Shorty?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 10:41 pm

cranehead wrote:This idea interested me, so I picked up a 3 foot cut-off of 1 1/2 inch galvanized pipe, sawed it in half and made a dedicated drill press. there is about 10 1/2 inches of 'way' tube between the legs. It is not at all tippy. You won't need ballast.

I am finding that there seems to be a lot of play in the upright headstock and way tubes when in the drill press position. The play originates in the hinged tailstock end. Is this normal for the Shopsmith?

tc

What 'parts' are moving, and what 'parts' are not? What direction are they moving?

If the od of the 'pipe' is less than 1 3/4", then there will be play between the 'pipe' and the casting.

cranehead · Post by **cranehead** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 11:37 pm

The play is in the hinge, I see where "Power Tool Woodworking" suggests tightening the base lock while rocking the headstock to "take all the 'play' out of the base pivot." I will try this.

anything else I should be looking at.

tc

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 11:54 pm

cranehead wrote:The play is in the hinge, I see where "Power Tool Woodworking" suggests tightening the base lock while rocking the headstock to "take all the 'play' out of the base pivot." I will try this.

anything else I should be looking at.

tc

Not if that be all that is moving.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 10:46 am

We must each have different ideas of how to utilize a Shopsmith headstock as a dedicated drill press.

My drill press is actually a Shorty version of the Mark V from which it came. I shortened the tubes only 14" which makes it longer than most shorties by only about 4".

I really cannot imagine the tubes be much shorter and still be useful as a general purpose drill press.

cranehead · Post by **cranehead** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 11:43 am

this is a (very cluttered) pic of my ongoing experiment:

[ATTACH]19412[/ATTACH]

Note that, like the craiglist posting, the headstock is reversed on the way tubes as is the table carriage. The carriage tubes are much shorter. Folks thought it might be tippy. the reason it's not is because the weight is between the legs.

I am finding another challenge- after reversing the headstock the base pivot does not want to lock down without play. I think it might be because the weight is loaded differently with the headstock reversed.

I also see that the headstock and table now pivot toward the person operating the press, instead of away from as would be in normal drill press mode. If the base lock should fail in operation the headstock and table would want to pivot toward you in an alarming fashion. I will ponder this some more.

tc

tomsalwasser · Post by **tomsalwasser** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 12:44 pm

Great photo, thank you very much.

I see you left the way tubes full length. Do you manage to raise the headstock higher somehow?

I want to do this but I want the headstock reversed, facing the other way. Curious to know what factored into your decision to do it the way you did.

Please lay out the steps you used to shorten the bench tubes. Will I need to completely disassemble the SS, cut the tubes then reassemble?

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 12:59 pm

Aaah, now I see.

I was not envisioning full length Way Tubes while at the same time cutting down the Bench Tubes.

I gotta think on that for awhile.

I also gotta give some thought to the idea of reversing the headstock.

Since I utilize my Shorty as the power bed for my Jointer, I don't have these options available to me unless I change my mode of operation.

Floor space was the only reason I created the Shorty to begin with. Before it was a Shorty, anyone entering the house via the garage door had to walk around.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 1:01 pm

You could remove the locking pin completely and add a bolt and nut there, and also on the opposite side, after drilling a couple of through holes which would prevent the assembly from tipping over.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 1:13 pm

cranehead wrote:this is a (very cluttered) pic of my ongoing experiment:

[ATTACH]19412[/ATTACH]

Note that, like the craiglist posting, the headstock is reversed on the way tubes as is the table carriage. The carriage tubes are much shorter. Folks thought it might be tippy. the reason it's not is because the weight is between the legs.

I am finding another challenge- after reversing the headstock the base pivot does not want to lock down without play. I think it might be because the weight is loaded differently with the headstock reversed.

I also see that the headstock and table now pivot toward the person operating the press, instead of away from as would be in normal drill press mode. If the base lock should fail in operation the headstock and table would want to pivot toward you in an alarming fashion. I will ponder this some more.

tc

Weight(balance) is different, but the non-centered screw/tapered spot facing should pull the slop out regardless. However you will need to push the vertical stuff towards the rear while tightening the screw. Since the weight is no longer an 'over the center' condition secure tightening is required.

What is missing is a hard stop in the direction opposite of 'normal'. The cg is pulling in that opposite direction. Normally the cg is over the vertical center and the weight is pressing the hinge against the hard stop. The screw merely prevents the vertical stuff from tilting backwards back over the center.

My 'normal' table tilts towards the operator in vertical drill press setup.

Nev mind, I misunderstood!!! See above.

cranehead · Post by **cranehead** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:23 pm

tomsalwasser wrote:Great photo, thank you very much.

I see you left the way tubes full length. Do you manage to raise the headstock higher somehow?

I want to do this but I want the headstock reversed, facing the other way. Curious to know what factored into your decision to do it the way you did.

Please lay out the steps you used to shorten the bench tubes. Will I need to completely disassemble the SS, cut the tubes then reassemble?

Raising or lowering the headstock on the way tubes is tricky due to the weight of the unit. on a full size shopsmith you can adjust your headstock and table to the distance you want before raising the tubes into the drillpress position. I am thinking you would want to add a bottle jack or something to raise the headstock if you went to this configuration. or only move the table- like regular drill presses.

I reversed the headstock because that the way it was in the craigslist post above. And I thought it would be more stable-not tippy or needing ballast. And because it had a smaller footprint.

I didn't cut my bench tubes but used some galvanized pipe that had the correct diameter. I actually had the SS already dissasembled because I was going to store it in pieces because I didn't have room for it.

tc