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Crafter Station Question

JPG

SS went to a lot of effort to allow sawing from the back side which involved reversing the quill(motor) rotation and an extra power switch. . . .

How come they did not simply reverse the blade on the arbor etc.?

I think a 500 table etc.would have been more appropriate as well as a smaller diameter saw blade.

jsburger

As I understand it that system was a Mike Young "invention". You could go on his YT channel and ask. Get the answer straight from the horses mouth.

chapmanruss

JPG,

The reason for a second switch on the back side of the Crafter's Station Headstock is because it was designed to have you work from the back side when using it as a table saw *1. The Crafter's Station is built on the Power Station bench and the Crafter's Station's Headstock has the second switch which reverses the motor. The Second Switch and motor reverse allows the Main Table to mount on the Crafter's Station with the Headstock in the same orientation (Headstock to the left of the blade) as is found on the Mark tools. This also allowed the use of the existing Mark V Table System. Mine has the 510 Table System as shown below. I have seen pictures of a Crafter's Station with the 520 Pro Fence Table/Fence System which could have been an upgrade. Just like the Marks, Floating Tables can be used for added table width. Because of the depth, front to back, of the bench top the original 500 Table System would not work. The original 500 posts are too close together to fit in a bracket overhanging the bench top as the Worktable Carriage does. Even if it did fit on the bench top, using the original 500 Table System would limit the user to only a Main Table.

Even though I have had little time to work with it since I bought it less than 2 months ago, I find it a well thought out tool using familiar parts.

*1 Table Saw position is also for Disk Sanding through the Table Slot.

JPG

My original was how come so complicated a 'solution' to rotation being bas ackwards.

chapmanruss

JPG,

I always respect your opinion and the knowledge you have about Shopsmith tools. You have been one of my mentors here on the forum and have helped me increase my knowledge about these tools.

In your first post you said

How come they did not simply reverse the blade on the arbor etc.?

I can't answer what the engineers were thinking when they designed the Crafter's Station. I do understand what they did to make it work. They could have made it with the Saw Blade mounted in reverse. From what I see that would require a different Table System than the 510 Table System including the Blade Guards that they used. If you refer to the picture I posted above, having the blade turning in reverse, you would be feeding the stock in from what is normally the outfeed side of the table of other Shopsmith tools having a table saw function.

Turning the Power Station into the Crafter's Station required the second/reverse switch in the Headstock, a reversing motor and the Worktable Carriage. All other parts not from the Power Station are from other Shopsmith tools namely the Mark V 510.

JPG

Oh I do understand the path they took, but wondered if they could have made different choices regarding what pre existing parts to use.

I found Mike Young's comments regarding the crafter's station enlightening. I never understood why it was created and why the name 'crafter's'.

If the intended market was towards 'craftsy' women it makes more sense than a substitute for the ss. That being the case the 510 table is a bit heavy compared to the 500.

Oh well it is all history now anyway.

chapmanruss

Oh well it is all history now anyway.

Agreed

thedovetailjoint

JPG, this may already have been explained to your satisfaction, but for some reason, I feel the need to chime in. If you think about the Power Station, it’s designed to mimic the mount and drive from the left side of the Mark V headstock. If you are facing the spindle on the left side of the headstock, it is turning clockwise. If you look at the quill end of a Mark headstock, the quill is spinning counterclockwise. Putting an arbor and a 510/520 lower saw guard on the Power Station, but not reversing the motor would result in the blade spinning backwards. Doing this would require SS to redesign the arbor to prevent the retaining nut from becoming loose in use, AND they would also have to redesign your lower saw guard, because the clamp for the riving knife would be positioned on the wrong side of the guard. You would also have to redesign portions of the table, and the table tie bar because the table would also have to tilt to the left, which is the shortest area of support for the fence on the 510/520 table.

I presented SS with a design for an adaptation that would have allowed the table, guards, etc. to be installed on the right end of the Crafter Station, also allowing an SPT to operate at the same time, like a Mark, but it was rejected for several reasons, but mostly because it would make the Crafter Station too competitive against the Mark V, at the time. Hindsight sure is interesting.

chapmanruss

Scott,

Just curious, do you have any drawings of your design?

thedovetailjoint

chapmanruss wrote Just curious, do you have any drawings of your design?

Not that I know of, but it wouldn’t be hard to recreate.