Shopsmith Forums

I have been dragging my feet getting familiar with my SS 500, but had a good day. I got going again doing alignment and adjustments. I don't think the 45 degree bevel of the table had ever been set. It was hard to see and to set. The the table tilt lock needed a new pair of washers, as the old ones had been over tightened.

Next problem was in the miter gauge. The worktable's bar has wear/drag marks from the miter hitting it (evidently for some time) as it passes over the bar. Neither of the guides was touching the table, but using them to lift the miter bar enough to clear the worktable bar put the protractor too high. In comparing the miter gauge to the parts list diagram, I found that it was misassembled. Item #277 occurs twice in the diagram and is described as a special washer. One of my 277's was were I should have found 2 #269s. I took the miter gauge apart and reassembled. There was a #269 washer were there should have been the 277 special washer. I compared it to a common 1/4" flat washer and they looked to be the same, so they are what I used just under the knob. I still have to raise the protractor to the point of front to back wobble to clear the bar, but just a bit. If I am doing something wrong here, I could use some coaching.

The rip fence needed adjustment, but it went ok after a couple of tries. The extension table I have must not the one in the manual, as mine looks to have levelers. Is there a wide ext table? Somehow when I tightened it up, the table got crooked, so I will thy again later.

All in all a good day.

Sounds like you are doing good and correctly. Yes, there is a wide extension table that comes with studs instead I'd bolts, the flanges on the legs go in between the nuts with a washer between the flange and lower nut. Adjustment is simple. Slack the lower nuts way off, level using the top nuts, tighten the lowers. Adjust for front and back correspondence with the main table before tightening the lowers.

Goals for adjusting the miter gauge.

It needs to be square/45 at those stops.

It needs to slide in the slot without 'rocking' (face maintained square vertically to table top surface).

The glides should prevent protractor from contacting table top.

The last two interact. Shimming of the washers may be needed.

Jim, that is pretty much what I thought, only I did not get it right and need to make another run at it.

JPG, I am not sure where shims would be put. I think I would need to remove the bar that the fence rides on and put shims between it and the table. That should lower the bar, I think. What would you use as shim? A layer of thin tape or two? Right now I am just letting it have minimal front to back wobble.

I'm not sure where you are using shims but aluminum cans make good shims! They're easy to work with too, punch cut so-on.
Anything needing thinner shims, I'm not sure what to try.