Is the 520 Pro Fence and Table System Upgrade worth it?

[gpuckett]

Showing with extension tables

[AEA]

I took some time, watched the 510 fence set up from Mr. Tool Hunter (now My Growth Rings) and have been happy since I adjusted my fence. That has been two years plus and it is still dead on. I don't have to measure front and back just the front. If I set my main table with the aux table, I'm cutting within 2000ths. I don't get the disdain for the 510 fence.

[AEA]

mistake. should have been 4000ths

[JPG]

mistake. should have been 4000ths

0.004 inch I assume???

[AEA]

yep.

[dusty]

In my opinion, that is a hard question to answer. I have and regularly use both the original 510 system and a 520 ProFence upgrade on a different machine. Some (maybe many) will disagree with me but it all depends on what functions you believe can be improved. Ease of alignment, alignment accuracy, reliability, etc.

I have NO complaints with either of my systems but if I had it to do over again - I would not spend that much just to get the "upgraded fence system"

[AEA]

How about the rails? My wife has a hard time releasing the roller locks from the tube rails sometimes on the 510. Is the 520 easier to change out tables?

[JPG]

'Roller locks'?

Thumb wheels?

Early version or late version?

[algale]

The only negative thing I will say about my 520 fence system is having to do with the stainless steel tape measure with magnetic attachment. On mine, the stainless steel tape measure is a tiny bit wider than the rail ledge on the 520 table system. What this means is that on occasion I will bump it with my hand and it lifts up throwing off the alignment that I had with the tape measure relative to the saw blade position. I wish my stainless steel tape measure was just slight narrower in width so that I couldn't accidentally catch the edge of it and lift it like this, or I wish the magnet could be a rare earth magnet kind that has more holding force.

Yes I have had issues with the rules to the point that I have had to replace them after catching and actually bending them. I guess the size was so that you had a place to grip them to lift them to take them off or to reposition them. If they stick too well you might end up bending them trying to move them????

Anyway I have no solution but I have since stopped using them for the most part. They are OK for birdhouses and the like but not close enough for more precision work, well the rules and my eye sight are finding that anyway.

On my other 520 that is set up with the saw train I never bothered to install them and ending up bending one of them to, still in the bag.....

I haven't looked around for other options but I do know that my foot long ss rule is about the same width and magnetic so I sometimes stick that on and use it. That works pretty well.

Ed

Thanks Ed. Yeah, I haven't ever used my stainless steel rules on my 520 fence. I always wondered if I had it to where it would stay put a little better if I "might" use it more. I agree on the precision, but one thought that I had was for close enough cuts the stainless rules could be used, but for more precision I could mount a DRO between the fence and the auxiliary table. So the thought being to quickly slide the fence along the rails while watching the stainless steel measure to get the rough distance then dialing in the precision with the DRO before clamping down. I like the concept for the magnetic stainless rules that Shopsmith came up with, but in the end I think it just doesn't work well unfortunately.

Somewhat related, I saw on the FB group a while back where someone didn't want to pay Shopsmith for the price of the replacement stainless steel tape measure for their 520, so they added on some angle aluminum to the 520 rails to give a flat platform where they could mount their own permanent tape measure in place of the magnetic one. I can't dedicate my 520 to saw mode only like in the picture below, but this idea does look interesting.
RIPSCALE2.jpg

I still find the easiest way to accurately and quickly measure rip cuts is the $3, Self-Zeroing, Direct Reading Rip Scale. https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/main ... 12231.html

[garys]

When I received my 510 rip fence, it was "off" somewhat. If I locked down the "near" side where I wanted it, and then locked the "far" side, it moved to the left a bit so it was out of line. I found that it is easy to adjust that using two screws on the under side of the fence at the "near" side. Once you get it set right, it will sit square to the blade wherever you want it. Perhaps this is the problem some users are having with their 510 fences. They might need a small adjustment.