520 rail misalinged?

[dusty]

What are the determining factors??

1 The location of the rails with respect to the top of that table the rip fence is setting on.

2. The rip fence it self. Is it assembled correctly?

[DLB]

IIUC the problem is at the rear (outfeed) end. Maybe your nylon (-ish) pad is missing, damaged, or incorrectly positioned.(?) On two samples, I measure 3.275" from the top of the fence to the flat surface of the rail that the pad rides on. (Using the depth feature of a digital caliper.) A picture of the fence/lock engagement to the rear rail on your machine would be helpful. The nylon pad is just forward of the rear lock. The pad I'm suspecting is #228 on the exploded drawing of the fence, evidently mounts in two holes in the bottom of the fence.

- David

[dusty]

IIUC the problem is at the rear (outfeed) end. Maybe your nylon (-ish) pad is missing, damaged, or incorrectly positioned.(?) On two samples, I measure 3.275" from the top of the fence to the flat surface of the rail that the pad rides on. (Using the depth feature of a digital caliper.) A picture of the fence/lock engagement to the rear rail on your machine would be helpful. The nylon pad is just forward of the rear lock. The pad I'm suspecting is #228 on the exploded drawing of the fence, evidently mounts in two holes in the bottom of the fence.

- David

Nylon Pad? Is there a nylon pile missing on my rip fences???

At the rear of my two rip fences is a piece of cast metal that measures 2 7/32"x3/8"x15/32". This metal piece rides on the top most edge of the rear rail. It thus positions the bottom edge of the rip fence 1/16" above the table surface. I measure 3 9/32" (3.2875") from the top of the fence to the top of the rail.

Still, I don't sense a rip fence issue even though our numbers differ "slightly".

No, there is nothing missing on my fences. I don't know what it is but it is not cast metal as I had first thought. Yes, it could be worn

[DLB]

I was referring to the pad potentially missing/damaged/worn in reference to the OP's fence. In the first post, he describes it as "At the back it is right on the table top." The part I'm talking about is called "518423 Rip Fence Rear Pad for M7, 520" by SS. I believe Dusty and I are talking about the same part. I'm uncertain of the material, mine are black and seem like a hard plastic. Misalignment of the rear rail could also cause the same symptom, but would have to be off by enough to close the gap. I don't think that the holes allow that much adjustment error.

- David

[hfmann]

I've got NO pad(s) on the back (outfeed) part of the fence. It is merely a metal wedge type piece that clamps onto the rail. There are plastic? pads on the infeed part of the fence. Note on the pix, two of them are taken with the fence laid on its side. One of the two outfeed images is shown with the fence in position resting on the the table ready to clamp. (Sorry, no matter what I did I couldn't post the last two images in the orientation taken so they make more sense. Tried multiple time )

outfeed section of fence resting on its side

2023-02-17 11.56.36.jpg (21.81 KiB) Viewed 491 times

infeed section of fence resting on its side showing pads that ride on rails (Sorry it wouldn't let me rotate the image to make more sense.)

2023-02-17 11.56.48.jpg (45 KiB) Viewed 491 times

outfeed section with fence resting on top ready to lock down (Also couldn't rotate the image to show properly.)

2023-02-17 11.57.38.jpg (28.74 KiB) Viewed 491 times

Also I need to clarify the original posting I made, when I said " "At the back it is right on the table top." I meant that the the bottom of the fence is resting on the table.

Also David, I couldn't find an exploded view of the fence that matches part #228 you mention. I did find a part list that lists reference #228 as part # 518423 "Rip Fence Rear Pad for M7, 520." And that part # matches to a exploded list on the upgrade package manual - https://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/pro ... adePkg.pdf.

If you all are talking about pads on the bottom of the fence itself that ride on the tabletop, I don't have those on my fence. The only pads I have are on the clamping part of the infeed side where the clamping system rides on the front rail.

thanks,

hal

[dusty]

For what it is worth, my rip fence is NOT parallel to the top of the table. I am sure that a strict examination would tell exactly why but I am not going to do that. The uneven gap does not poise a performance issue.

Yes Dave, we are talking about the same part.

[DLB]

Also David, I couldn't find an exploded view of the fence that matches part #228 you mention. I did find a part list that lists reference #228 as part # 518423 "Rip Fence Rear Pad for M7, 520."
If you all are talking about pads on the bottom of the fence itself that ride on the tabletop, I don't have those on my fence. The only pads I have are on the clamping part of the infeed side where the clamping system rides on the front rail.

That's the correct part, this is the view I was talking about: https://www.shopsmith.com/service/mark/ ... iagram.htm

Yours is missing, the mounting holes appear to be present. And it looks like it was once there, so maybe just got knocked off or the mounting features might have broken.(?) Looks like it just clips in place with clips that are part of the pad inserted in the holes. I'm reluctant to pop one off to confirm though.

As Dusty said, the fence likely won't be perfectly parallel even on a good one. It should be close, I don't know how sensitive your tenon jig might be to that.

- David

[hfmann]

[/quote]That's the correct part, this is the view I was talking about: https://www.shopsmith.com/service/mark/ ... iagram.htm

Yours is missing, the mounting holes appear to be present. And it looks like it was once there, so maybe just got knocked off or the mounting features might have broken.(?) Looks like it just clips in place with clips that are part of the pad inserted in the holes. I'm reluctant to pop one off to confirm though.

[/quote]

thanks David,

I didn't look closely enough and thought all those holes (4) had screws in them. Now I see those two holes furtherest to the end of the fence are indeed empty.

When you and Dusty say fence won't be parallel. I guess you're talking about the top of the fence being parallel with the table top? The fence face has to be parallel to the miter slots.

hal

[hfmann]

David,

I looked at the part and it looks like it has four nubs to perhaps snap into holes on the fence bottom. Since two of my holes are larger and filled with allen screws, I put a message to SS engineering to see how the part is suppose to fit. I'll post the answer.

The dang part is less than four bucks so I'm hoping they can just add it to an existing order that is waiting for an item.

hal

[DLB]

When you and Dusty say fence won't be parallel. I guess you're talking about the top of the fence being parallel with the table top? The fence face has to be parallel to the miter slots.

Correct, top of fence won't be perfectly parallel to table top. But I'd guess typically within a few thousandths over the length of the fence. As opposed to the 70 thou you are reporting. Completely independent from alignment of the fence face(s).

- David