New SS owner

[lisaker]

I just purchased a 1955 Mark V. Paid $60.00. All I was hoping for was a chance to look over a Mark V before I bought a running one. Imagine my surprise whe I plugged it in and flipped the switch. Nice humming sound with no grinding and the speed control even works!. As soon as it gets above freezing here (North NH) I will enjoy making sawdust. I enloy reading this site. Look forward to reading all the posts. Thanks

[a1gutterman]

Welcome to you lisaker,

Be sure you do some cleaning and lubricating right away, and then you probably want to do some alignments. You should find everything that you need right here, on this forum.

[pinkiewerewolf]

Welcome to the forum!
I'm a new owner of a 59. We'll be picking up tips together on the site.

[chrispitude]

Hi all,

I'm not a new owner, but new to the forums. I bought a used 500 about eight years ago, and used it very occasionally as a table saw and drill press. About four years ago, I bought a brand new power headstock from Shopmith. This gave me a fresh motor and the dual-bearing quill. Last week, I pulled the big trigger and ordered a 520 upgrade (whoopee!). I have a lot of money into this thing now, but I hope to also start getting a lot more enjoyment out of it too.

- Chris

[a1gutterman]

Hi all,

I'm not a new owner, but new to the forums. I bought a used 500 about eight years ago, and used it very occasionally as a table saw and drill press. About four years ago, I bought a brand new power headstock from Shopmith. This gave me a fresh motor and the dual-bearing quill. Last week, I pulled the big trigger and ordered a 520 upgrade (whoopee!). I have a lot of money into this thing now, but I hope to also start getting a lot more enjoyment out of it too.

- Chris

As an 8 year veteran, you should be able to get plenty of enjoyment, not only from your SS, but from the posts here too!:D What part of the world do you hail from?

[chrispitude]

Hi Tim,

I don't know if I would call myself an 8-year veteran. My use has been very occasional. I am proud of myself when I can cross-cut a 2x4 within a quarter inch of where I intend. In fact, the most use my Shopsmith has gotten recently was to cut some 2" PVC pipe to length while I was plumbing up a pond in my back yard! (Those PVC flakes like to stick to everything...) But recently, I found a plan for some neat ceiling-mounted storage shelving in a recent Workbench issue and that got the ball rolling. It requires a dado cross-cut notch in 2x4 stock, so I ordered a Freud SD508 dado set from Amazon (25% off!). It also requires that a bunch of 8ft 1x6s be cut to 30" very repeatably. After putting a 1x6 on my 500 table and realizing I would never be able to do it accurately or safely with the 500's table, I made the call to order the 520 upgrade. Hopefully I can figure out how to make it all work out.

Thanks for the reminder about location. I am in Saylorsburg PA and I've added that to my profile. I am looking forward to spending some quality time going through these forums and learning a great deal!

- Chris

[a1gutterman]

Hi Chris,
Thank you for updating your profile! I am always looking for SS owners that are near me. PA is not:(, but there are other forum members in PA:) .

I know what you mean about the PVC shavings! In my gutter business, we usually use aluminum downspouts, but for one customer we use PVC for downspouts (we do school portables all over the state, and the kids can not destroy the PVC as easily). We use a "chop-saw" to cut the PVC to length and the shavings stick to everything due to the static-electricity build-up.

While your near-future upgrade to a 520 will be an enjoyable addition, you can cut your 30" pieces of 1"X6"X8' safely and repeatably:

By clamping a block of wood to your Extension Table mounted Fence, and using your pistol grip miter gauge, it should be no-sweat.
[ATTACH]924[/ATTACH]
(please excuse the poor excuse of art work) If you use your Extension Table on the left side of the blade, your cut off piece will be supported and keeping your pistol grip clamped tight on the board until you pass the blade will prevent the long part from dropping too.

If you prefer to clamp the miter gauge to the 30" piece, you would use the Extension table on the right side and you could rig some kind of temporary support to prevent the cut-off piece from dropping.

Either way, make sure that the block of wood stops short of the saw blade (so you won't bind the board).

[chrispitude]

Hi Tim,

I was originally thinking along similar lines as you've described - clamp a stop block to my side table. My 500 only has one side extension table, so I moved it to the left side and clamped a block of wood to that, and then positioned the headstock/main table to provide the 30" width to the stop. However, this left no support on the right side of the main table, and the 8' 1x6 workpiece hung way too heavily on the right side. I couldn't slide the workpiece with the miter without the workpiece rotating or tilting/binding the miter in its channel. The larger main table and the two extension tables was the main reason I decided to jump to the 520.

I really like your idea of using a block of wood clamped to the fence! This will make fine adjustments easier, and is better than just clamping a stop block to the side table. Thank you!!

I also need to rip 24 2x4x8 boards straight in half, although I haven't decided if I'll use the Shopsmith for that, or lay them out on the garage floor (raised and supported on 2x4 scraps), align the ends and clamp together in batches, and buzz a circular saw straight across them. These can be off by a bit.

I think the right tools will make this project much more fun!

- Chris

[a1gutterman]

Hi Tim,
.......... this left no support on the right side of the main table, and the 8' 1x6 workpiece hung way too heavily on the right side. I couldn't slide the workpiece with the miter without the workpiece rotating or tilting/binding the miter in its channel...........
.......................I also need to rip 24 2x4x8 boards straight in half, although I haven't decided if I'll use the Shopsmith for that, or lay them out on the garage floor (raised and supported on 2x4 scraps), align the ends and clamp together in batches, and buzz a circular saw straight across them..............Chris

Hi Chris,
You might be able to create a temporary support table next to the Mark V? Sawhorses with a stack of some of those 24 2"X4" 's would work.

As for cutting those 2"X4" 's: If you laid them ALL together with one end flush with each other, you could use a jig, (like the one Nick made here http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/SS_Archives/SS112/SS112_Busting_Up_Plywood.htm for cutting plywood) to cut them all off at once. It would be a perfect measurement. The plans for the jig are below the "blackboard" next to the video. Just click here to see them: Click HERE for the
Plywood Cutting Jigs Plans. The plans shown are for both the support grid and the plywood cutting jig. That jig will come in handy. I have been using one for years.

[chrispitude]

Hi all,

Well I added some things to my 520 upgrade order. I added a new miter gauge (my 500 miter is old and beat up, and I know it would bug me on that shiny 520 table), the pistol grip, and the 24" aluminum miter face extension. I also added a 505/510/520 5/8" saw blade arbor since I was told my 500 arbor would not work (although my dado arbor is reusable?). I added a 520 dado table insert (glad I remembered - this was the whole point of the upgrade, to more safely cut dados in 8ft stock!). The new total is just over $1200. It hurts now, but hopefully it will be worth it when things are assembled and working well.

Tim - thanks for the links! I will have a look over them today, that jig sounds really interesting.

- Chris