Rip Fence not maintaining alignment

[dusty]

While I was cutting 24" panels on my SS 520 for a project.

The rip fence (secured to a floating extension) would shift out of alignment ever so slightly that my panels weren't square.

Using the rip fence mounted on a floating table is a precarious endeavor to say the least. The extension tubes are the only normal means of support. That coupled with the leverage that is added when you move the rip fence away from the main table becomes more than enough to move the main table and carriage laterally.

If you need a wider cutting area, consider mounting the rip fence on an extension table and using extension tubes to tie it to the main table. Move the headstock away from the extension table as far as is needed.

So I took some measurements of the main table and extension tables and discovered that the extension tables were 0.020 inch shorter than the main table.

I added 0.020 inch shims between the extension tables and the rear extension rails.

Since adding the shims I have not experience any further fence shift.

I can understand why the shims worked for yuou but I am surprised that they were needed. It seems to me that the rip fence locking system should have worked well without the shims. I mean .020".

Whatever is done, I hope you get this issue resolved.

[algale]

I hope your problem proves easier to solve than a similar one I had a couple of years ago with my 520 fence staying square when moved from the main table to an extension table or floating table.

After lots of suggestions on the forum, I sent all the tables back to Shopsmith and they figured out that the distances between the machined pads where the 520 rails mount, although all individually within tolerances, were stacking up in such a way as to throw off the fence when moved from the main table to the others. It only takes a few thousandths to foul things up significantly, particularly as the distance from the fence to the blade increases.

The solution was for Shopsmith to really carefully shim those pads with some very thin shims.

Fence now stays square anywhere on the various tables at all distances.

Good luck with your issue!

[dusty]

I hope your problem proves easier to solve than a similar one I had a couple of years ago with my 520 fence staying square when moved from the main table to an extension table or floating table.

After lots of suggestions on the forum, I sent all the tables back to Shopsmith and they figured out that the distances between the machined pads where the 520 rails mount, although all individually within tolerances, were stacking up in such a way as to throw off the fence when moved from the main table to the others. It only takes a few thousandths to foul things up significantly, particularly as the distance from the fence to the blade increases.

The solution was for Shopsmith to really carefully shim those pads with some very thin shims.

Fence now stays square anywhere on the various tables at all distances.

Good luck with your issue!

Very Interesting.

Hope I did not comment back then because I do not remember this.

[algale]

Very Interesting.

Hope I did not comment back then because I do not remember this.

I'm afraid you did comment on this. It started out as a discussion about the visual alignment between the fence and the grooves in the table surfaces changing when moving from the main table to the extension and digressed/devolved from there.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/maint ... 10705.html