[This article
begins above.]
The postwar project
of a German with a Ph.D. from the
University of Berlin, who came to
this country long before the last
war started, Shopsmith is a product
with an exclusive Western flavor. It
grew first on paper, progressed in
plastic and scrap metal to a
half-scale model and emerged in the
summer of 1947 as a full-scale,
multi-purpose tool that, by the end
of 1950, had sold more than 75,000
units over the counters of the most
famous stores in the United States.
Shopsmith, only 55 inches long and
21 inches wide, is a circular saw,
drill press, a lathe, a disc sander
or a horizontal drill, as the
occasion demands. And in all its
functions the machine will perform
its operations with efficiency equal
to the best single-purpose tools of
similar capacity.
In many cases Shopsmith will
out-perform single-purpose tools
because of features which were
necessary to permit multiple use.
Among the features which are
standard on some of the
single-purpose tools Shopsmith
replaces, but unique and highly
useful in others, are the quill
feed, tilting table, large effective table size, movable headstock, and
independent carriage for table and
tool rest. Many of the general
quality characteristics of Shopsmith
are far above the usual standards
for most of the single purpose tools
it replaces because these
characteristics had to be such as to
satisfy the requirements of the most
demanding of each of the single.
purpose tools. This applied in
particular to decisions with respect
to strength, rigidity, materials,
tolerances, and power.
Shopsmith is a home woodworking tool
that, because it performs so
efficiently, is now used in schools
and small shops. And because of its
versatility and high precision it
can be adapted for metal working in
the home with high speed drills and
carbide-tipped tools.
The machine
is engineered for mass production.
Not a single extra part or gadget
encumbers it. Dismantle a dozen
Shopsmiths, mix the parts and
reassemble. The job will be done
with such ease It will seem tile
original parts are being used. This
is one of the secrets of rile
success of Magna Engineering
Corporation, its manufacturer.
The machine is made of grey iron and
aluminum castings, hardened steel,
and centerless-ground tubular ways.
These materials flow to the
receiving department of the Berkeley
plant where the Western Shopsmiths
are made, and every bit of
machining, forming or grinding is
done under continuous surveillance
by Magna inspectors.
Production is such that it is
possible to assign mills, multiple
drills, lathes, grinders, specially
designed boring machines and ocher
tools to single operational
functions. And each of the tools so
assigned is permanently lifted with
a quick-locking jig or fixture to
facilitate the particular operation.
With such tool engineering it is
comparatively easy to keep within
the bait tolerance of .003". No
steel mating parts have fits looser
than this and tolerances are hell to
less than .0002" on the more
critical surfaces.
This calls for machining of the
highest order and rigid inspection will
enforce adherence to these close
tolerances. As a result there is
scarcely a machine tool that isn't
equipped with its own set of plug or
other type of gages to make 100's;
inspection on each part. These are
in-process inspection steps. They
are augmented by traveling Magna
inspectors whose only duty is to
pull work from any machine in tile
plant, take it to the inspection
laboratory and assess it with the
most modern of inspection
instruments.
The inspectors have nothing to do
with production. They report
directly to Magna's plant manager.
If the laboratory inspections reveal
work that is below standard, the
inspection gages at the machines are
lifted and checked in the Shopsmith
gage laboratory. Among the
instruments used are Sheffield
external comparators, indicating
micrometers, gage blocks, and a
light wave micrometer. The last was,
until recently, the only one of its
type in use on the West Coast.
Errors have a short life at Magna
because responsibility for any
deviation from standard is quickly
placed by the gage laboratory.
Few parts reach tile subassembly
lines without at least three
Inspections aold many have double
that number. And JS each subassembly
is completed it is Individually
run-in, checked and inspected before
final assembly.
After it has been run-in for 20
minutes, each completely assembled
head-stock receives its final
inspection under power. Here, in the
permanent record book where the
serial number of each Shopsmith is
set down, inspection data are
recorded. For instance, run-our of
the spindle and quill assembly is
accurately gaged under power.
Incidentally, the maximum spindle
run-out permitted is .0015". 1
watched this operation as a number
of head-stocks passed this station
and was permitted it) inspect the
record book While I watched, no
spindle had a greater run-out than
.0005", and going back in this
record book for seven days the
greatest run-nut was .0010". The
full significance of this is
apparent when It is considered that
the tolerances of a number of mating
parts have a cumulative effect ton
run-out of the spindle. This wasn't
a staged exhibition for me. These
are the Standard tolerances held in
manufacturing Shopsmith. The spindle
and quill assembly is the heart of
the machine. It transmits all
movement to all of the tools—drill
chucks, saw arbors, sanding discs,
lathe centers, etc. The assembly
must be right, and it is right or
the final inspector will not buy it
and back it goes for rework.
Incidentally, the amount of rework
in this closely-controlled shop is
only it fraction of one per cent of
the total production. Further to
emphasize the sturdiness and
precision of Shopsmith, I found
about 30 Shopsmiths set up with jigs
its production drill presses, either
drilling or tapping parts for the
unit.
Shopsmith is not the first
multi-purpose tool made for the
hobbyist but it is the first one
made to such high standards. One of
the first requirements recognized by
the designer was the need for a
vibration-free, solid foundation.
That was followed by the need for
keying the components to provide
perfect alignment and torsional
rigidity. Centerless-ground tubular
ways in parallel were chosen to form
the bed of the machine because of
greatcr utility and lower production
costs. In the Shopsmith design one
tabular wary is fitted to very close
tolerances and serves as a guide.
The other serves to maintain radial
alignment, supply a locking surface
and provide additional rigidity.
High-grade grey iron castings
pro-vide the rigidity and mass
desired to damp normal operating
vibration in the base assemblies and
the headstock. The saw table, which
becomes also the bed of the drill
press is made of cast aluminum,
primarily because it is a part that
must be removed from [lie machine by
hand to convert to a lathe.
The Shopsmith headstock is one of
the most precise, frictionless and
efficient transmitters of power in
general use today. To perform as a
multipurpose tool it was essential
that the spindle and bearing system
be capable of withstanding axial as
well as radial thrust, be
quill-mounted to provide axial
displacement for drilling and
related operations and be capable of
mounting the various cutting and
polishing tools used on the machine.
Axial and radial thrust are
accommodated by high-precision
ground steel ball bearings mounted
individually in the quill. Radial
drive loads developed by the drive
belt are not transmitted to the
spindle but are carried by a second
pair of bearings which mount and
support the drive sleeve.
To accommodate frequent changes of
cutting tools, an entirely new
method of securing tools and
attaching parts to the spindle was
developed. It is based on a
reverse-tapered flat which is
machined into the cylindrical ground
spindle near its induction-hardened
arbors and accessories are attached
by means of wrench-locking Allen
screws which engage the tapered
flat. Concentricity is controlled by
fits which p-oxide it maximum
tolerance of .0005" between the
spindle tip and parts that mate with
it.
Shopsmith can be equipped with
accessories that make it a jigsaw,
shaper, jointer, router, mortiser or
drum sander and its uses are
increased almost daily by the
ingenuity of Shopsmith owners, many
of whom correspond avidly with
Magna. All suggestions which appear
to have merit are checked by the
Engineering Department. "Then, if
the value of a suggestion is
substantiated by tests, it is
included in one of the bulletins
that are sent periodically to all
owners.
Magna Engineering Corporation is
really three down-to-earth young men
who work with facts and, working
with them, have made Shopsmith the
shining success story it is today.
The oldest, and he is just entering
his for-ties, is Hans Goldschmidt,
the vice president and inventor. It
was while he was working with the
Henry Kaiser organization building
ships that he met Robert Chambers, a
Utah boy and Harvard Business School
graduate. When the war ended both
these young men cast about for some
methyl of earning a living that
would be pleasant as well its
profitable.
When Goldschmidt developed his
machine to the model stage he called
Robert Chambers into the picture.
Robert Chambers thought so much of
the possibilities he summoned his
slightly older brother, Frank, an
ex-Lt. Colonel in the Army Service
Forces, from the East, and before
their second meeting was completed
the Chambers brothers had agreed to
undertake administrative and
financial responsibility for
Shopsmith production and marketing.
It should be noted that the combined
financial resources of the three
were far from adequate for the job
that had to be done. They gambled
everything they owned on their
ability to achieve mass production
and mass distribution in a few short
months. Although it has no place
here, this is a success story in the
best American tradition.
Shopsmith is made in Berkeley in the
plant of Production Engineering
Company. (Magna owns all of the
specific tooling and a large share
of the machine tools that have been
added since Shopsmith came n) the
plant. Shopsmith operations now
comprise a major portion of the
total production from this Berkeley
plant.
Although Magna started in the West
and maintains its headquarters in
San Francisco, shipping costs made
it desirable to produce Shopsmiths
in the East for eastern consumption.
Arrangements were soon made,
therefore, to produce Shopsmith at
the same requirements in the shops
of National Acne Company in
Cleveland. National Acme is one of
the largest producers of automatic
machine tools in tile world.
Robert Chambers, president of Magna,
proud as he is of Shopsmith and the
job that has been done, says that
his company will continue to develop
new products and improve the old.
Furthermore, headquarters will
remain in the West because of the
faith the entire organization has in
its future development. The
versatility and vigor of the Magna
organization is evident in the
record for 1950. New accessories for
Shopsmith include retractable
casters with continuous cam action
for easy movement from place to
place and a new-principle dada head,
the Magna Precision Dado. Several
improvements have been made in
Shopsmith itself. The Engineering
Department of Magna is constantly
working on new developments, some
completely unrelated to Shopsmith.
It all adds up to a comparatively
new organization that will carry on
and enhance the reputation of
products from the West.
