Bandsaw Table Installation and Alignment

[reible]

Of course you have fixed the shopsmith main table in drill press mode to be level? Everyone of my machines were no where near level front to back when I checked them. I now most people don't do that particular alignment so it doesn't get much discussion. Just don't assume you are level, like I said that has not ever been the case on shopsmiths I have owned or set up.

By memory it is the outfeed side that turns out low, but it has been a while..........

Ed

[JPG]

OK I'se got my head where it doesn't belong. Fergit the relative orientation of the main table to the bandsaw table.

[chapmanruss]

JPG,

I consider it forgotten. You know a lot more about the Shopsmith tools than I do in a lot of respects so I was confused by your comment.

Ed,

My Mark 7 is aligned in drill press mode for the Main Table. It is the first alignment I do on all my Shopsmith restorations too. Your comment

By memory it is the outfeed side that turns out low, but it has been a while..........

Are you referring to the Mark's main table or the Bandsaw?

[JPG]

JPG,

I consider it forgotten. You know a lot more about the Shopsmith tools than I do in a lot of respects so I was confused by your comment.
. . .

Not as confused as I.

[dusty]

I doubt that it will happen in my life time but this sort of confusion would be less likely to occur if WE ALL would stick to the subject of a thread.

If it seems necessary to change topics - open a new thread and reference back.

The topic here was Bandsaw Table Installation and Alignment but WE ended talking about Main Table Alignment in Drill Press Mode.

Hard not to get confused - Easy to confuse someone else.

[chapmanruss]

Sorry Dusty,

I am guilty of meandering off topic as one thing starts to relate to another. So for those Mark table alignment comments they can continue on the new thread you started "Main Table Alignment in Drill Press Mode." That aside I hope we cleared up the use of the Mark's Main Table's use as an extra support for the Bandsaw so there is no need to explain it further here. With that we can get back to talking about the Bandsaw Table Installation and Alignment as the thread title suggests.

Later this week I hope to have time to check my other two Bandsaws and add the findings here. How the tables are mounted, what if anything is OEM or non-OEM as per the Manuals.

[reible]

Actually it is relevant. If you intend to use the bandsaw and the main table together they can have issues depending on how they are set up. If you want the bandsaw to work that way then you might adjust the table different then blade to table.

Like I have mentioned I don't think people normally do the drill press alignment. My original shopsmith which the only new one I have had was not setup at the factory that way and I have done 6 more machines that were used and none of them were adjusted that way. The error is small but when you want to do things right you should also include that adjustment.

Now with the main table adjusted how close is the bandsaw table to that if that is important to you? If you never use the main table or other tables outside of the one on the bandsaw this can never be an issue but if you do then it time to look at the whole picture. If nothing else you should be aware of it.

Ed

[dusty]

Actually it is relevant. If you intend to use the bandsaw and the main table together they can have issues depending on how they are set up. If you want the bandsaw to work that way then you might adjust the table different then blade to table.

Like I have mentioned I don't think people normally do the drill press alignment. My original shopsmith which the only new one I have had was not setup at the factory that way and I have done 6 more machines that were used and none of them were adjusted that way. The error is small but when you want to do things right you should also include that adjustment.

Now with the main table adjusted how close is the bandsaw table to that if that is important to you? If you never use the main table or other tables outside of the one on the bandsaw this can never be an issue but if you do then it time to look at the whole picture. If nothing else you should be aware of it.

Ed

If I need to use the Main Table as an extension of the band saw table, the Main Table needs to be raised almost as far as it will go. The bottom end of the main table legs disappear upward into the carriage when the main table becomes coplanar with the band saw table.

[dusty]

Sorry Dusty,

I am guilty of meandering off topic as one thing starts to relate to another. So for those Mark table alignment comments they can continue on the new thread you started "Main Table Alignment in Drill Press Mode." That aside I hope we cleared up the use of the Mark's Main Table's use as an extra support for the Bandsaw so there is no need to explain it further here. With that we can get back to talking about the Bandsaw Table Installation and Alignment as the thread title suggests.

Later this week I hope to have time to check my other two Bandsaws and add the findings here. How the tables are mounted, what if anything is OEM or non-OEM as per the Manuals.

Russ, no apology is needed. WE all seem to do this meandering thing. It is the nature of this group. It does, however, make it difficult from time to time to locate where a particular discussion occurred.

An added comment: The next time I gave a bandsaw table off, I am going a bit further and dismount the trunnions for a quick comparison. The way the trunnions mount, if they are identical, I am stumped as to how the difference is created.

[chapmanruss]

There are variations in the Trunnions or at least how they mount between the newer Bandsaws and the older ones. I am not sure about the Trunnions themselves but the parts used to mount them to the Bandsaw's Main Frame (back) is different. This is where one of the changes in the Main Frame assembly occurred. The earlier Bandsaws have pressed in sleeves with "V"s in the ends which has been changed to slip in sleeves with smooth ends for newer/current Main Frames. Other hardware there has changed to match. I'll try to check the actual trunnions between the 1956 and the 1998 Bandsaws when I remove the tables to check for shim washers discussed before. If the Trunnions are different at all they must be very close or at least have the same mounting spacing to allow upgrading to the aluminum table from the cast iron table without including new trunnions. I am not sure when the Main Frame assembly changed but a Bandsaw made in December 1985 had the pressed in sleeved and a February 1996 has the slip in sleeves. This is a close as I can come for this change based on Bandsaws I have seen/owned.