Lower Saw Guard Trouble

[MalcolmMor]

Going through the alignment procedures on a recently acquired used Mark V. When I put the lower saw guard and a saw blade on the spindle, the inner guard assembly contacts the blade. How do I adjust this to give clearance between the blade and the assembly?

[algale]

Better post photos of the blade and blade arbor as well as the lower saw guard. With a used Shopsmith, someone could have mixed and matched parts from a 500 and a 510/520. The blade arbors and saw guards from different models don't play nice together -- i.e. a 500 blade arbor won't work with a 510/520 guard.

[jsburger]

Going through the alignment procedures on a recently acquired used Mark V. When I put the lower saw guard and a saw blade on the spindle, the inner guard assembly contacts the blade. How do I adjust this to give clearance between the blade and the assembly?

Sounds like you have a mixture of a model 500 and a model 510+. The tables are different size, the arbors are different length and the saw guard is different. Pictures would help.

[MalcolmMor]

I hope you can see well enough on these. Also, I don't think this should make a difference but I have a blade stabilizer on the Woodworker II.

[algale]

It is hard to tell from the photos, but are you using a dado arbor instead of a saw blade arbor? When you do this, the end of the arbor with the nut can get hung up on the adjustable part of the lower saw arbor. You also have to pay attention to positioning the table or it will get hung up on the tie bar guard.

[MalcolmMor]

Here is a better picture of the arbor with more light. I don't think it is the dado arbor, the owner included a dado blade on an arbor and that one looks different.

[algale]

Yes, I can see now it is a 5/8ths saw blade arbor for a 510/520. And you've got the correct lower saw guard. The only adjustment, in out, on the lower saw guard is a screw adjusted with the allen wrench. It is visible in you first pic. I've put a yellow circle around it.

Screw it in, and the blade guard as a whole moves closer to the headstock (and away from the blade). Screw it out and it moves the other direction. Pay attention to the alignment between the blade and the upper saw guard's splitter, which this screw is designed to adjust.

[MalcolmMor]

Screw it in, and the blade guard as a whole moves closer to the headstock (and away from the blade). Screw it out and it moves the other direction.

Okay, I screwed it all the way in, but the inner guard is still right up against the blade. Any other ideas?

[algale]

Not at the moment. By design, the blade sits close to the part of the lower guard that moves up and down on the springs (which I assume you call the inner guard). But when turn you the spindle by hand the blade should clear the guard and not hit it.

[MalcolmMor]

Yeah, that's the part I mean. It is touching the blade for practically the whole width. Short of buying a new one, I don't see any other way to adjust the thing.