Shopsmith Forums

Just to let everyone know what happened.

I purchased the set on ebay and had them in hand and installed in a few days. They worked great.

Thanks.

Foster From Flint

Excellent news

Welcome to the forum

JPG40504 wrote:There are three versions(ignoring color variations/green/copper/chrome).

The oldest version has the foot pedal closer to the end.

The two later version\s have the foot pedal inset further from the ends.

The latest has a screw in the end of the camshaft that is visible on the outer surface.

All three will fit any Mark 5 or Mark V as well as 'most' spt stands etc.

The power station requires the later versions as well as added spacers. Same for some power stands.

Bottom line is, if a base/stand was intended to be used with the casters any of the three versions will work with minimal or no modifications.

Just discovered the differences today. Bought a set on ebay to attach to my stand-mounted planer. They don't fit because the foot pedal is too close to the end. Thankfully the set on my 520 have the pedals set further in, so I'll move them to the planer and put the other set on the 520.

Well, I think it was a good thing that the caster set I got on ebay did not fit my planer. I've always thought that the caster control "star" was less than perfect. Well, now I suspect I know why.

The old casters had the control close to the end of the bar with the cams on it. I suspect this was changed so that the casters could be a "one size fits all" with the SPT power stands etc. However the old design is more foot-friendly when mounted on the Mark V.

With the "new" old-style casters on my 520, and my 520's set moved to the planer, I think I've got a better setup on both ends.

This is the instructions I try to include with any 3" caster sets:

I noticed that the foot pedal could contact the leg closest to it if the foot pedal lever is only about ¾“ from the lift wedge. This would be a caster assembly from the early Mark V. I marked the location of the foot pedal lever and the lift rod near the lift wedge for alignment when the foot pedal is moved 2" from the lift wedge. I did not remove any roll pins from the smaller connecting rod between the two housings. I secured the lift rod 2" from the foot pedal in a vise and used a shorten 8p common nail to move the 5/32” foot pedal roll pin. I make this nail only long enough to drive the roll pin free of the rod. I slide the foot pedal 2" from the wedge. I drilled a 5/32” hole in the rod using the foot pedal hole as a guide. I only drilled the depth of the nail. Using the prior marks and holding the nail to position the foot pedal in the new drilled rod hole, I hammered the 5/32” roll pin fully back into the foot pedal pushing out the nail.