Shopsmith Forums

Thanks for the detailed process writeup, Cheechako. I’ve never used Steel Stick, but it’s clear now that I should have some in my machine-repair arsenal.

The quill operation on my 520 got quite sticky a while back. Like you, I pulled the quill, inspected and waxed it, and had no significant improvement when I reinstalled it. The problem turned out to be that the pinion shaft (that drives the quill) was sticky to rotate. IIRC, I didn't have to pull th...

Set screws are notorious for making burrs on shafts. Which can then cause the shaft to bind in a mating bore. The purpose of the recess is to prevent any such shaft burr from binding on the inside diameter of the mating bore. Hardened screws that bear on a softer shaft without such a recess are a re...

davebodner wrote: ↑Sun Jun 08, 2025 7:59 pm It appears to me that Chuck Key's in love.

It seems to me that binding would occur if the wood presses against either the riving knife OR the blade plate. Binding against the blade plate would tend to stall the motor, and to lift and burn the workpiece. Binding against the riving knife would mostly just make it very hard to feed the workpiece.

Excellent tip! I tried long miters on ply on my 520 when I was trying to make the carcass for a long box and I was unable to get the tight joint I was looking for. This approach would have been far better. Thanks Al, I hope it helps a fellow ShopSmith afficianodo or two. Slightly off-topic …. but s...

It looks like the Amazon reviewer was right. This is a darned good 90 degree miter joint, in my book. Miter joint.JPG It had never occurred to me before, but roughly half of the surface area in that plywood miter joint is long grain to long grain. So simply gluing it together should make for a stron...

Very nice! For some goodly years I've been sidestepping miter joints in one way or another. Looks like you've got the solution! Hmmm. I thought that the fit in the last pic proved an accurate 45 degree angle. But I just realized that it does nothing of the sort. The angle could be 30 degrees, or wh...

I'm generally pleased with the performance of my Mark V 520 in table saw mode -- so long as I can tie the main table to the extension table & base with connector tubes. Without that extra connection, accuracy suffers due to the lateral compliance of the main table tubes and carriage. But if you ...

When you do get to that rough cedar, try Phil Thein’s planer sled technique. I’ve used it many times with my SS planer, and it works great.

https://www.jpthien.com/ps.htm