Shopsmith Forums

I bought my SS as a 500 in 1984. It has been through the 510, 520 and now PPro upgrades. While I find the 510 tolerable in my opinion the 520 table system is the bees knees and it would very difficult to go back to a primary SS unit as a 510 and I would not go back to a 500. I'd get stand alone tools first.

Jack

claimdude wrote:I bought my SS as a 500 in 1984. It has been through the 510, 520 and now PPro upgrades. While I find the 510 tolerable in my opinion the 520 table system is the bees knees and it would very difficult to go back to a primary SS unit as a 510 and I would not go back to a 500. I'd get stand alone tools first.

Jack

I can't discuss the 500 because I have no experience using one.

I am curious though just what there is, in your opinion, about the 510 that makes it inferior to the 520. As I stated earlier, I have and use both and cannot rightly fault one over the other. Yes, there are differences but they are really not functional differences.

Along these lines, I'm a big-time horizontal-boring fan. The 510 fence will move under pressure unless I back it up with a clamped block.

I had a 500 in this mode for a little while, I think it was a little better.

But I hear the 520 is the one to beat for horizontal boring:
http://www.songofthegreatlakes.com/shop ... pgrade.htm

It is true that the 520 fence is not likely to flex like some others. It is a pretty stout chunk of extruded aluminum. However, the locks are not absolute.

If you have a real problem with the fence moving while doing horizontal boring, I would first suggest that you check your bits to make sure they are sharp. Let the drill bit do the work. Extreme pressure should not be required. Without excess pressure, the 520 fence should be stable enough without clamping. I believe the 510 fence should do the job as well.

dusty wrote:It is true that the 520 fence is not likely to flex like some others. It is a pretty stout chunk of extruded aluminum. However, the locks are not absolute.

If you have a real problem with the fence moving while doing horizontal boring, I would first suggest that you check your bits to make sure they are sharp. Let the drill bit do the work. Extreme pressure should not be required. Without excess pressure, the 520 fence should be stable enough without clamping. I believe the 510 fence should do the job as well.

I find the locks on the first 520 fence are terrific and have never required adjustment. The 510 I upgraded to a 520 locks gave me fits until one day my son was using it and took the fence off both machines. After comparing the locks and their adjustment found a minor difference in assembly. Now they are identical and neither ever concerns me. No I did not see, appreciate or understand the adjustment he made. Jim

Hi everyone.

The planets are in alignment and I found out I will be getting a nice bonus in my envelope from work this year, so the upgrade to the 520 would be possible.

I have decided however, to stick with the 510 and focus my attention on other necessities...
Something that Dusty pointed out is ringing pretty strong to me. The 520, in essence, will do exactly the same thing as the 510. It isn't like I'm getting the benefits of larger tables or floating tables like when we did the 500 to 510 upgrade.

I think I would get more functional enjoyment out of finally getting a usable stacked dado set...and some other accessories. I may even get some nice wood to play with instead of the wood I've rescued and recycled. I have some time off coming up so I plan on double checking and redoing all of the alignments, waxing, and maintenance.

What's most important to me is that my 510 is setup properly and aligned to be accurate. I want to know that my table saw cuts square and parallel to .001-.002

Thanks for all of your input...I've really enjoyed it!

Thanks
Geo