On Wed, 28 Mar 2018 22:13:38 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 3/28/2018 8:40 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 28 Mar 2018 14:52:37 -0400, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Wed, 28 Mar 2018 10:15:03 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 3/28/2018 5:55 AM, BillinGA wrote:
I bought one in 1978. I was limited to keeping my woodworking equipment in a 4x 8 carport storage room. When needed, I would roll it out onto the carport and cut/turn away. Shopsmith offered classes at a very reasonable rate and the training projects made one familiar with the different configurations. The variable speed motor is plenty strong and doesn't rely on expensive electronics. Still runs well after all these years. The ease of dado adjustment comes to mind as the blades are right there and you lower the table over them for use. I've never taken 20 minutes to make any setup change and that includes going from a "table saw" (not much table) to a drill press....more like 5-6 minutes. Since then I was able to have a larger shop and , like most others, acquired a table saw, radial arm, router tables, etc. The Shopsmith met my financial and space needs at the time of purchase. It doesn't do any one function particularly well when compared to dedicated tools but I've never
regretted the purchase.



IIRC in 1978 the Shop Smith was about 1/3rd the price it is today, maybe
a bit less, I was thinking $800 or so. Like everything else it has gone
up in price.
But not as fast as the average wage, or the price of Gasoline, or
beer.

Gasoline is cheaper now than it was then. Beer? Dunno haven't bought
any in over a decade.


In 1978 $800 was a pretty sizeable chunk of cash!! A good 2 weeks pay
for an average laborer.

I think your wage estimate is high.

1979, I was making about $1125 every two weeks, double that 5 years later.


Well, 1972 I was making $5 per hour - about $225 per week
I was out of the North American labor market for 2003-2004.
I made about $13000 in 1975.

I believe that was close to average - likely on the low side.
2 years later I bought a house for $35000. That house is about
$350,000 today, and I make a LOT less than $130,000


I bought a brand new loaded "suv" in 1976 for about $6500 (Ramcharger
SE 318 automatic 4X4 with full load) Equavalent today $45000 or
more. - about 7 times more