Back n the 1980s, I used to dream about owning a ShopSmith. I was young and broke and in the Navy. It's a mechanical marvel. My concern was switching around to different operations being too cumbersome. When you can go from one purpose built tool to another (like I do now) instead of flipping attachments, it's a huge time saver. I'm sure SS has a market, though. I might buy one aftermarket and set it up for specific uses or just out of nostalgia and curiosity.
I had the same issue with the drum sander. I had to polish up with fine sandpaper - and I suppose remove a few thou off the shaft of the bet sander before the drum sander would mount.
Steve, I replaced the tubes on my 500 to make a shorter version, primarily due to storage plans. I use it primarily for jointing and sanding (and yes my drum sander attaches without issues. I use my Mark 7 for all other operations.
