table alignment

weelildaddy · Post by **weelildaddy** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:07 pm

I have owned my 510/520 Shopsmith for years however, I have never been successful in squaring my table to ANY blade or sanding disk within acceptable tolerances. I have read a great deal on the subject including the machine manual, most of the references in this forum, Nicks Sawdust Sessions and Rick Davis new DVD. Still, the table will not align. The trunion bolts on the infeed side are oversize or elongated enough to provide adjustment. The trunion holes on the outfeed side are not and provide no play what so ever. Somewhere, I read that all four holes should be the same size and that there was a manufacturing run in past years that neglected to do this. Can anyone shed any light on this difficulty? I am frustrated beyond belief and simply do not want to return this table for inspection.

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:45 pm

The holes in one of my trunnions were drilled too small. I sent both trunnions in to Shopsmith and they verified that one was defective and replaced it no charge. I bought my 500 in 1985 and have since upgraded to both the 510 and 520. I just got the trunnion replaced in the last year. I wouldn't say that I couldn't align it before, but it's a lot easier now. I would call SS before returning yours so you get the correct address and return authorization.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Thu May 15, 2008 1:40 pm

Do I understand correctly? Do you have two different size trunion bolts?

or Are the unthreaded holes in the trunnions undersized? If the holes are undersized...Can you get them drilled out or even drill them out yourself?

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Thu May 15, 2008 2:18 pm

Check thread http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... t=trunions
Post #2 by Nick in about the 4th paragraph down he explains the problem and evidently Bruce contacted SS and they fixed it.
Ed

weelildaddy · Post by **weelildaddy** » Thu May 15, 2008 2:44 pm

Thank those of you who have responded so quickly. No, the bolts are the same size but obviously the holes on the outside feed of the table are just large enough to push the bolt through as there is no latitude for adjustment on the outfeed side. Thank you for the source of Nick's comments on the production run. Unfortunately, I must be the recipitent of that run. I guess I will take it apart and try drilling the holes larger myself rather than being without the machine for an extended period of time.

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Thu May 15, 2008 2:56 pm

weelildaddy wrote:Thank those of you who have responded so quickly. No, the bolts are the same size but obviously the holes on the outside feed of the table are just large enough to push the bolt through as there is no latitude for adjustment on the outfeed side. Thank you for the source of Nick's comments on the production run. Unfortunately, I must be the recipient of that run. I guess I will take it apart and try drilling the holes larger myself rather than being without the machine for an extended period of time.

You might want to contact Shopsmith first, some companies do "before repair replacement" where they send you a new table and then you send the old one back. This could also arrange for expedited shipping, if you drill first and something goes wrong you are going to have an expensive repair bill.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Thu May 15, 2008 3:52 pm

Trunnions cost about $40 each plus shipping. A local machine shop would likely punch out those holes for less than shipping.

Unless there is a warranty involved of course.

jg300da · Post by **jg300da** » Thu May 15, 2008 4:16 pm

Could you use a dremel tool to elongate the holes enough to provide movement for alignment? If I remember right mine were oversized for just that purpose.

james.miller · Post by **james.miller** » Fri May 16, 2008 7:38 pm

The holes on my rear trunnion were undersized, just added a new one to an order just to have one with the correct size holes as it was not causing any problems.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon May 26, 2008 2:01 pm

When this discussion first began and earlier, in a 2006 post, I dismissed the comments as not applicable to me. I've never had this problem. I even posted what I thought to be a simple solution; drill out the holes that are too small.

Well, the last couple days I have been working on my outfeed table. I have been trying to get it lined up with the main table so that when it is tilted the outfeed table remains in the same plane as the main table. Nick told us how and I think I have it corrected.

But along the way, I took a detour. I pulled the trunnions off. When I went to reinstall them, much to my surprise, the mounting holes in the outfeed trunnion are smaller than those in the infeed trunnion.

Can that be?

I pulled the trunnions off the unmolested Shopsmith. Sure enough, both rear trunnions have mounting holes that are just large enough for the mounting bolts.

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Is this really a manufacturing defect? Or is this a design characteristic that we just don't understand.

I know that it has been stated that Shopsmith acknowledges this and that sometime in the past offered to replace trunnions with this defect. Now I wonder.

What is the alleged symptom of this "horrible defect"? Is it really a defect?

What is the appropriate corrective action?

I know of three forum users who have reported the problem (now four). We've all got older machines. How about a couple of you folks with newer machines; do you have the problem or was it corrected?

Nick, will you weigh in on this too, please.

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table alignment

table alignment

Table Alignment

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