Greenie Bench Tube Size

[JPG]

All this consternation over a itty bitty piece of cast aluminum.

When the tubes were reduced to 1 3/4, a small projection was added to the base castings that provided the outward limit to the bench tube position.

They are very clear on my Goldie. Simply grinding that small projection(1/16") back to the original dimension will allow 1 7/8" tubes to be used. IIUC the holes are actually the same size.

And using 1 3/4" tubes in a 1 7/8" base will only cause the bench tube spacing to increase 1/8".

I think some pix are in MickyD's greenie thread. Both his greenie(1 7/8") and my goldie(1 3/4").

[jjbuzard]

JPG said "IIUC the holes are actually the same size."

First what iss IIUC?

Not so the holes in this 57 Greenie, in the Headrest and the Base Mic at 1.877, the 1 3/4" tubes mic at 1.762, so they have .115 clearance, the 1 7/8" tube mic at 1.910, so they are .033 too large to go into the holes.

Again I know the pedigree of this machine, it is not bastardized, so I will keep it as original as possible and stick wqith 1 3/4" bench tubes.

Does anyone know when SS switched from 1 7/8" tp 1 3/4" bench tubes? Somebody with a 1956 machine chime in here with your bench tube size. Same if you own a 1955.

[greasemonkey2275]

[quote="jjbuzard]Somebody with a 1956 machine chime in here with your bench tube size. Same if you own a 1955.[/quote]

My 1958 Greenie has 1 3/4" tubes and the kid that I bought it from said it was originally his grandfathers; trust me when I say that no one had done any work on it!

[oldiron]

This is getting good!

Mike

[dusty]

Which holes are being discussed here?

Keep in mind, the transition date will likely be "pure conjecture" because this event dates back to a period of time long before "Shopsmith" as we know them today.

From past conversations, debates and arguments, I have concluded that the data transfer between Yuba, Magna and Shopsmith was pretty slip shod.

If the date could be validated by Shopsmith today, I feel certain that Admin would already have provided that to us. As it is...pure conjecture.

[jjbuzard]

dusty said "Which holes are being discussed here?"

Bench tube holes in the base and Headrest.

[JPG]

If I Understand Correctly.

Apparently not so!

[dusty]

A revelation, at least to me. Some later model Mark Vs (gray ones) are compatible to 1 7/8" Way Tubes. So not only the Greenies could have used 1 7/8" Way Tubes.

Now I do not know that there were any of these later (gray) Mark Vs assembled with 1 7/8" way tubes but there are Base and Headrest assemblies that have holes that are large enough (1 7/8"+).

I have a mixture. The Base and Headrest on my Shorty will not accept 1 7/8" Way Tubes. The holes are only slightly larger than 1 3/4". I built this unit with parts purchased on EBay so I can not date the parts.

On the other hand, I purchased my Mark V (555539) new in 1991 (date code 112291). The Head Rest and Base on that machine have the larger (1 7/8") Way Tube holes. The Way Tubes, however, are 1 3/4" (sloppy fit ). This means only that 1972 is not a valid demarcation date.

If it is not obvious, the red area depicts the gap when 1 3/4" tubes are inserted through 1 7/8" holes. The clamping method used to secure the Way Tubes in the Base and Head Rest ensure this relationship. The Way Tubes are pushed to the top of the holes.

[JPG]

I think the Gilmer goldie/poly-v is a more likely boundary. Based merely 0n previous posts by others.

[jjbuzard]

Another item concerning the Bench tubes on this 1957 Greenie besides the tube size being 1 3/4" diameter is that they are painted, and from the inspection of the tube, it seems they came from the factory painted, note in the picture the paint extends clear to the end of the tube and the ONLY clamp mark is through the paint, no clamp mark painted over. I have seen some discussion that the tubes did not come from the factory painted, but this finding disputed that. Any body want to weigh in on this?

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