Shopsmith Forums

Attached are pictures of my saw blade holder with some blades mounted on their arbors that have been set to maximize their sweet spot.

The saw blade holder is made from Baltic birch plywood and maple, the back is 1/2" thick, the inside of the slots are 10&1/8" wide, there is 1&1/4" above each wedge. The wedges on the sides are 5" high 1&5/8" wide at top and 1/8" wide at the bottom. The fronts are 1/4" Baltic Burch the circles were drilled with a Forstner bit before cutting them apart.
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The sweet spot for the blade is where the runout is the least. Runout is the wobble of the blade side to side because they cant be manufactured perfectly. Forest blades are probably the best and are manufactured to a tolerance of .002" of runout. The spindle, arbor, and blade all have runout and depending on their position to each other the runout can be additive or it may cancel the other ones out.

To adjust the runout with the dial indicator, mount a clean blade on a clean arbor (sawdust can cause more runout) mounted on the Shopsmith with the blade to the side of the table MAKE SURE THE SHOPSMITH IS UNPLUGED. Lower the table and set up the dial indicator in the miter slot with the round tip riding in good contact on the side of the blade just below the gullets. Lock everything in position and then turn the Shopsmith by the upper output shaft (opposite end from where the blade is mounted, if you need to you can mount the sanding disk on this end so you can use it to turn the machine), do not turn it by the blade because you can move it from side to side a lot. Watch the needle on the dial gage and see how much total movement you have. If it is less than .003" I would probably leave it alone.

If you need to adjust the blade by rotating it mark the blades position to the arbor set screw. First try rotating the blade 180 degrees and check the runout again. You can try rotating the blade in 90 degree increments after that to see if you get less runout, or even smaller increments. Make sure you keep track of the different positions you have tried.

With some patients you can hopefully get the runout to .005" or less. It makes for some smooth cuts.

Hope this helps,

Jim in Tucson

Thanks, Jim- nice-looking saw blade holders and a great explanation of runout that even I could follow!

Gary

Great job, Jim.

I mean a "great writeup" and a "great project".
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Making Sawdust Safely

My favorite accessory is the jointer. I love those invisible joints in wide panels.

Have a new favorite - The Overarm Pin Router Upgrade! Have tried it out a couple of times and find it to offer versatility I never found with an under the table system. I think the versatility comes from the ability to also use it as a horizontal router.

All my raised panels prior to the "Overarm" have been sawn. (Haven't yet sprung for a panel raising bit). The other day when thinking how to raise the panels on a couple of doors, I tried using a core box bit from the side. The horizontal way yielded a couple of fine looking panels. Who'd of thunk it? What a neat system!

There is only two weeks left in the SS sale. (No I don't work for SS). Am happy about the response to this Thread. Hopefully all of your comments will help in some of our decision making about purchases before the end of the Month.

What can you do with the overhead pin router in the horizontal position? I would like to see it in person. I have the joint-matic and know all about horizontal routing but I just can't picture the opr doing that.

scottss wrote:What can you do with the overhead pin router in the horizontal position? I would like to see it in person. I have the joint-matic and know all about horizontal routing but I just can't picture the opr doing that.

Just leave the saw table in the horizontal position - Slap the OPR attachment onto the way tubes - mount the OPR table on the saw table. Then all you have to do is: put in your router bit - slide/lower/raise the saw table to the appropriate position. The adjustable collar helps in this operation - in fact it is indispensable).

I copied the following paragraph from Nick Engler's post: (located in "General Woodworking" under the Thread of "New Overhead Pin Router" started by reible):

"And if you buy the overarm router that attaches to your Shopsmith, you can also rout with it in the horizontal position. It's the JointMaker, back from the dead -- but with a better table and some cool new capabilties! The fact of the matter is that if you compare a router table -- any router table -- to the Overarm Router mounted on the Shopsmith...Well, there is no comparison. It's like comparing an apple to an entire grove of oranges."

If you still need to see it I'll snap a pix of the position and the resulting raised panels.

Hi Chuck,

I'd like to see some pictures of the new version including it in the position you mentioned for horizontal routing... Like is the shopsmith in the vertical or horizontal position??? I'm picturing things but I want to be sure I've got it right in my mind.

Also if you have some time tell us how the pin is positioned and how the table works with the system, somehow it attaches to the saw table right??

I have a whole arm load of questions if you have the time.

Ed

Hi Ed, The SS is in the horizontal (normal) position. There is a table included with the OPR. Didn't yet use a pin. The included table is attached to the SS saw table with SS Tee Nuts. Pix are coming - probably tomorrow evening.

Ask away, but if it looks good - recommend buying before sale ends.

The bandsaw hands down. Just so versatile. Narrow kerf too.