More On Disappointed In MiterSet

[Cliffy]

What I've found so far-
The saw blade angularity was maybe .002 difference on the diameter Not enough to worry about,

I found .008 gap by the gap adjusting screw (using a feeler gauge) midpoint in the SS bar and .009 gap at the far end in the slot in the SS table top slot.
After adjusting the gap screw for min play in that area (screw it down) and yet let it slide smoothly- I took a center punch and tapped one dimple at the far end of the bar to take up the slack in that area (in the upper half of the bar). The dimple was just a little too much and the bar would not go into the table top slot (as designed!) and I took a fine file and just kissed a little off the raised dimple and the bar slid in with maybe .001 play. Tight enough for government work.

I then put the bar in the MiterSet and it had about .004 play after resetting the screw for the SS table top so I slid a .003 feller gauge in between the bar and the MiterSet slot to take up that slop. Now I carefully reset my SS miter to the 8 sided pins in the MiterSet.

I cut 8 more trial pieces and when the octagon was assembled it was not perfect but way better than before. I had "maybe" 1/64th gap in the last segment joint (angles from 0 to 1/64 on the outer circumference). If I was making 8 segment bowl rings I could have wrapped the segment s with a large band clamp and the 1/64 would have disappeared in the glue up. As I'm making an octagonal clock face I need perfection in the fits so just a little touch up with a square sanding block and things came together so any differences would be taken up in the glue thickness around the circle.

I feel this might be as good as I can get using the SS table saw. Good enough to use but not absolute perfection in the angles.
Quite possible with a very high end table saw the MiterSet might do a perfect job IF the slop was absent in the slots.

[BuckeyeDennis]

Good to hear that you got to the bottom of it. I like your idea of adjusting the miter-bar width at the end. It’s always bugged me that the adjustment screw only widens the center of the bar. That takes out side-side slop, but not miter-angle slop.

One more thought: do you have your main table tied to the auxiliary table (with connector tubes)? That’s pretty much essential for high-precision work on a Shopsmith. Used by itself, the main table can flex several thousandths side-side under just light force.

[Cliffy]

That's one area I need to examine and didn't. I looked at tying them together but I haven't figured out how to clamp the connector tubes into the tables on mine as I see no set screws or other locking mechanism
That is something I will do as soon as I figure out how, time didn't allow it right now.

BTW Dennis I once 50 years ago worked as a field mechanic for Continental Airlines and was posted to Columbus for the rose bowl charter flights The highest temp for the week was 7 degrees !!!!

[dusty]

Yes, the miter slots and the blade need to be parallel but that is not what this discussions has been all about. The OP has stated that there is excessive slop between the miter bar and the miter slot in the MiterSet. The adjustment screw in the Shopsmith miter bar is NOT there for the purpose of reducing that slop. It is there to lock the miter bar in the miter slot. Even locked there is some wiggle in the miter slot.

I don't have one of the new MiterSets but my old version (one of the first) exhibits virtually no slop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNI0twMI_8k

[font=]Note that in this video there was no discussion about "adjusting the miter bar".[/font]

Also note that the pins are the proper distance apart to accomodate the Shopsmith Miter Gauge.

[RFGuy]

Wow, in that video around about the 2:15 mark if you watch closely you can see significant slop between the miter bar and the MiterSet as he is inserting the miter bar into it. Yeah, I know the miter bar screw isn't intended for taking up this slop but it sure does come in handy to minimize some of it. An alternative to attempt to get more repeatable results would be to push the miter gauge to one side in the MiterSet while pushing it forward on the pins for setting the angle. If you always reference one side of the MiterSet then this play can also be largely minimized.

[BuckeyeDennis]

Dusty, I use the taper screw in my miter gauge bar both to lock the bar (when needed), and to minimize side-side slop during normal operations. I just perused the alignment manual, and found no mention of it. Are you saying that it should not be used to adjust out side-side slop? If so, why?

[dusty]

Dusty, I use the taper screw in my miter gauge bar both to lock the bar (when needed), and to minimize side-side slop during normal operations. I just perused the alignment manual, and found no mention of it. Are you saying that it should not be used to adjust out side-side slop? If so, why?

No, I am not saying that it should not be used for that. Only that it was not originally intended for that. In the beginning, I do not believe that Shopsmith was designing for such precision requirements. I have said before - 1/64" (.0156") is reasonable for garage shop precision.

I just measured the slop in my MiterSet with a Shopsmith Miter Gauge and I can slip in a .0015" feeler gauge on each side (.003" slop) of the miter bar.

[Cliffy]

If one looks carefully while he is setting the 7 side angle you can see that the SS miter gauge will not engage the 8 side pin and it will be short of the 6 side pin tangent point as I pointed out in the OP. The 8 or 6 pins are useless unless some kind of extension fence or bar is used on the SS miter gauge.
Once I figured out how to take up some of the slop in the bar to slot dimensions then things started to come together better but not perfect.
I think I might do even better if I can find out how to lock the two tables together with the extension tubes in my 510- back to the books to try to find the info
Still looking for that perfection of angle cuts
I agree that I don't think SS ever designed this tool for such close work. I may be pushing the limits here.
Careful use of the disc sander has been useful to close up the small gap so far

[dusty]

If one looks carefully while he is setting the 7 side angle you can see that the SS miter gauge will not engage the 8 side pin and it will be short of the 6 side pin tangent point as I pointed out in the OP. The 8 or 6 pins are useless unless some kind of extension fence or bar is used on the SS miter gauge.
Once I figured out how to take up some of the slop in the bar to slot dimensions then things started to come together better but not perfect.
I think I might do even better if I can find out how to lock the two tables together with the extension tubes in my 510- back to the books to try to find the info
Still looking for that perfection of angle cuts
I agree that I don't think SS ever designed this tool for such close work. I may be pushing the limits here.
Careful use of the disc sander has been useful to close up the small gap so far

Yes, I see that 6 an 8 don't work without an extension of the miter face. I had not seen that before. I was looking for slop in the miter bar only I guess..

[RFGuy]

If one looks carefully while he is setting the 7 side angle you can see that the SS miter gauge will not engage the 8 side pin and it will be short of the 6 side pin tangent point as I pointed out in the OP. The 8 or 6 pins are useless unless some kind of extension fence or bar is used on the SS miter gauge.
Once I figured out how to take up some of the slop in the bar to slot dimensions then things started to come together better but not perfect.
I think I might do even better if I can find out how to lock the two tables together with the extension tubes in my 510- back to the books to try to find the info
Still looking for that perfection of angle cuts
I agree that I don't think SS ever designed this tool for such close work. I may be pushing the limits here.
Careful use of the disc sander has been useful to close up the small gap so far

Cliffy,

I still suspect you are using the MiterSet wrong. As I pointed out in your original thread (link below), you should easily be able to do 6 (or 7) segments using the MiterSet with no extension fence to a Shopsmith miter gauge. It is ONLY at the 8 sided that is a problem. All of these reference the "00" position so the miter gauge should easily span 00 to 6. I don't understand why you keep saying that 6 doesn't work. It would be helpful if you can post some pics of what you are doing.

viewtopic.php?p=280468#p280468

https://vsctools.com/wp-content/uploads ... Manual.pdf