Shopsmith Forums

dusty wrote:This is just an exercise for fun and your own edification.

Cut a piece of wood (preferably 1/4" thick or greater) and at least 16" long. Make that cut 3 1/32" wide. Again, 3 1/32" (3.0325") wide.

Once you have it cut, clean your glasses and put them on. This eliminates all possible excuses.

Now measure the width (3 1/32") of that board in at least six different locations. I would suggest each end and in the middle then flip the board over and do it again. Record your readings as you do them.

If the readings seem unusual, maybe even unbelievable), do more readings at different locations just to convince yourself that you don't need new glasses.

Are the results identical? (You don't have to answer.) How much do they deviate? (Again, you don't have to answer.) Are you curious as to why the results are what they are? I certainly was.

Now, if you have a Mark V (any version), raise the table to clear the blade, remove the table insert and replace it with the piece of wood you just cut.

Does that piece fit snugly into the table cutout. No wiggle room.

Ed in Tampa wrote:Dusty
I'm not sure what I should be seeing.
I did as you instructed and the board measured my cut width everywhere I measured.
So I ran my dial calibers down it and the needle never moved. It was just I thought it would be cut to the set width.

The only difference was I used 1/4" and it was about 2 feet long.

I didn't test the board in the table insert but I have made a ton of inserts and they always fit snug.

pieceseeker wrote:Ed, what saw do you use? Did you use a featherboard, and if so, was it just on the infeed side or both infeed and outfeed?

robinson46176 wrote:I often use a feather board in front of the blade and occasionally beside the blade and sometimes on top of the piece attached to the fence to hold the wood down but I don't believe that I would ever put one pushing on the side of the wood behind the blade.


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pieceseeker wrote:Yea, I suppose that wouldn't work, for obvious reasons. If ripping long stock, would you use a feather board pushing down from the fence on the outfeed side?

charlese wrote:Thought I'd try this to see if it was fun. Well, I did step 2 and then stopped. In my mind the rest of the exercise is superfluous and really redundant. My first and only measurement was done with my 12" Pinnacle Combination square against the rip fence. Didn't rip the other edge as it had already been jointed.

The board fit very tight into the space for the insert. If I were to make a ZCI from this board I would trim it with a stroke of my block plane. No more measurements needed.

I suppose it is fun for some folks to make/take many measurements, but it's just not cup of tea.

Oh, BTW, used upper saw guard but no feather boards. Feel this was safe as my pushing hand and hold down hand were both hung (fixed) over the rip fence.

dusty wrote:But you did have to use a block plane to "make the correction on the first cut" and had you done the redundant steps, the measures would have all been something other than 3 1/32".

The fun is not in taking measurements. The fun comes when you make a stake of parts and they all come out exactly the size you originall intended them to be. I've made "design changes" all my wood working life to make the mis-cuts fit. I'm trying to learn how to do it right the first time.

Thank you, Charlese for taking the time from your busy day.

BTW, when I did this the first time, the board was sloppy in the insert. The measurements were all 3.00x. I cut the board too narrow by at least a 1/32" (which does matter if precise is your objective).

robinson46176 wrote:Then again if a quick swipe with a block plane is all it takes to make the fit perfect without all of that measuring maybe that is the superior way to do the job.
One should never lose sight of the fact that in a production situation getting to the finished product efficiently is the goal.
Of course if one is just hiding out from the Mrs. then all bets are off.
And also in a hobby situation the trip is often more important than arriving at the destination.


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pieceseeker wrote:Ed, what saw do you use? Did you use a featherboard, and if so, was it just on the infeed side or both infeed and outfeed?