Shopsmith Forums

...Re pretty dang close! It is pretty dang close to a perfectly straight EDGE! I doubt the sides are so! Your pix with the .008 feeler is using the SIDE as a 'SE'. Notice it is straight EDGE not straight SIDE. ...

A passing glance at that pic reminded me of something so I checked and yes, we may frothwith dispel any remaining uncertainty about the straightness of the straight edges.
The rulein the pic is in fact a valid straightedge in that application (although its purpose there is only as a rule). It is a blade from an extremely accurate combination square, stainless steel and quite stiff. The surface to which its lower edge abuts is the side of a true StraightEdge.

I only want to clear that up because I was careless in describing and labeling the various pieces in the pic, and it is- or was- confusing. The .008 feeler extends under the rule (touching it) and under the StraightEdge.

Cheers!

dusty wrote:...The mechanism that secures the out feed end of the rip fence is adjustable for just this reason...

Quite so!

"..., without adjustment"
(I don't recall-- that may have been an edit addition)

iclark wrote:...
on the other hand, the fact that this change fixed your fence-blade alignment issue means that the bosses on the front and back were not ground parallel to each other. to verify this, find a flat, level surface in your shop and stand the table on end (that is, oriented as it would be on the table storage wall system) on that flat level surface. now set a level on the bosses that are now on the top surface. I think that you will find that the level now shows a significant tilt. if I am correct, then here is a manufacturing defect that will plague you every time you try to use front and rear rails.
...Ivan

kept getting conflicting, unreliable readings thanks to not having a reliable flat and solid surface, until ShaZSam! I remembered my sharpening plate. One each "Granite Sharpening Plate, Accuracy 0.0001". Together with my AngleCube level/bevel, I went back at it.
Sure enough, with the table 'resting' on its end, on the bosses (and I could even feel the different angles on the two bosses!), testing the upper Bosses with the Gauge showed almost half a degree on one, worst case. That was the one I had been using as an extension- pathetically enough the better of the 2-of-3 that were tapped for use as Extension table. Further checking of this table showed no two Bosses were in the same plane. (And I think this is the one that not only angles in but tilts as well!)

I took a closer look at the bosses themselves too. Some looked like an actual professional product.
Others, however, have multiple grind histories, on individual bosses!, not even flat. These things should be in a museum someplace (or that landfill you mentioned).

Anyway, this is progress. Thanks to your input and that of everyone- including SS- who chimed in with suggestions. "That doesn't seem right somehow" has now become "that will not work and must go".

Oddly, the most obvious 'defect'- sag and high points depending on which table- is the least troublesome and most easily ignored. Weird. (Besides, it's fun spinning the straight edge like a propeller, balanced on the high point in the middle of the Main table!)

Thanks.

dusty wrote:For whatever it might be worth, my Mark V tables measure 22 3/32" front to back. ...
The same three tables are not square and the variation may be as great as 1/16".

For all of these observations, the reference is a machined straight edge placed against the the bosses (front and back of the table).

The planes established by the front and back bosses are parallel (on all three tables) to within .004"...

UPDATE: front to back differ (from yours) about 1/16. Odd, but harmless as far as I can guess.
--mine aren't square either, but who cares. Not Shopsmith.

--straight edge also.

--my planes established by bosses are more like an air museum than a production run-- such variety!
Parallel universe might be where these belong.

Sounds like your tables and mine are more alike than not, with the primary dysfunction being parallelism (and size) of bosses in mine. You've got railroad tracks, I'm riding a freeway interchange.

Thanks for the comparisons. Very helpful.

Now, these are outta heah.

keakap wrote:UPDATE: front to back differ (from yours) about 1/16. Odd, but harmless as far as I can guess.
--mine aren't square either, but who cares. Not Shopsmith.

--straight edge also.

--my planes established by bosses are more like an air museum than a production run-- such variety!
Parallel universe might be where these belong.

Sounds like your tables and mine are more alike than not, with the primary dysfunction being parallelism (and size) of bosses in mine. You've got railroad tracks, I'm riding a freeway interchange.

Thanks for the comparisons. Very helpful.

Now, these are outta heah.

Just reviewed the later portion of this thread. Ahhh! Now I unnerstand the pix better(the E stuff! Thought the square was your 'SE'!

BTW Where did you post a pix of a 520 rail?????????

JPG40504 wrote:Just reviewed the later portion of this thread. Ahhh! Now I unnerstand the pix better(the E stuff! Thought the square was your 'SE'!
And no wonder you did. When I looked at that picture again I saw how misleading it is. Looked clear as could be, to me, as long as I gave no thought whatsoever to how someone else would see it.
Duh.
Sorry about that]one[/B] table alone! These things are truly trash. I've ordered 3 new ones. Hopefully one of them will be usable as an Extension.

BTW Where did you post a pix of a 520 rail?????????

Oops. I did take a bunch of pics with an old Kodak camera (wifey had my good camera over on the Big Island) but they were terrible, so I didn't even try to post 'em. Then, by the time she got back, I, uh, well, you know, er, that is, I uh
forgot.
Sorry, again.
I'll take a few later on and post 'em. AT least give you an idea what they look like. I couldn't begin to try and describe the extrusion. First thing I noticed was that the rear has no similarity at all to the front. You cannot reverse the fence like you can on the 510, for instance. (Really messed with the Rip-Strate!)

[Btw, reached a landmark of sorts. I leveled the Main table to true level, instead of my usual parallel to the garage floor level, and so far I've been able to get 2 1/2+ revolutions of the Straight Edge balanced on the Main table hump! My goal is 4, if I can do it before the new gear arrives.
Never knew a Shopsmith could be so much fun, and so rewarding.]