A Question About the Procedure

[Hobbyman2]

I think I understand what you are saying about sliding the table to the right , wouldnt it work no mater if you slide it to the right or left?

The small amount you are off could be the threads on the bolt or a few other things
If you desired you could adjust the table using a few shims,fuller gages in your alignment to make it perfect . I am not familiar with the disc you are using , my old sanding disc doesnt have the center mount like yours .

[dusty]

The extension table shown in these photos is firmly attached to the main table using the table tubes.

With the trunnion bolts loose and the four studs on the extension table also loose, I pull the two tables together and secure the table tubes. Then I move the main table so that it is firm against the alignment disk. In doing this, both the main table and the extension table are aligned with respect to one another and to the disk (blade). I then secure the four bolts on the extension tables. IN THEORY, I can now tighten the trunnion bolts without repositioning the main table.

[Hobbyman2]

Sounds good
Is the alignment disc a SS part? I like the idea .

[dusty]

Sounds good
Is the alignment disc a SS part? I like the idea .

No. I bought it from Infinity but I did so (rather than use my sanding disk) because my two SS sanding disks are not flat enough for this purpose. They work fine as sanding disks.

Using a modern day saw blade is probably just as good. Remember, when the Shopsmith was designed and the official procedures were developed, saw blades were quite a bit different than they are today. The plate of quality saw blades today is nearly perfect. Even the offset of the blades tips is not as pronounced as it once was.

Side Bar: Just for grins, I went out and checked my best sanding disk (the one without velcro) to see what it measures. The result were a bit surprising to me.

Now all I did was remove the alignment disk and arbor and replace them with a SS sanding disk. The measurements were 3.3765" and and 3.38".

[jsburger]

I don't disagree with anything you have said, John. You are dead on. Extremely precise measurements are not necessary for wood working.

I am curious though. To what level of accuracy do you strive when doing a table to blade parallelism verification. Is 1/64" (.015625") close enough to be safe and to do fine wood working?

I would think 1/64 is close enough to be safe, but as you have proven the SS can do better than that. I think your 0.005 is a good number. Is it worth trying to get better? I would say yes just to see if can be done. As a practical matter if I hit 0.005 the first time I would be happy and probably leave it at that. Or not since I like things the best they can be.

[dusty]

After the last couple days playing with this, I have returned the system to fully operational.

When I quit, I had NOT achieved .005". I settled for .00685" (outfeed) and 00660" (infeed).

Which numbers you settle on, however, should be biased by where you are most likely to put you rip fence. You really do not want the rip fence to be closer to the blade on the outfeed side. Even small numbers can be a problem. Just a little bit of squeeze at the back side of the blade can tend to make your work piece lift off of the table. This can easily result in an "in your face" situation.

[robinson46176]

(FOR THAT MACHINE)

Move it to a different machine and you start over, so keep the tables associated with the machine if you have multiple units.

Everett

The tables of 3 of mine are automatically always on the same machine. The 510, the "Old" Mark VII and the ER-10 will not fit on each other at all nor on the poly-vee Mark V's I restored. On those Mark V's I painted them each non Shopsmith colors including the underside of the tables so that I know at a glance who belongs where.
I do have a number of extra extension tables that can float around the shop for support but I wouldn't use the floaters for guiding the material (like with a fence) without double checking its alignment on that machine.
All common everyday sawing is done on my Ridgid TS-3650 or using an old Rockwell Delta bench saw on a stand with wheels. The SS's are mostly for special setups and SPT's and in the event of production type runs.
This house (1835) and shop building (1934) rehab we are doing in the next county over is going to involve a LOT of repetitive wood cutting and shaping work. The project will have a lot of what is often called "Carpenter Gothic" trim. All of it will be made, not purchased so having the ability to keep reasonably accurate setups intact for longish periods of time is quite important to me.


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