Mystery Spring

[CreekWood]

I was trying to tell how impressed I am with the 520 fence! It locks down solid with zero wiggle.

[CreekWood]

Can someone point me to instructions on aligning the 520 table system? Oh, and I have one of those aluminum alignment tools...I just have no idea what to do with it.

[CreekWood]

How much is considered excess runout? I measure 6 thousandths at the spindle tip, only 3 right up snug to the collar. But then there's an additional 2-3 thousandths left/right if I push the spindle tip with my finger. That translates to a fair bit when drilling.... wasn't too bad with forstner bits, but a longer typical bit went a little sideways when attempting to create a slot in a metal bracket.
Photo is the max runout I get by turning the lower aux shaft by hand when measured up snug to the stop collar. Again, I can push left/right and make it worse.
The reason I ask is because I was about to use a saw blade to align the main table against. (Blade warp is another issue I found).

[Mike907]

Can someone point me to instructions on aligning the 520 table system? Oh, and I have one of those aluminum alignment tools...I just have no idea what to do with it.

There is a lot of helpful information on the shopsmith.com website - click on the Support tab and select Online Manuals.

https://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/pro ... adePkg.pdf

This alignment manual and the video are linked off of the Help Kit product page:

https://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/man ... manual.pdf

https://www.shopsmith.com/ssacademy/SS_ ... _Chuck.htm

Hope this helps,

Mike

[DLB]

In a YT video Tom at Woodshop Nerdery measured a bad 'near new' two bearing quill at about 0.003" runout and two good ones of different types at less than 0.001". (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEFFYw29yV4&t=0s) My own single bearing quill experience is limited to the older Greenie/Gilmer type which is different enough to not be meaningful here. The SS repair guy that is selling rebuilt single bearing quills with new Drive and Ring assemblies as an improvement falls a little short in my mind by not stating runout. Personally, I like the precision of the two bearing quills.

Note - Tom has posted his final video in the Woodshop Nerdery series.

There is another recent thread on the 520 rail alignment. Link to the most recent entry for the SS manual: viewtopic.php?p=309661#p309661
I use two alignment jigs for the main table. At one time SS was providing longer jigs, if you have that kind only one is needed.

Edit: Sorry, I might have added some confusion here as I confused this with another recent thread on single Vs. two bearing quills. It is not clear to me which quill type the OP of THIS thread has. That's the first step in determining runout expectations. Which for me is <0.001" on a two bearing quill only.

- David

[CreekWood]

David,
I'm assuming the quill is the single bearing style. My SN falls in the '82 range. On the other hand, the belts look pretty new to me; the original owner could have done an upgrade. Is there an easy way to verify without removing the quill? How does one determine whether bearings vs the sleeve is causing runout? (I've never been able to tell if wheel bearings were bad by sound/feel until they got really BAD).

[DLB]

David,
I'm assuming the quill is the single bearing style. My SN falls in the '82 range. On the other hand, the belts look pretty new to me; the original owner could have done an upgrade. Is there an easy way to verify without removing the quill? How does one determine whether bearings vs the sleeve is causing runout? (I've never been able to tell if wheel bearings were bad by sound/feel until they got really BAD).

I don't know an easy way to verify quill type without removing the quill, but fortunately that's pretty easy to do and should be done occasionally to wax the outside of the barrel and inside of the headstock bore anyway. Free play of the spindle inside the quill would indicate a probable bearing issue, in/out, left/right, up/down. Rotational free play between the quill spindle and the upper accessory spindle would likely point to a worn Drive and Ring, the plastic part that couples the splines of the Drive Sleeve to those on the quill spindle, especially presuming a one-piece spindle. (Some two-bearing quills have a two piece spindle.)

IIWM I would replace both the bearing and Drive and Ring to minimize runout if it's a single bearing quill. I don't know how good these get, no experience with this version, but it's presumably better than a Gilmer version due to the existence of the replaceable Drive and Ring.(?) I don't know if your readings should be considered unacceptable for a single bearing quill.

IMO a worn Drive and Ring has little to no influence on runout (etc.) on a two bearing quill. It is not supporting/controlling one end of the spindle like it does on a single bearing quill.

A bent spindle is another possible cause of runout. It is more common on two bearing quills.

- David

[RFGuy]

Note - Tom has posted his final video in the Woodshop Nerdery series.

David,

I wasn't even aware that Tom had stopped. I went and watched his final video explaining his reason for quitting. On a similar topic, for me it seems like most small to medium size woodworking channels have either slowed down their content considerably or stopped altogether in the last 6-12 months. Am I the only one seeing this? I haven't searched for the answer, but I was wondering if Google once again changed their AdSense income formula that they pay on YT vids or if something else was happening. Seems like only the large subscriber base YT'ers are the only ones still posting regular content and/or those smaller channels who choose to put out purely free content and will continue to do so no matter what. Just my take on it and these comments may not apply to Tom's situation at all, but just pointing out a trend I have observed with YT content that I subscribe to in the last year.

[Ed in Tampa]

Note - Tom has posted his final video in the Woodshop Nerdery series.

David,

I wasn't even aware that Tom had stopped. I went and watched his final video explaining his reason for quitting. On a similar topic, for me it seems like most small to medium size woodworking channels have either slowed down their content considerably or stopped altogether in the last 6-12 months. Am I the only one seeing this? I haven't searched for the answer, but I was wondering if Google once again changed their AdSense income formula that they pay on YT vids or if something else was happening. Seems like only the large subscriber base YT'ers are the only ones still posting regular content and/or those smaller channels who choose to put out purely free content and will continue to do so no matter what. Just my take on it and these comments may not apply to Tom's situation at all, but just pointing out a trend I have observed with YT content that I subscribe to in the last year.

Not trying to derail this thread but I felt I needed to respond to RFGuy. Like almost anything youtube is directly influenced by money, Google gets paid by advertisers by number of views the advertisers ad is viewed. Google places those ads in videos that will give them the highest number of views. To be successful a YouTube creator has to create content that attracts viewers, the more viewers the more likely you will succeed. Some content creators are not in YouTube for the money and they produce videos that attract a more narrow audience and they are okay with that. But others realizing the work involved in creating content seek income to offset this burden. Unfortunately a channel focused on Shopsmith will never draw the viewership of a channel that appeals to a wider range of viewers so Google is not going to promote them as much nor are they going to insert ads using one of their infinite numbers of ads into that channel. It is economics that influences Google not a desire to give creators a place to ply their trade.

[RFGuy]

Not trying to derail this thread but I felt I needed to respond to RFGuy. Like almost anything youtube is directly influenced by money, Google gets paid by advertisers by number of views the advertisers ad is viewed. Google places those ads in videos that will give them the highest number of views. To be successful a YouTube creator has to create content that attracts viewers, the more viewers the more likely you will succeed. Some content creators are not in YouTube for the money and they produce videos that attract a more narrow audience and they are okay with that. But others realizing the work involved in creating content seek income to offset this burden. Unfortunately a channel focused on Shopsmith will never draw the viewership of a channel that appeals to a wider range of viewers so Google is not going to promote them as much nor are they going to insert ads using one of their infinite numbers of ads into that channel. It is economics that influences Google not a desire to give creators a place to ply their trade.

Ed,

Thanks and I agree with you. I was hesitant to even post because I didn't want to derail this thread, but the forum has been slow recently. Posting in another new thread often doesn't get eyeballs on it either, which is why I posted it here. I just wanted to point out what I have seen which is most of the woodworking channels that I like have become quiet in the last year so it seems like something has changed again in the online world related to much of the content some of us enjoy. This may or may not be related to why Tom stopped. I would say no other replies are needed to my comment here because I didn't intend to derail this thread, but also felt like something had to be said so catch-22.

FYI...Google has been cracking down on ad blockers recently and hiking the price for their premium option, so money is ALWAYS involved.

https://www.engadget.com/youtube-premiu ... y%2Dmonth.