Shopsmith Forums

Not having ever observed the dvd I must rely on my own experience.

I have never adjusted the table top plane to quill shaft axis first(first step), but it does make perfect sense since all other adjustments would have to be repeated afterwards. However it does depend upon the stop bolts being correct. I hope the dvd allowed for that.

I wonder about that 1/32 skew. You should be able to eliminate that. Does the dvd procedure include pivoting about the single bolt? Do you know if you have the table version with one bolt hole smaller?(never mind you have the m5 table).

The miter slot skew will NOT cause a difference in miter gauge to blade angle differing front to rear. Something else is causing that???? Warped blade? Would also affect 'first step'. Rotating the blade during that 'first step' would reveal warp.

JPG wrote:Not having ever observed the dvd I must rely on my own experience.

I have never adjusted the table top plane to quill shaft axis first(first step), but it does make perfect sense since all other adjustments would have to be repeated afterwards. However it does depend upon the stop bolts being correct. I hope the dvd allowed for that.

It did; after you adjust the table to the blade to make it square at the miter slots the next step on the DVD is to check clearance at the top and bottom of the blade and make sure they're equal. If not, adjust the stop bolts to correct the tilt.

I wonder about that 1/32 skew. You should be able to eliminate that. Does the dvd procedure include pivoting about the single bolt?

Yes, it does. As I said I was able to reduce the skew but wasn't able to eliminate it; I ran up against the sides of the holes. Maybe if I Dremel them out a little bit...but I'm hesitant to do that. At least, just yet

The miter slot skew will NOT cause a difference in miter gauge to blade angle differing front to rear. Something else is causing that???? Warped blade? Would also affect 'first step'. Rotating the blade during that 'first step' would reveal warp.

I did rotate the blade full circle with a long-arm Allen wrench clamped in the miter gauge and riding against the blade. Same clearance all the way around.

As you may have noted I tend towards the obsessive/perfectionist in many things (not housekeeping, though!). Time to put setup on the back burner and try the new toy out.

I have a bit of a project in mind; although it's not much it could lead to bigger and better things. I want to build a car-top carrier which would allow me to carry sheets of plywood and sheetrock and 8' long lumber safely...say, driving back from a sawmill in East Texas which currently has Black Walnut for $4 a board foot. No, they don't ship.

My minivan already has a roof rack, but tying big stuff down for a long trip is problematic. I had enough trouble getting a handful of 10' 2x4s and 2x6s home. My plan is to use the 2x4s as a foundation mating with the roof rack and the 2x6s as a perimeter box to hold everything together. I can go into more detail in another thread if it's on-topic for discussion.

First step is to crosscut one of the 2x6s and both 2x4s in half. The 2x4s will be cut to match the roof line later; my plan was to resaw the 2x6s into thinner boards...front and rear end caps, and some to just mount on the top of the box to keep stuff from flying out. Here I am with the Shopsmith ready for First Wood (well, under my ownership at least!)
The roller stand is a cheapie from Northern Tool. Dust collection is being handled by a Ridgid shop vac in line with a Dustopper. First thing I noticed is that the saw blade binds very easily. I had to hit the switch several times and regroup. Probably would have been a good idea to get help for crosscutting a 10' 2x6, but I had no help readily available. After pray-and-try-again (gently) a few times I got the 2x6 cut. For the 2x4s I re-evaluated my setup...I followed the instructions in the book to minimize the blade clearance over the piece; I had maybe 3/16" projecting. I lowered the table so that the blade projected about 3/8" and the 2 2x4s cut much more easily.

After that it was time to resaw the 2x6 pieces. That was a trip. I've never used a bandsaw before, in my life. I had the idea that using the miter gauge with extension as a kind of a rip fence would make things easier. Unfortunately, though, the blade kept drifting to one side of the piece (probably following the grain) and with the miter gauge in place I couldn't swing the board to compensate. I ended up ditching the miter gauge. One broken blade later I had two resawn boards which, to be charitable, looked terrible. Fortunately, though, I have picked up a DeWalt DW734 planer; after several passes through it I had two boards about 3/4" thick which will work for my end caps and two about 3/8" thick which might be okay as top pieces.

As of right now I'm bushed; I've been up since seven last night (graveyard shifts) and my home weather station tells me that the air temperature in the shade is 99 and the heat index is 116. And, yes, the sweat is pouring off. Or at least was; right now of course I'm writing this in the comfort of air conditioning with a glass of ice water at my elbow. Time for a shower and some sleep before I do it all over again tonight.

My $0.02: That's a long board to try tp cross cut using the miter gauge even with an auxiliary fence on the gauge. Any slight drag at either end is going to impart a lot of sideways or angular force against the blade, so I'm not surprised it was binding.

For something that big, you really should have a cross cut sled with some good hold downs to keep the board down on the slde and against the rear fence of the sled. By having it on a sled, you won't get so much tendency to drag/twist/bind.

Good luck!

algale wrote:My $0.02: That's a long board to try tp cross cut using the miter gauge even with an auxiliary fence on the gauge. Any slight drag at either end is going to impart a lot of sideways or angular force against the blade, so I'm not surprised it was binding.

For something that big, you really should have a cross cut sled with some good hold downs to keep the board down on the slde and against the rear fence of the sled. By having it on a sled, you won't get so much tendency to drag/twist/bind.

Good luck!

Sounds like a plan. In addition to the side rails, which will need to be trimmed to 8' 6", I have another project in mind (new garage doors) which will require several 8' cuts to exact length. I've never built or worked with a sled before. Where might I find information on building one which will work with a Mark V/500?

An alternative/work around is to use two miter gauges(one on each side) and use the clamps(manually clamped[old style]) so one can merely push the workpieces and not have to squeeze the handles. That provides guidance on both sides of the blade.

re the sled, with a M5 smaller table AND the two miter slot extenders you have greater slide range before the blade contacts the work piece..

No one has mentioned it yet, but in your excitement of using your new tool, realize your Shopsmith may not always the best tool for a given task. To cut 10' 2 x 4's or 2 x 6's in half, I would have simply used a hand saw or a circular saw. A sturdy sled may also work, and it has it's uses too. To see others' versions of sleds, just do a search for crosscut sled.

I once thought I could cut dadoes to recess some shelf standards in some 12" x 80" pieces of plywood, and do it by myself. Quickly ruined the plywood as the piece was too unwieldy to control. Today I would use a router with a straight edge. With practice and a few mistakes, you'll get better. Just always remember to work safely, and it's only a piece of wood.

For getting exact lengths, if the piece is too long for a crosscut on your Shopsmith, then cut slightly long and then use disk sander to fine tune and get good square end.

ehbowen wrote: I've never used a bandsaw before, in my life. I had the idea that using the miter gauge with extension as a kind of a rip fence would make things easier. Unfortunately, though, the blade kept drifting to one side of the piece (probably following the grain) and with the miter gauge in place I couldn't swing the board to compensate.

Sorry to hear about your bumpy introduction to your new toy...there has been some excellent advice already posted about how to x-cut those long pieces, so I thought I might help with some ideas about the bandsaw issue.

The Shopsmith bandsaw is a special sort of bandsaw in that it is much less prone to "drift", which is what you experienced, than many other bandsaws, but in my experience it is not completely immune to it. Blade tension and feed rate make a difference as well as doing a full tune-up on the bandsaw before use. A fence works if everything is aligned, but sometimes you will get better results by using a "one point" guide rather than the fence. The guide will allow you to make small side to side adjustments as you follow the centerline you pencil in on the top edge of the workpiece. This will leave much less work for the planer.

Resawing typically requires heavier blades with fewer teeth. Three or Four tpi I think is generally what is wanted. If I recall correctly, SS sells a resaw blade that is about 5/8 wide with 3 or 4 tpi. It works well, but there are lots of excellent alternatives on the market that are worth looking into.

There may also be a tendency for the blade to bow out during a cut, leaving convex/concave surfaces rather than a vertical cut. I have experienced this on some cuts in hardwoods and I am honestly not sure what caused it, but I suspect my feed rate was too fast.

Hope some of this is helpful

edflorence wrote: Sorry to hear about your bumpy introduction to your new toy...there has been some excellent advice already posted about how to x-cut those long pieces, so I thought I might help with some ideas about the bandsaw issue.

Hey, it's a learning experience. I still have all my fingers; my eyes had proper PPE; at worst I'm out a single 2x6x10, six bucks at the lumber yard...and I still got two definitely usable pieces out of the whole exercise.

My biggest problem, I'm sure, is the blades. I was using the original blades which came with the machine...and they didn't look good at all. Frankly, I'm surprised that I only broke one.

I sense an online order coming up after the next paycheck clears...

For bandsaw drift - if I understand you correctly, perhaps this Doug Reid video
will help explain how to counter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19KUOXatLPY


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