Shopsmith Forums

algale wrote:It gets worse. Spoke to Mark at Incra and he says they have never heard of this problem before and don't have substitute screws. Amazing.

Make sure you have a clear line of communication.

I bought my Incra direct from Incra and it came with the toilet bowl screw packaged separately. Along with it was the normal package of hardware with the normal screw count.

As for the other fix, I don't know. I don't see any problem so if there is one, I don't believe it has infected my hardware yet.

Well, my iBox must be cursed. I finally sourced the right screws (I borrowed the undercut screws from my v120) and got the miter bar nice and snug. Set it up per the instructions. Made the test cut with my Infinity Dadonator stack set to 3/8 and then adjusted the pin width per instructions to tightly fit the dado slot I made with the test cut.

Confidently set about making a joint and ... failure. The fingers are too wide. Two additional tries later and I still have not successfully cut a joint. The fingers are always too wide.

Back to the drawing board. I think it was rjent who said earlier in this thread that you need to be careful when you do the initial calibration to just bring the pins together and then calibrate the silver knob so the "0" is lined up with the witness marks on the slot of the red knob. That's all I can figure at this point.

I've never been so frustrated with a piece of Incra equipment! Going to rewatch the video, again.

Assuming that you did the swing the dead chicken over your head 3 times already then what is your plan?

On a box joint the cut is always the fixed dimension. The spacing is the thing that can change. It will either be just right or too tight/loose.

The jig is designed to allow you to change that spacing. Are you saying your cuts are so far off that you can't adjust enough to get a good fit?

Have you loosened the positioning lock knob then tried to adjust it? It should be as simple as holding the red knob and turning the silver knob, right for tighter, left or looser. Lock the positioning knob and test again. I've never been to far out that I could not fix the problem in that way.

Ed

algale wrote:Well, my iBox must be cursed. I finally sourced the right screws (I borrowed the undercut screws from my v120) and got the miter bar nice and snug. Set it up per the instructions. Made the test cut with my Infinity Dadonator stack set to 3/8 and then adjusted the pin width per instructions to tightly fit the dado slot I made with the test cut.

Confidently set about making a joint and ... failure. The fingers are too wide. Two additional tries later and I still have not successfully cut a joint. The fingers are always too wide.

Back to the drawing board. I think it was rjent who said earlier in this thread that you need to be careful when you do the initial calibration to just bring the pins together and then calibrate the silver knob so the "0" is lined up with the witness marks on the slot of the red knob. That's all I can figure at this point.

I've never been so frustrated with a piece of Incra equipment! Going to rewatch the video, again.

Ed is correct. The silver knob adjusts the thickness of the pins. I have found you always have to adjust the silver knob, after the first test adjustment and test cut, to get the pin width perfect. Once you understand the geometry of what the two knobs do it is easy to adjust. You have to make test cuts in scrap but once adjusted it is dead on.

reible wrote:Assuming that you did the swing the dead chicken over your head 3 times already then what is your plan?

On a box joint the cut is always the fixed dimension. The spacing is the thing that can change. It will either be just right or too tight/loose.

The jig is designed to allow you to change that spacing. Are you saying your cuts are so far off that you can't adjust enough to get a good fit?

Have you loosened the positioning lock knob then tried to adjust it? It should be as simple as holding the red knob and turning the silver knob, right for tighter, left or looser. Lock the positioning knob and test again. I've never been to far out that I could not fix the problem in that way.

Ed

I am not saying that. I am saying that doing to the best of my ability what the instructions seem say to do has not, so far, worked for me. The instructions say that after making the initial adjustments and kissing the blade, to make a test cut and then adjust the fingers for a tight fit over the test cut.

When I do that, and then run off my full length test pieces, I don't get a joint that can be put together at all. They seem close, but no cigar. Does that mean I need to have a less tight fit over the pins for the test cut or a looser fit?

My plan is to take the night off, clear my head and see what.

jsburger wrote:Ed is correct. The silver knob adjusts the thickness of the pins. I have found you always have to adjust the silver knob, after the first test adjustment and test cut, to get the pin width perfect. Once you understand the geometry of what the two knobs do it is easy to adjust. You have to make test cuts in scrap but once adjusted it is dead on.

This is not entirely clear to me and that may be the problem or part of the problem. I'll be back at it tomorrow. I'm sure I've done something simple wrong.

algale wrote:

reible wrote:Assuming that you did the swing the dead chicken over your head 3 times already then what is your plan?

On a box joint the cut is always the fixed dimension. The spacing is the thing that can change. It will either be just right or too tight/loose.

The jig is designed to allow you to change that spacing. Are you saying your cuts are so far off that you can't adjust enough to get a good fit?

Have you loosened the positioning lock knob then tried to adjust it? It should be as simple as holding the red knob and turning the silver knob, right for tighter, left or looser. Lock the positioning knob and test again. I've never been to far out that I could not fix the problem in that way.

Ed

I am not saying that. I am saying that doing to the best of my ability what the instructions seem say to do has not, so far, worked for me. The instructions say that after making the initial adjustments and kissing the blade, to make a test cut and then adjust the fingers for a tight fit over the test cut.

When I do that, and then run off my full length test pieces, I don't get a joint that can be put together at all. They seem close, but no cigar. Does that mean I need to have a less tight fit over the pins for the test cut or a looser fit?

My plan is to take the night off, clear my head and see what.

That is because your pin width is off. The adjustment has nothing to do with the length of the project. Once the pins are the correct width and adjusted to the blade (the silver knob) you can cut any length of stock. I usually cut 4 or 5 pins to get the setting correct. Once they fit you can go for it with no problem.

It really does work so keep trying.