I am a newbie to this forum, and while I haven't been able to find the answer to my question, there seem to be a lot of very knowledgeable Shopsmith owners out there willing to share their experience, so I am hoping someone will know.
I have a Mark V 500 and am looking for a better upper saw guard that I will actually use. I have the original all aluminum upper and lower guard. The lower guard suits my needs pretty good, but the upper is just too hard to install and use. One option I am considering is just getting and installing the clear upper guard that is part of the saw guard "upgrade", since only the mounting block mounts to the table carriage and not the lower guard.
I have also seen a 510/520 upper & lower guard for sale and the seller says it also fits / works on a 500. Shopsmith Customer Service says it won't. With the standard 500 table, does anyone have any personal experience with putting a 510/520 upper and lower saw guard on a 500? Is it possible? What modifications (if any) are required?
And finally, of all the upper & lower saw guards out there, what type is favored and used most often by 500 owners?
Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions.
Will a 510/520 Upper and Lower Saw Guard fit on a 500?
Moderators: HopefulSSer, admin
Re: Will a 510/520 Upper and Lower Saw Guard fit on a 500?
Hi and welcome to the forum!
The saw guard system for the 500 does have an upgrade which will give you both a new lower guard and a new upper guard. The major problem I see with it is the cost. It also requires some modifications on older machines. I did this upgrade to my 500 system because I found I was not using the upper guard, something I found as you have, it tends to make you not use it.
The 505/510/520 systems have changed to a much better guard system but it is not something that can be used on the 500 series. Many changes such as table size, width of leg spacing on the main table means the new system could and does take up extra room that is simply not there on the 500. The lone exception to this is that the lower guard could be used for dust collection if a sanding disk is mounted outside of the 500 table....
Short of coming up with your own design you do not have a lot of options that will not be expensive. I will admit I did upgrade my 500 to a 520 some what based on what I saw as advantages of the dust and blade guard potential of the newer design.
Ed
The saw guard system for the 500 does have an upgrade which will give you both a new lower guard and a new upper guard. The major problem I see with it is the cost. It also requires some modifications on older machines. I did this upgrade to my 500 system because I found I was not using the upper guard, something I found as you have, it tends to make you not use it.
The 505/510/520 systems have changed to a much better guard system but it is not something that can be used on the 500 series. Many changes such as table size, width of leg spacing on the main table means the new system could and does take up extra room that is simply not there on the 500. The lone exception to this is that the lower guard could be used for dust collection if a sanding disk is mounted outside of the 500 table....
Short of coming up with your own design you do not have a lot of options that will not be expensive. I will admit I did upgrade my 500 to a 520 some what based on what I saw as advantages of the dust and blade guard potential of the newer design.
Ed