Shopsmith Forums

TheBigE wrote:It's not real until we see a pic of you sitting at the drill press

That's a great idea! The thing I thought about most was the fact of how many drill presses you know of that can be adjusted to the operator? If Charlese had a stand up drill press to do his operation he would need to find a taller stool or take some breaks from standing.

Being that I've only had my Shopsmith a year I'm still trying to figure out the "sweet spot" for me to postion the table and headstock before going vertical. I get close enough most times.

Do yourself a big, big favor and "REMEMBER" to lock the carriage and headstock locks before you go vertical. Fear not, you'll locate that "sweet spot" in time.

Trying to relocate either the carriage or the headstock after you've gone vertical will help to encourage your effort.

reible wrote:Nice work as always Dusty.

You might want to show them "hanging" as I doubt all understand the design.

Ed

I need a couple photos that I don't have, Ed. I'll do that after I get the images.

Once I had a pattern, all I had to do was create the four panels that make up the stop. I attached the pattern to a properly sized (4"x13") piece of mdf and took that to the bandsaw.

[ATTACH]17750[/ATTACH]
Pattern attached to mdf stock using two sided (carpet) tape.

[ATTACH]17751[/ATTACH]
Pattern transferred by using the bandsaw. Caution: Don't go astray and cut your pattern too. Close inspection will reveal just that.


After transferring the pattern to the mdf, once around the pattern on the router table and it was done.

Yep! Jig is good for you! Good thinking!

After all - it'snot the height of the table that matters, it's the height of the stool;) .

[quote="charlese"]Yep! Jig is good for you! Good thinking!

After all - it'snot the height of the table that matters, it's the height of the stool]

And the length of the operators legs?;)

dusty wrote:Do yourself a big, big favor and "REMEMBER" to lock the carriage and headstock locks before you go vertical. Fear not, you'll locate that "sweet spot" in time.

Trying to relocate either the carriage or the headstock after you've gone vertical will help to encourage your effort.

Don't worry Dusty, I always lock before going vertical. Actaully the binder that orginally came with the Shopsmith gives a good general location. I don't remember the exact words but from what I gather you basically break up the length of the way tubes in thirds. Eyeballing of course.

Your jig reminds me of bar spacers you see on other jigs like doweling jigs and such.

reible wrote:Nice work as always Dusty.

You might want to show them "hanging" as I doubt all understand the design.

Ed

I hope these make the explanation:

[ATTACH]17786[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]17787[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]17788[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]17789[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]17790[/ATTACH]

If I understand this simple jig, it looks like this will give rock solid support to the carriage in drill press mode. Although my 520 came with the support legs that can be attached to the table extension tubes to stabilize the table in drill press mode, this solution looks like it would (a) be faster to attach as it needs no tools or adjustments, (b) provide an even more solid support and (c) get less in the way (I have accidentally kicked those support legs more than once while maneuvering around the machine in drill press mode).

Although designed for Dusty's newly made shorty which is to be a dedicated drill press, I also see this as very useful on a Shopsmith that is not dedicated to drilling and hence goes back and forth between vertical and horizontal. Once you establish your preferred drill press table height and build one of these jigs to always set the table at that height, one can easily determine the optimum placement of the headstock for most routine drilling tasks and put a mark (with a Sharpie or other permanent marker) on the bench tube to help with getting the headstock to the correct position before going vertical. Of course one could skip the jig and just make a mark for the headstock and a mark for the carriage but I like the table stability this jig appears to offer.

Dusty, do you intend to leave each of the four pieces of this jig separate or do you ultimately intend to glue them up into one thick piece?

Al

algale wrote:If I understand this simple jig, it looks like this will give rock solid support to the carriage in drill press mode. Although my 520 came with the support legs that can be attached to the table extension tubes to stabilize the table in drill press mode, this solution looks like it would (a) be faster to attach as it needs no tools or adjustments, (b) provide an even more solid support and (c) get less in the way (I have accidentally kicked those support legs more than once while maneuvering around the machine in drill press mode).

Although designed for Dusty's newly made shorty which is to be a dedicated drill press, I also see this as very useful on a Shopsmith that is not dedicated to drilling and hence goes back and forth between vertical and horizontal. Once you establish your preferred drill press table height and build one of these jigs to always set the table at that height, one can easily determine the optimum placement of the headstock for most routine drilling tasks and put a mark (with a Sharpie or other permanent marker) on the bench tube to help with getting the headstock to the correct position before going vertical. Of course one could skip the jig and just make a mark for the headstock and a mark for the carriage but I like the table stability this jig appears to offer.

Dusty, do you intend to leave each of the four pieces of this jig separate or do you ultimately intend to glue them up into one thick piece?

Al

Originally, I was going to glue it all together to make it a solid block. I have decided against that. Being able to add to or take away from the block gives me a variability that I would not have with a solid block.

With that in mind, I had thought about a through hole that could be used to bind them together. I have abandoned that Idea now. These pieces, if cut carefully, fit very securely in place on the Way Tubes.

Looking at the last image in the last set of five, you notice that the cutout fits the tubes rather precisely. In the image right before, the jig piece is not quite seated. It takes pressure to move it into the final position. This eliminated my sense of need for the glue or the bolt.

algale wrote:If I understand this simple jig, it looks like this will give rock solid support to the carriage in drill press mode. Although my 520 came with the support legs that can be attached to the table extension tubes to stabilize the table in drill press mode, this solution looks like it would (a) be faster to attach as it needs no tools or adjustments, (b) provide an even more solid support and (c) get less in the way (I have accidentally kicked those support legs more than once while maneuvering around the machine in drill press mode).

Although designed for Dusty's newly made shorty which is to be a dedicated drill press, I also see this as very useful on a Shopsmith that is not dedicated to drilling and hence goes back and forth between vertical and horizontal. Once you establish your preferred drill press table height and build one of these jigs to always set the table at that height, one can easily determine the optimum placement of the headstock for most routine drilling tasks and put a mark (with a Sharpie or other permanent marker) on the bench tube to help with getting the headstock to the correct position before going vertical. Of course one could skip the jig and just make a mark for the headstock and a mark for the carriage but I like the table stability this jig appears to offer.

Dusty, do you intend to leave each of the four pieces of this jig separate or do you ultimately intend to glue them up into one thick piece?

Al

'Table' support = wishful thinking.]table[/B] support:) will not be helped much as a result.

JTWISI

One way to increase support for the drill press table and minimize flexing without using the extension legs on the 510/520 is to use a piece of plywood that is placed under the table running diagonally from the pivoting mount/way tubes/base arm to the underside of the table nearest the user. The one I have is about 17" long by about 11" wide. Chamfer the two ends on both sides (so the ends look like half of an hexagon) for a better perch under the table. You might want to install the lathe tailstock or an auxiliary table for better support of the plywood, but don't seat it too too deeply into the tilting base arm, otherwise you can't raise the Shopsmith into drill press mode.