Shopsmith Forums

And.... as was said before, don't limit yourself to one color. I think Shopsmith headstocks with 2-tone paints are the bee's knees in handsomeness.

i'm thinking black with orange pinstripes, ghost flames and Harley logoes on the legs... but who has the time?

nuhobby wrote:And.... as was said before, don't limit yourself to one color. I think Shopsmith headstocks with 2-tone paints are the bee's knees in handsomeness.

I agree, but I am biased
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terrydowning wrote:I agree, but I am biased

very cool! what's the Citrix device?

Just a clip magnet from a trade show. It fell of and broke quite some time ago. I now use an old speaker magnet for hanging on to chuck keys.

finally got to the shop this afternoon and started on the way tubes...



chucked up a drill press sanding drum which fit the M5 way tubes perfectly. not sure yet what to use for the bench tubes (thinner walls), but for the 10E way tubes I think I can sand one of these down to fit.



the rig surprised me with how strong and stable it is. kept the lathe speed low and went though grits 80-600. still too many scratches so I'll need to get some finer paper

enyoc wrote:finally got to the shop this afternoon and started on the way tubes...



chucked up a drill press sanding drum which fit the M5 way tubes perfectly. not sure yet what to use for the bench tubes (thinner walls), but for the 10E way tubes I think I can sand one of these down to fit.



the rig surprised me with how strong and stable it is. kept the lathe speed low and went though grits 80-600. still too many scratches so I'll need to get some finer paper

Put a threaded coupler on the threads and chuck that hex shape in the chuck.

Ignore 'scratches' unless they are above the surface.

What speed are you turning them at?

JPG's right. Don't worry about pits or scratches, unless they raise the metal above the surface. You remove too much, and your precision tolerances will suffer. And, on the 500, the way tubes will get thinner.

On my ER, the carriage lock is below the tube, and the headstock lock is above. Tightening both will create a rocking motion, if the tubes are too narrow.

There is a guy at the ER website, Glen Mead, lives most of the year, 100 yards from the ocean, in The Philippines. He recommends mineral oil for his way tubes, and he doesn't sand down the "below the surface" rust, when restoring a machine. He has a furniture factory there, and has a few ERs working in it.

steve

The amount you sand off the tubes will not affect them. I have been installing Shopsmith headstocks (1.750" tubes) on Total Shop and other clone machines (1.675" tubes) without any alignment or accuracy problems. I have been using a 3X21 hand held belt sander to remove the scratches, nicks and rust on the tubes for many years. Much faster than hand sanding when spinning the tubes.

IMHO Removal of nicks and scratches results in only a cosmetic improvement.

Considering the wedge clamping action of the locks, I do not see how a smaller od would cause problems unless that od variance was of short length along the tube and abrupt allowing the headstock or carriage or wedge to 'cock'.