Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:37 pm
...I wonder how crucial the tongue in the washer really is...
Nick's Response;
Pretty dag-gone. Unless you don't mind being chased all over your shop by whirling trimmers and chippers. The tongue in the washer and the groove in the arbor prevent the nut from turning off the arbor when in use.
I guess I need to ask some questions regarding tongue washers on arbors.
First some backgound:
The Magna Engineering indicated in the original Shopsmith Mk 5 literature going back to the Greenie days that the tongue washers were provided to allow arbors to be mounted to the auxiliary spindle shaft (i.e., opposite rotation) and that "standard arbors" could be used on the main (quill) spindle.
Shopsmith (the present day company) sold molder/dado arbors without tongue washers (p/n 555619) thru the mid 1990's for the Sawsmith 2000 which has no auxiliary shaft (so the arbor can't be spun backwards).
The current Shopsmith 5/8" saw arbor (p/n 555608) has an end nut, but no tongue washer feature.
Now the questions;
It seems to me that the tongue washer was a direction of rotation consideration for ensuring that the arbor nut stayed tight. Is this not the case?
Can we not safely use non-tongue arbors in any application or are they acceptable in certain applications and not others? (and if so what are they?)
I know that times change, and we are always trying to work safer. I would appreciate any thoughts that Nick and others might have on the subject.
Dennis
Nick's Response;
Pretty dag-gone. Unless you don't mind being chased all over your shop by whirling trimmers and chippers. The tongue in the washer and the groove in the arbor prevent the nut from turning off the arbor when in use.
I guess I need to ask some questions regarding tongue washers on arbors.
First some backgound:
The Magna Engineering indicated in the original Shopsmith Mk 5 literature going back to the Greenie days that the tongue washers were provided to allow arbors to be mounted to the auxiliary spindle shaft (i.e., opposite rotation) and that "standard arbors" could be used on the main (quill) spindle.
Shopsmith (the present day company) sold molder/dado arbors without tongue washers (p/n 555619) thru the mid 1990's for the Sawsmith 2000 which has no auxiliary shaft (so the arbor can't be spun backwards).
The current Shopsmith 5/8" saw arbor (p/n 555608) has an end nut, but no tongue washer feature.
Now the questions;
It seems to me that the tongue washer was a direction of rotation consideration for ensuring that the arbor nut stayed tight. Is this not the case?
Can we not safely use non-tongue arbors in any application or are they acceptable in certain applications and not others? (and if so what are they?)
I know that times change, and we are always trying to work safer. I would appreciate any thoughts that Nick and others might have on the subject.
Dennis
Hopefully, there is never one that compromises safety! 