510 Extension Table's Front Rail Needed Shimmed

judaspre1982 · Post by **judaspre1982** » Sun Jun 02, 2013 5:39 pm

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DT aka Agent Orange is a POS
Liar Liar his wonky comb over is on fire

algale · Post by **algale** » Sun Jun 02, 2013 6:39 pm

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I couldn't get my rip fence to square up to the grooves on my 510 ext table.The rip fence was also not parallel to the blade. When I did the alignment to the main tables front and back rails and infeed and outfeed top surfaces, I couldn't get the rails to line up properly.After much frustration I ended up having to shim between the machined surface that the table rail mounts to and the table rail standoff spacer. It took 3 layers of foil tape to get the proper shimming thickness. Now everything is in proper alignment.

I have (2) 510 ext tables from the 1995 era and both tables seem as tho the machining is a little off on where the front rails mount to the table.Both right side mounts need to be shimmed to get proper alignment.

Has anyone else had this problem with their 510 ext table?
Also it is hard to get the ext tables rails to line up with the main table rails due to not being able to keep the rails from shifting while I am tightening the rail down. If I can find a washer that is thin enough, I will try to double up on the washers to see if that helps when tightening.

Dave

Hi Dave,

I had the a similar problem with my 520 rails. Ultimately sent it back to Shopsmith where Jim McCann was able to shim it. Here's the thread. http://shopsmith.net/forums/showthread. ... +rail+shim There's a lot of stuff, so skip to the end for the resolution.

Alan

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:32 pm

I can understand rail side to side mis fitting with other table rails, but fence to blade and table grooves to blade are separate adjustments.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:02 am

I always adjust the rip fence to the blade (parallel) with the rip fence mounted on the Main Table rail. But this is done only after the Main Table has been aligned to the blade.

Once this has all been done, the floating tables can be attached to the extension tubes and "checked" for square. Since there is no adjustment (except shimming) available in this configuration, you get whatever you get. The one thing that experience has taught me is that bent extension tubes can cause problems at this stage.

But since the rail position is established by the extension tubes, if the tubes are straight (and secure), the rip fence should be very close to parallel to the blade. My attitude here is that "whatever will be, will be". You get what you get.

The Extension Tables are really not much different than the floating tables. The extension table legs are adjustable but I align the extension tables just like I do the floating tables and then I secure the extension legs to the table.

Note: This might change if I ever get a Mark 7 but for now....

The blade is the first point of reference for alignment and then the rails become the secondary point of reference. If you deviate from this, you will find yourself chasing is circles.

judaspre1982 · Post by **judaspre1982** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:52 pm

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dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 1:04 pm

judaspre1982 wrote:Hey Al
Looks like we have been down the same path.In the end all that was left to try was shimming my front rail. Once I did that everything would properly align.
Thanks for your link. Looks like member Keakap also had the pleasure of being frustrated with the ext table rails.
I am now happy with my setup.

Thanks again

Dave

The Keakap situation was made worse by an conglomeration of tables of different vintages. If I understand the ultimate solution there, he ended with a table set made all of the same vintage.

judaspre1982 · Post by **judaspre1982** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 1:27 pm

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dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 4:03 pm

I will go one step further and declare that if you have a dedicated "right hand extension table" or a "dedicated left hand extension table" that the same level of precision alignment can be achieved with the extension tables. What I will not commit to is that the two are interchangeable.

If I had a Mark 7, I might retract that statement.

When I have an extension table that needs to be aligned, I start by loosening all four bolts that secure the table to the extension legs. I then move the Main Table (headstock and carriage) so as to move the Main Table as close as possible to the extension table. At this point I install extension tubes through the Main Table and into the Extension Table. With all the knurled nuts screwed down tight, I expect the front and rear rails on the extension table to simply be an extension of the rails on the main table.

This can be verified by using a straight edge across the rails.

If the Main Table is properly aligned to the blade and the extension rails are truly extension of the main rails - the rip fence should be parallel to the blade no matter where it is located on the rails.

At this point, I secure the extension table legs to the extension table, remove the extension tubes and recheck alignment. It has worked for me and I see no reason why it should not work for everyone with a 505/510/520 table configuration. I can not speak for a 500 because I have never aligned one.

judaspre1982 · Post by **judaspre1982** » Tue Jun 04, 2013 11:53 am

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JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Jun 04, 2013 2:43 pm

dusty wrote:The Keakap situation was made worse by an conglomeration of tables of different vintages. If I understand the ultimate solution there, he ended with a table set made all of the same vintage.

He moved off 510 vintage/version rails and went to 520 rails. Since they are adjustable up/down, all 'issues' went away. Somebody:rolleyes: else inherited his 510 rails of varying version!.