Bill Wyko said:
48"x6" combo disc belt sanders have 2 major flaws.
1- They are too agressive for taking off small amounts and doing light work
2- they don't have a fence that can be added to the long side like a jointer
The solutions, a variable speed belt and disc or a clutch feature and a fence that can be added or removed. I can't count how many times I needed a slow belt sander to take a very slight amount of material off of a larger flat surface w/o the worry of taking too much. How about it Festool, a belt/disc sander with a jointer fence and variable speed/hi torque? PLLLeeeeaaase ;D
Bill,
In essence, you have described why I kept the Shopsmith Mark V I purchased in 1974. With continuously variable speed from about 600 to 6000 RPM, it makes a great sanding speed center, and a decent drill press and horizontal boring machine. Because I now have a cabinet TS, and many Festools, my default setup for the Shopsmith is as a variable speed sanding center with a 12" disk sander, 6" x 48" belt sander and drum sander mounted simultaneously for use. Sorry that I don't have a photo to attach at this time. I'll try to attach a photo later, although I have misplaced my sanding drum.
Note with the 12" disk sander, there is variable speed, a fence that is adjustable for distance from the disk and skew. By loosening the front fence lock handle and turning in or out one nylon set screws in the fence head that engages the front table rail, you can skew the fence toward or away from parallel to the disk. That enables feather sanding a fine taper if you want. Before I had a jointer, I used this sanding setup with a skewed fence to joint the edges of boards to be you can feather sand. It worked surprisingly well. And because the disk is mounted on the main spindle, it can be advanced into the workpiece in case you want to take a skotch more off it. And you can adjust the tilt of the table. For dust collection, I made a little box that engages the steel frame tubes below the table and disk. The box envelops the portion of the disk below the table. The outlet of that collector box can be coupled to a standard 2 1/2 shop vac hose, including the vacuum machine end (external diameter 2 9/32 inch) of any Festool hose. The 50mm Festool hose supplied with the Boom Arm is a direct fit to both my Shopsmith dust collection box and my CT 22 or other shop vac.
If you want to, you can mount a smaller disk, e.g. a lathe face plate instead of the 12" disk supplied by Shopsmith and apply smaller sanding disks to it. And since the Shopsmith also functions as a lathe, you can make you own sanding disk, including one with a crowned surface if you want.
Shopsmith's 6" x 48" belt sander has its own small table which can be adjusted for tilt and distance from the belt platen. That table can be positioned in any one of three different postions along the length of the belt platen. That table also has a slot for use with a mitre gauge. There is a tilt mechanism which enables the whole belt sanding machine to be rotated about its base mounts so the belt is horizontal, or vertical or any angle in between that you choose. On the backside of the base of the belt sander there is a duct collection nipple to for your shop vac. I'm not certain what the diameter of this nipple is, but it is definitely smaller than a standard 2 1/2" shopvac hose end fitting. I usually stick the small end of a tapered round (conical) DC fitting into the Shopsmith belt sander DC nipple and stuff my Festool hose into the larger end of that funnel shaped accessory that came with an old Craftsman shop vac. You can also use the end of the belt sander to sand inside curved surfaces if their radius is equal to or greater than that of the drum roller on which the belt moves.
The bottom mounted combined driveshaft and axle of the belt sander extends completely through the housing on both sides of the housing. This enables a drum sander to be simultaneously mounted to the left of the belt sander. Because this drum hangs out in free space, you can manipulate rather long workpieces into contact with it. Shopsmith supplies a metal safety cap to cover that shaft when not in use. That cap is a simple push on - pull off design.
Many people speak negatively of Shopsmith, but my experience has been quite positive, provided I don't try to push it beyond its intended uses. It's not a HD metal working tool, or as rigid as separate dedicated purpose built floor model woodworking tools, but adequate for many tasks. I've built a lot of furniture and done a lot of home remodeling including ripping 600 BF of oak for custom T&G flooring and several large built-in cabinets and bookcases with only it and hand powered tools before getting a true cabinet TS and any Festool products.
Dave R.
