fence that mounts to the belt sander and helps to sand parts square and true.
How to keep your router bit from slipping in the collet without having to overtighten the compression nut.
Feed the wood past your router in the wrong direction, the bit will pull the wood away from the guide. This is known as “back-routing.” It can ruin your work and cause a dangerous kickback. See how to determine the correct feed direction
Auxiliary Fence for Sliding Table
This ingenious add-on fence for the Shopsmith Sliding Table let’s you use our Flip Stop and our Magnetic Rule as you crosscut, adding convenience and precision to your operation. Click HERE to download plans.
Using parts of the Shopsmith Lathe Duplicator, you can make make cylindrical turnings as straight as a die, create round tenons that fit their mortises perfectly, and turn wood to precise diameters.
Shopsmith’s newest accessory, the Sand Flee finishing sander, offers the control you need to sand delicate assemblies. See how to flush-sand hardwood edging or “banding” on plywood while barely touching the veneer
Small wooden parts may fall through the saw insert and be chewed up or flung back at you. Prevent both these problems with zero-clearance inserts.
An easy-to-make gift — wooden trivets to keep hot dishes from scorching countertops. Just make several dado cuts on both sides of the stock. Includes plans for trivet-making jig; click
The abrasive cleaning stick is designed to remove impacted sawdust from sanding disks and sanding belts. But it will do a few more chores around your shop.
Using a Boring Bar for Lathe Turning
A “boring bar” will turn the inside of a bowl quickly and easily. And if you have a Lathe Duplicator for your Shopsmith, there’s no need to buy a boring bar; you can make your own!
A Long Handle for the Footswitch
Attach a long scrap of wood to the side of a footswitch to serve as a handle, making it easy to move without bending down.
Making Biscuit Joints in the Middle of a Board
A clever trick for cutting biscuit slots midboard, using the Biscuit Joiner in the horizontal position. Good for joining the end of a board to the face of another.
Using a Cone Cutter to Shear on the Lathe Duplicator
The Cone Cutter produces a supper-smooth surface. The rim of this unique tool is ground to shear the wood as it turns rather than scrape it.
Sharpening Knives on the Strip Sander
With the strip sander and a sharpening attachment, you can put a razor-sharp edge on all kinds of knives. Includes plans for a knife-holding jig to grind a precise angle.
Using several double bar clamps, you can create a “veneer press” that spreads pressure evenly over an entire panel when gluing veneer to a wooden backing.
The spring-loaded posts on the Lower Saw Guard desperately need periodic lubrication or they will begin to hang up. Here’s how to keep them in good working order.
Aligning a Workpiece for Crosscutting
When you mark the face of a board for a crosscut, use a small Engineers Square to align it precisely with the saw blade before you make the cut.
Making Square Corners with Corner Squares
When you need an assembly to be perfectly square, use these handy clamping jigs to keep all your corners true. Make dozens from a few plywood scraps. Includes FREE plans.
The Trick to Using Hand Screws
Although extremely versatile, hand screws can seem awkward to a novice. There’s a simple trick that not only makes them easier to use, but also opens up all the capabilities of this tool.
When gluing boards together, the pieces often slip out of alignment. Here’s a common material that all craftsmen keep in their shop and that you can use to prevent this from happening.
Putting a burr on the edges of curved scrapers can be hit-or-miss with an ordinary burnisher. But the shank of a drill will raise an even burr no problem.
Want to remove rust without a lot of elbow grease? Let a couple of potatoesdo all the work for you! They have a chemical “chelator” that lifts the rust off the metal
Collecting Sawdust While Drilling
When drilling, the Shopsmith makes a lot of chips that can interfere with the accuracy of you’re work. This mess can also prevent you from seeing the layout. Here are two easy ways to pick up the dust and chips as you drill.
Lift Assistance for the Table and Smart Motor
In the drill press mode, it may be difficult to adjust the vertical position of the Shopsmith table and Smart Motor. You can make the task much easier by raising and lowering them with a bottle jack!
We show you how to set up the Shopsmith band saw for resawing with one or more featherboards to keep the board properly positioned. FREE plans for the jig!
Cleaning Up Epoxy and Silicone
There’s nothing quite so sticky as epoxy adhesive and silicone caulk. However, a simple, inexpensive household chemical will wipe away these materials
When fitting tenons to mortises, woodworkers sometimes employ a technique called “undercutting.” to get the tenons to fit as tight as possible. Here’s how it’s done.
Occasionally you planer bed “sticks” because impacted sawdust has fouled the threaded posts and prevents you from turning the crank. Here’s how to clear the threads safely.
When good craftsmen build boxes they plan their cuts so the wood grain appears to be continuous around the assembly. This takes some careful planning, but the visual effects are well worth the effort.
Compound Miters with an Incra Sled
Despite their precision, few sliding tables can cut compound miters (with both the miter fence and table angled) as they cannot be used on both sides of the blade. Our “Antigravity Miter Jig” changes all that. FREE plans!
Waxing Sliding Tables, Clamps, and Jigs
Paste wax is a good all-around lubricant for the sliding surfaces of tools, both store-bought and shopmade — and can also be used to protect the surfaces of tools from glue.
When the band saw table doesn’t provide enough support to cut large workpieces, use the auxiliary tables and a set of 5-foot extension tubes to build acres of support on all three working sides of the saw.
When performing operations that require precision, the main table must be stabilized. Because it’s mounted on just two posts, there may be a little “wiggle room” However, it’s a simple matter to reinforce the table with parts from the Shopsmith system.
When cutting veneers to cover a surface, you often have to join the sheet edge to edge or end to end. Here’s a simple way to “joint” the adjoining surfaces so they will fit perfectly.
One of the most useful shop jigs is also one of the easiest to make. The “bench hook” provides a backstop, a cradle, or a brace for dozens of woodworking operations. Includes FREE PLANS.
Building a Rock-Solid Work Surface
The connecting tubes that come with the Mark V 510 and 520 don’t just allow you to build large work surfaces. Properly employed they will more than double the stability of your setups, making you work more precise.
Shopsmith’s auxiliary tables allow you to build large work surfaces. But you don’t have to just string them together. You can also create infeed and outfeed surfaces — even extended surfaces for special purpose tools.
When you drill a hole with a drill press, wear and minor imperfections in the parts all conspire to make your bit hit wide of its mark. But with a few judicious adjustments, you can put your holes where you want them.
The Shopsmith table and fence comes with T-slots for mounting jigs and accessories. Here are three T-slot jigs,- a fence extension, overhead fence, and tenoning jig, plus the FREE PLANS to make them.
Effective dust collection is important to your health, especially if you work with “toxic” woods known to cause physical reactions. Includes and FREE CHART of toxic woods and the risks they pose.
