I BOX review of sorts (spoiler alert)

[tenbears]

Just got mine Monday Feb 2 2014. Put it together and made a test set. Not bad a bit sloppy but better than any other box joint with any jig combination I had been able to previously achieve. Spent an hour this morning during a ground blizzard dialing it in. Using a Freud box dado set stacked to cut three eights fingers. Wow tap tight joint with 1/2 marine plywood.

I have the miter bar to the left of the blade and after a bit of tinkering was able to get the I Box positioned where it sits over the blade correctly and the mounting screws to the miter bar do not interfere with each other.

Instructions are pretty much dead on. The video is okay although I think that they could include a piece on the fine tuning of the fingers rather than filler footage cutting pieces.

[dusty]

This is the box in came in. Noticed nothing saying this was for a shopsmith unless it is the product code or some place like that.

[ATTACH]21692[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21693[/ATTACH]

There are no shopsmith instructions inside either. And no parts list so nothing to note about a different miter bar for the shopsmith version.

The good news is Incra like always does a nice job of packing all those little parts.

[ATTACH]21695[/ATTACH]

The labels makes it easy to see what you have.

[ATTACH]21696[/ATTACH]

One of the first things they mention is right or left tilting saws. The left-hand miter slot is for left tilting saw, the right slot is for right tilting saws. So what is a shopsmith? This has come up before and some people "get it" right away, others it becomes a brain teaser. I think this picture might make it more clear. I tilted the table then tilted the camera for this effect.

[ATTACH]21694[/ATTACH]

More to come.

Ed

OKAY, Ed. You brought it up and you are right. It is a brain teaser.

When assembling the I-Box for use on a Shopsmith table saw, do I treat it as a left tilt or right tilt. I think left (based on a different post of yours) and I think that means the miter bar is to tr4avel in the left hand slot on the table.

Am I right or wrong?

PS

I have a follow on question. Does your setup match the image in Fig. 7 of the instruction manual. By my way of thinking, this image shows the Stock Ledges on the wrong side of the fence (reference the fence based on the 'deep notch').

Again in Fig.10.

[reible]

OKAY, Ed. You brought it up and you are right. It is a brain teaser.

When assembling the I-Box for use on a Shopsmith table saw, do I treat it as a left tilt or right tilt. I think left (based on a different post of yours) and I think that means the miter bar is to tr4avel in the left hand slot on the table.

Am I right or wrong?

PS

I have a follow on question. Does your setup match the image in Fig. 7 of the instruction manual. By my way of thinking, this image shows the Stock Ledges on the wrong side of the fence (reference the fence based on the 'deep notch').

Again in Fig.10.

The intent of the photo was to show that by changing perspective and looking at the main table being horizontal then it would show that the blade is tilted to the left. How ever the importance of this "tilt" is not the tilt but where the "fixed" blade location is. On a shopsmith the quill and thus the arbor and thus the fixed location is to the left. So on a shopsmith the left is the correct location of the miter mount etc.

It is too bad that neither shopsmith nor incra took the time to do a proper set of instructions for this shopsmith version. It is also too bad they didn't take the time to even mount and use one on a shopsmith as then I would not have had to find what I did.

Now I can say if we have the same revision of manual as I was an early adapter but the two photos look correct based of the other photos. I'll get out in the shop later today and see if they seem reasonable when viewing the real thing. Keep in mind they seem to have put pictures of a "right" tilt version which is different then the shopsmith versions we are putting together. Having to do that mental switch confusing at best. It would be nice to have a set of replacement photos to paste in now wouldn't it.

Ed

[dgreen810]

Ed Reible
I got in on the tail end of this discussion but do have a question for this reason. When I got my I-box I didn't get a SS miter bar. I proceeded to make my own which accomplishes the same function but doesn't interfere with screws trying to occuply the same space. It looks to me like the photos you posted at the beginning show the I-box mounted backwards. Looks like all you had to do was reverse the way the miter bar is mounted if you wanted to use the left hand slot.

I am using mine with the miter bar in the left hand slot and the red adjustment knob on the left hand side with the writing on the I-Box reading correctly and not upside down.

One other question, is under what circumstances would one want to tilt the table anyway??

Maybe I am missing something, who knows.

Don G

[dusty]

Ed Reible
I got in on the tail end of this discussion but do have a question for this reason. When I got my I-box I didn't get a SS miter bar. I proceeded to make my own which accomplishes the same function but doesn't interfere with screws trying to occuply the same space. It looks to me like the photos you posted at the beginning show the I-box mounted backwards. Looks like all you had to do was reverse the way the miter bar is mounted if you wanted to use the left hand slot.

I am using mine with the miter bar in the left hand slot and the red adjustment knob on the left hand side with the writing on the I-Box reading correctly and not upside down.

One other question, is under what circumstances would one want to tilt the table anyway??

Maybe I am missing something, who knows.

Don G

Mine looks to be assembled the same as yours; however, if you study the pictures of reibles' you will see that the labels are not all applied the same way as yours (or mine).

Reible also put the miter bar assembly on reversed from the way I did and I don't see how he did that. This pictures shows why I say this. This interference prevents the stock plate from being attached properly.

How Can This Be 004.jpg (1.52 MiB) Viewed 7911 times

[dgreen810]

Dusty

Have you made a box with the table tilted yet??

Don G

[jsburger]

Dusty

Have you made a box with the table tilted yet??

Don G

That is not possible, same as with the arbor/blade tilted on a conventional table saw.

[JPG]

. . .

One other question, is under what circumstances would one want to tilt the table anyway??

Maybe I am missing something, who knows.

Don G

Under NO circumstance does one use the I-box with the table/arbor tilted.

The instructions mention 'tilt direction' only to identify the arbor shoulder / nut side of the blade. That has added confusion.

[dusty]

Dusty

Have you made a box with the table tilted yet??

Don G

No, Don. I have not attempted that yet but when I do you can bet that all of the procedures will be posted right here!

Don't hold your breathe. Not an I-Box but maybe a jig.

[dusty]

but I have enjoyed every bit of the time I spent with this. Now I have to get out to the shop to make some joints. To do a really good job, I'm going to have to get some new saw blades. The dado blades that I have do not make good box joints and my router table needs some work (no miter track where I need one.