Shopsmith Forums

Looks like my guess may have been wrong. Perhaps the smaller hole is against the edge of the insert so that most of the workpiece can stay on the table instead of on the workpiece? Since the insert is slightly below the table surface, would this reduce the chance of the workpiece moving in a way you don't want it to?

I shall ignore the sanding drum insert since it is intuitively 'normal'.

Now why is the shaper insert 'offset'?(I believe its smaller size has been explained)

The slots in the fence allows positioning the fence base over the holes in the table, but most of the range is out away from the insert.(towards the way tubes) When adjusted 'in' as far as it will go. the center as indicated by the red safety shield is to the way tube side of the insert. That is the same direction the insert hole is offset.

I do not know why the holes are positioned where they are, but the fence slots and the red safety shield indicate a need to offset the insert hole to align to the shield. This assumes the shield is designed to be 'centered about the cutter'.

Looking at the bottom of the table, there are raised areas aligned with the holes. Can I assume these are intended to keep nuts from turning so the fence can be adjusted from above?


As for the older only having one 'knob', that single knob adjusts the outfeed half of the fence. The other is also 'adjustable', but is intended to be seldom adjusted(allen wrench required...) The thinking is that that is the only one needing to be adjusted after setting up. It accomodates the new edge profile after 'shaping'.

prmindartmouth wrote:You are not missing a knob.........that model fence only has one!:(
The later 510 fence has two. See second pic in my earlier post.

Thankyou sir...

Thanks for the pictures, Dusty.

I guess I'm still of the opinion that hole in the shaper insert is offset because the fence on a 510/520 is fixed by being bolted to the table, while on the 500 you can place it's fence anywhere on the table because it's clamped to the table.

While the pictures don't show it, you need to be able to position either shaper fence so that a cutter can be positioned completely behind the fence. This is easy with the 500 because you simply slide the fence into position and clamp it down. On the 510/520, the fence is fixed so you need both halves of the fence to be adjustable and their range needs to be such that a shaper cutter can be fully behind the outside face. Once a shaper cutter is positioned behind the fence on the 510/520, you can adjust both halves to expose whatever portion of the cutter you're using.

If you're using the sanding insert on the 510/520, you may be unable to place the entire cutter behind the fence, requiring you to accept a portion of the cutter profile standing proud of the fence and that may not be what you want. For example, if you're using a rabbeting bit, you may be required to cut a rabbet deeper than you want because you can't hide enough of the cutter behind the fence. To overcome this though, you simply need to use a thicker pieces of wood for the fence material than those supplied by Shopsmith.

If more pictures would help, I have not yet taken down the shaper set up. Let me know.

I have reread this thread a couple times and I must say what I have been thinking - Are we trying to use the wrong tool?

I'm not saying we are, but doing so is often the cause of unwanted incident.

Example:

I hardly ever use the sanding drum with a fence of any kind. This certainly does not make it wrong to do so but it makes me wonder.

I don't do rabbets with the shaper; I use a router for that. This is probably because I avoid the shaper. My only serious wood shop incident was with the shaper and I have a mental block against it. I hardly ever convince myself to set up and use the shaper.

No additional photos required, unless you want to take them. But perhaps you could see if a shaper cutter can be placed completely behind the wooden fence when the drum sanding insert is installed and a cutter is placed close to the edge of the hole so that the gap between the cutter and edge of the hole is minimal. Thanks.

[quote="dusty"]
I don't do rabbets with the shaper]

I agree - there is a huge selection of router bits that can probably make most any profile that a shaper can.

I've never used the shaper, and rarely used the Mark V for routing. The main reason was speed. Now that the PowerPro can hit 10,000 RPM, it's useable, but a stand-alone router is still better. What I find attractive about the shaper is that the cutters have 3 edges as opposed to 2 on a router bit.

michaeltoc wrote:I agree - there is a huge selection of router bits that can probably make most any profile that a shaper can.

I've never used the shaper, and rarely used the Mark V for routing. The main reason was speed. Now that the PowerPro can hit 10,000 RPM, it's useable, but a stand-alone router is still better. What I find attractive about the shaper is that the cutters have 3 edges as opposed to 2 on a router bit.

Which has the same effect as increasing the speed of a bit with only two cutters.:)