emagnet wrote:Sorry, Ed, but I don't have a video camera. Like I said above, I just followed the instructions in the manual to get things close, then used the dial indicator to get things really close. I don't mean to make it sound like it was easy, I probably spent 6 hours total on the process but, since this was my initial setup and alignment, I felt that the time was justified. I've had a small metal
working setup that I've worked with for years and these tolerances are not out of line with what I would expect to achieve on that. Not having used a Shopsmith before, I had no idea what to expect from it. Probably just beginner's luck.
Hmmm. No. I'm not going there. I am quite satisfied at .005" besides I don't have a dial indicator that is accurate enough for .0005".
Good Job.
"Making Sawdust Safely" Dusty
Sent from my Dell XPS using Firefox.
dusty wrote:Hmmm. No. I'm not going there. I am quite satisfied at .005" besides I don't have a dial indicator that is accurate enough for .0005".
Good Job.
Never mind the Dial Indicator, the 'things' being moved to achieve that makes it very difficult indeed.(screws/washers/nuts)
I am surprised either the miter gauge slot or the fence are that 'straight'.
After doing the table tilt thing(what resolution does the bevel protractor have) It would be interesting what that .0005" becomes.
P.S. I do hope you aligned the miter gauge slot to the quill shaft(blade) first.
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
[quote="JPG40504"]Never mind the Dial Indicator, the 'things' being moved to achieve that makes it very difficult indeed.(screws/washers/nuts)
I am surprised either the miter gauge slot or the fence are that 'straight'.
After doing the table tilt thing(what resolution does the bevel protractor have) It would be interesting what that .0005" becomes.]
I don't know if the slot or fence are that straight. There's way too much vibration involved in sliding the indicator down the track to know. My process was to pick a starting point, measure, pick an end point, measure. If the two measurements were not within the desired tolerance, fiddle some more. If they were, pick a different start and end point and repeat. If the differences between both sets of measurements were identical, move on. If not, repeat the measurement process until enough data points are collected to come to a statistically acceptable conclusion.
I have no expectation that the Shopsmith will hold these tolerances with even the slightest usage. And, I have no desire to make sure that it does. The instruction manual itself stated that just moving the extension table from the right to the left side would result in different measurements. Given that, I had no desire to even try. This was as much an exercise in gaining familiarity with the equipment as it was in achieving a desired tolerance. If the consensus here is that .005" is a reasonable tolerance to aim for, that's good to know.
Aligning the miter slot to the quill shaft was done as both step one and step two in the instruction manual. First, with the table at 90 degrees and then at 0 degrees. My guess is that, just moving the Shopsmith from horizontal to vertical mode will blow my alignment efforts out of the water. And that will be fine. By doing so, I will have gained more information about what to expect from the Shopsmith. And that will help me use it more effectively.
emagnet wrote:I don't know if the slot or fence are that straight. There's way too much vibration involved in sliding the indicator down the track to know. My process was to pick a starting point, measure, pick an end point, measure. If the two measurements were not within the desired tolerance, fiddle some more. If they were, pick a different start and end point and repeat. If the differences between both sets of measurements were identical, move on. If not, repeat the measurement process until enough data points are collected to come to a statistically acceptable conclusion.
I have no expectation that the Shopsmith will hold these tolerances with even the slightest usage. And, I have no desire to make sure that it does. The instruction manual itself stated that just moving the extension table from the right to the left side would result in different measurements. Given that, I had no desire to even try. This was as much an exercise in gaining familiarity with the equipment as it was in achieving a desired tolerance. If the consensus here is that .005" is a reasonable tolerance to aim for, that's good to know.
Aligning the miter slot to the quill shaft was done as both step one and step two in the instruction manual. First, with the table at 90 degrees and then at 0 degrees. My guess is that, just moving the Shopsmith from horizontal to vertical mode will blow my alignment efforts out of the water. And that will be fine. By doing so, I will have gained more information about what to expect from the Shopsmith. And that will help me use it more effectively.
I think that you will be pleasantly surprised at how well the Shopsmith holds its alignment while going through configuration changes.
I don't know that the .005" criteria has a consensus but it is my criteria for what constitutes a properly aligned table. I used to strive for better; now I accept it if it happens.
"Making Sawdust Safely" Dusty
Sent from my Dell XPS using Firefox.
[quote="dusty"]I think that you will be pleasantly surprised at how well the Shopsmith holds its alignment while going through configuration changes.
I don't know that the .005" criteria has a consensus but it is my criteria for what constitutes a properly aligned table. I used to strive for better]
It is only the addition of a dial indicator to the SS stuff that has caused consternation regarding getting it 'perfect'. For decades, no visual light between a square/straight edge and a surface was AOK!
IMHO, Still is!;)
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
[quote="JPG40504"]It is only the addition of a dial indicator to the SS stuff that has caused consternation regarding getting it 'perfect'. For decades, no visual light between a square/straight edge and a surface was AOK!
IMHO, Still is!]
That's the method I use as I don't currently have a dial indicator.
--
Terry
Copy and paste the URLs into your browser if you want to see the photos.
1955 Shopsmith Mark 5 S/N 296860 Workshop and Tools
https://1drv.ms/i/s!AmpX5k8IhN7ahFCo9VvTDsCpoV_g
[quote="JPG40504"]It is only the addition of a dial indicator to the SS stuff that has caused consternation regarding getting it 'perfect'. For decades, no visual light between a square/straight edge and a surface was AOK!
IMHO, Still is!]
And that was the method I used for the first pass at alignment. The dial indicator helped me double check and quantify the results of that method. It showed me that no light worked beautifully in aligning the table to quill shaft. It showed me that I had not taken enough time to properly adjust the rip fence. And it showed me that that method had done an excellent job putting the extension table in the same plane as the main table but that I had screwed up on getting it parallel. Given those results, I now have the confidence that a straight edge, a machinist's square and a sheet of white paper are just about all that I will need in the future to align the Shopsmith for all but the most demanding of applications.
dusty wrote:I agree wholeheartedly. Dial indicators are superfluous in your woodshop.
Would you like to trade your Starrett for one of my squares and a straight edge.
You left off the paper!:D
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
dusty wrote:I agree wholeheartedly. Dial indicators are superfluous in your woodshop.
Would you like to trade your Starrett for one of my squares and a straight edge.
If I trade you my dial indicator, how will I know if your straight edge is straight?
Got out the vernier protractor today to double check the table tilt angles. In answer to a previous question, it has graduations to 5 minutes. Decided to take a slightly different approach and check the 90 degree setting in the horizontal position. The protractor indicated that I was off by about 10 minutes. Upon inspection, I discovered that I had forgotten to set one of the stop screws. More fiddling and, eventually, the protractor was happy. Checking the 45 degree setting provided a surprise. Although I was only slightly off, I decided to tweak the adjustment anyway. But, I had a hell of a time getting close. I finally figured out that the problem was the graduations on the trunnion. I had been using them to eyeball my changes before making a measurement. But, while dead on at 0 degrees, thery are slightly over a full degree off at 45 degrees. Good thing I figured it out when I did or you would have seen an ad for a busted Starrett protractor on ebay. Anyway, I'm comfortable now with the table tilt presets and have learned not to rely on the trunnion graduations for other important angle settings. Maybe that's why Nick always uses a digital angle meter for setting up bevel cuts in all his Sawdust Sessions.
Dial indicators are superfluous in your woodshop.