A Little about BillsToolz.com

I graduated from High School in 1955 on a Saturday night and joined the Navy on the following Monday.  I did 20 years starting as a diesel mechanic.  Then switched to guided Missiles and was the senior chief on my last few duty stations.  I begin to build and drag-race in 1960 and owned several 427 Fords.  I built the Ford engines for all my race cars and a few of my friends.  This required many regular and special tools which I kept all these years.  

I have owned Shopsmiths since the mid 70s. When I retired 5 years ago and bought a house with a nice size workshop, I bought several more Shopsmiths to operate the bandsaw, belt sander, jigsaw and joiner.  Since most of the Shopsmiths I bought were not working, I had to repair each one for use in my shop.  Then I had a chance to have a booth at the Tampa Home Show where I displayed one of my Shopsmith 510s.  I got a few repair and servicing jobs as a result of the show and sold the 510.  I will be at all future Tampa Home Shows at the Tampa Fair Grounds in March and November and the Tampa Convention Center in September.  I have brought, repaired both customers and my Shopsmiths and sold Shopsmiths since the first Tampa Home Show.  I have people offer to sell me their Shopsmith.  When the price was reasonable, I will buy what the person had for sale.  I bought a Shopsmith 510 that fell off the back of a pickup. At least the pieces.  I bought a rusty Shopsmith that was stored in a barn for 20 years. 

I currently use 3 operating 500s and a 510 in my workshop along with a bandsaw, a jigsaw, a joiner, a planer and a belt sander.  I currently have 2 really nice 500s along with a bandsaw and a joiner ready for sale. 

Since I still have all my regular and special tools from my racing days, I am able to disassemble any Shopsmith item, repair and/or replace parts, bearings, belts, screws as needed, clean and paint it and put it back together again.  I just got a powder coating system and I have a modified stove oven for cooking the powder coating, so my future rebuilt and refurnished Shopsmiths should really look good.  I give a year guarantee on any repair work item I do or sell in the local area. 

 I like to honor special requests to design unique capabilities for Shopsmiths.  

I built a Shopsmith with 10” wheels on one end and a trailer hitch on the other end with a trailer dolly.  This allows the Shopsmith to be rolled onto and off a trailer, moved on dirt and used for home improvement/construction purposes.  I used this Shopsmith to add 1000 sq. ft. to our house and build a 2-car garage. 

I built a Mini Shopsmith for a customer to use as a power station for the Special Purpose Tools (bandsaw, joiner, belt sander, strip sander on the accessory end and the disk sander, scroll saw and jig saw on the quill end).  The Mini is 26” shorter for storage. 

I build a Shorty Shopsmith for a customer to support all Mini Shopsmith (Power Station) operations plus the belt sander on the quill end.  The Shorty has the main table and carriage that supports all Shopsmith 500 operations including the conical sanding disk plus it has a smaller footprint (18” shorter) for storage. The Shorty makes an excellent pen lathe.  It supports projects up to 16” in length for the lathe and drill press functions. 

I have converted several 500 main tables for use as an extension table on either end of the Shopsmith.

Bill Mayo  02/22/07

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