Shopsmith Forums

Yep, that's a good job! I like the OPR as sort of a 'milling machine' for jobs like that.

Chris

Has anyone here tried to convert a radial
arm saw base, mast and boom, into an overhead
pin router?

My roommate found, for free, a Craftsman
RAS. I looked it up online, to get stuff to
fix it, and found a recall on that model.

They sent me a box to send the whole
motor assembly back, and when they
got it, they sent me a $100 check.

But, I have the complete base, mast
(the vertical support bar) and boom.
(The horizontal beam the carriage
slides on.) Left.

Now, would this work for an OPR?

steve

skou wrote:Has anyone here tried to convert a radial
arm saw base, mast and boom, into an overhead
pin router?

My roommate found, for free, a Craftsman
RAS. I looked it up online, to get stuff to
fix it, and found a recall on that model.

They sent me a box to send the whole
motor assembly back, and when they
got it, they sent me a $100 check.

But, I have the complete base, mast
(the vertical support bar) and boom.
(The horizontal beam the carriage
slides on.) Left.

Now, would this work for an OPR?

steve

Up/down feed a bit clunky!

However added traverse(sled function) with built in 'miter gauge'.

skou wrote:Has anyone here tried to convert a radial
arm saw base, mast and boom, into an overhead
pin router?

My roommate found, for free, a Craftsman
RAS. I looked it up online, to get stuff to
fix it, and found a recall on that model.

They sent me a box to send the whole
motor assembly back, and when they
got it, they sent me a $100 check.

But, I have the complete base, mast
(the vertical support bar) and boom.
(The horizontal beam the carriage
slides on.) Left.

Now, would this work for an OPR?

steve

I don't know about Craftsman, but DeWalt used to sell a router-mounting bracket for their RAS's. So I see no reason you couldn't do it. Where is the elevation crank located on that saw?

Dennis, (I had to go and look) front and
center, just below the table surface.

Just below belly-button level.
Or, "joystick" level. (Hey, where
do you think THAT name came from?)

steve

My brother has the same sears saw I think. They did have a recall but it was worth more to him then the money they offered so he still has it. The big problem other then the recall was keeping the table flat and square. A never ending issue.

The motor part will tilt to a router position and they did have a router chuck for it. He never used it that way so I can not say how well it works.

The also had a planner attachment, one of those round ones with the three cutters. He did have that for it. In fact it was scary to use so he gave it to me but the cutters were the wrong way for using on the shopsmith, rotation was backwards. I think I gave it away.

I might have a miter attachment for that saw as well, or maybe I gave that away too. It was for cutting picture frames and the like.

It might work as a pin router but aligning the pin to the bit is critical so if you can overcome that would be the question.

Ed

Craftsman made an aluminum attachment that attaches to the motor which creates a platform to attach a router to the RAS. I have one and it actually works pretty well. Don't have a RAS any more so it sits in a bin.
Paul

The OPR Sled. A bit long in the making but here it is. I am using it here to make a backed Miter joint. Maybe look at the last picture first to see where we are headed. Just getting a chance to use, but seems to work pretty good. The router vibration rattles the stops and set screws loose but once tightened down, good there. Also the 1-1/2” bit, covers a large area and takes time to spin down. Only brushed it a little. A clean cut and almost as good a new now.

Think I got the dimensions about right on the sled, front to back. The 45 degree cuts are at the front of the sled and horizontal cuts are at the rear of the sled. The front cuts overhang the sled slightly and rear cuts are just about max before the sled contacts the OPR upright support. Still might be a good idea to make the underside rails into cleats. It works ok as it but need to be mindful of balance if too far off the table underneath.

Parts: It would also be nice if the Shopsmith fence were a bit more square. It doesn’t matter much as the clamp system clamps to the melamine surface not the 1x2. All the inserts and respective hold downs come with the fence if you go that way. The other parts are from Woodworkers Supply and are called out on the drawing. Guess that’s it from here. Questions – Comments? Enjoy.

That is very cool !
Paul

Are you open to suggestions? I have a problem with low far the cut is from the real support, yes the wood fences help but my guess is you get a lot of vibration while cutting. To solve that make a triangle shaped piece that attaches to the sled with maybe some threaded fasteners in the sled and some sort of knobs to hold the piece in place. MDF might be a good cheap material.

If what I'm saying is not making sense I can do a quick sketch, that is if you are interested.

Ed