These pics are from a recent Shopsmith demonstration at my local Lowes. You can click here to see if there's going to be a demo in your neck of the woods.
Brian Daily, the demonstrator, turns a spindle on the lathe.
One of the seldom-mentioned features of the Shopsmith is its ability to safely crosscut relatively short pieces. The miter slot is close to the blade, which keeps the gauge from "racking" when you cut short pieces. The miter gauge has a pistol grip that holds the wood securely while keeping your fingers away from the blade. The combination of these two features makes crosscutting short pieces safe and easy.
You'd normally need some kind of jig or fixture to sand a compound cut like this, but the Shopsmith is like a "self-jigging" machine. You can easily sand to the exact angle cut in the previous pic-just swap the table saw blade for the sanding disk. The rest of the setup remains the same.
In this pic, Brian is drilling pocket holes, another process that usually requires a jig.
Thanks to the David Folkerth at Shopsmith and the manager of our local Lowes for giving me permission to take pictures, and thanks to Brian for being a good sport.
Shopsmith Company Home Page
