Shopsmith Forums

Just how thick can you cut with a 520 table and 10 inch blade?
And can you use a 12 inch blade with the power pro drive system?
RICK

Maximum depth of cut is about 3 1/2" with a 10" blade. Logic tells me that if the blade doesn't hit anything that it should not, an 11" blade would give you 1" additional inch in depth of cut. BUT...I don't know if an 11" blade will fit without mechanical interference and I would not recommend trying.

I can only manage 3.22" How do you get 3.5

onevw wrote:I can only manage 3.22" How do you get 3.5

Maybe I don't. That is why I said ABOUT. But I'll go measure it for you.

I get an absolute maximum of 3 5/16" depth of cut and I would not push it to get that. Your 3.22" is about the best that is available.

From Shopsmith's spec page:

Maximum Depth of Cut 3-1/4" at 0° Saws completely through 4 x 4 lumber

Well I can only get the 3.22 with a Shopsmith carbide blade. Also I checked my 4x4 and get nothing less than 3.25 and most over that.

Well, Shopsmith could certainly be wrong.

I'm not in my shop right now, but my memory is that if the quill is fully retracted and the carriage is up tight to the headstock (separated by the rubber bumper on the way tube), the limitation on blade height is due to the fact that the table will bottom out on top of the headstock.

I'm not sure about this, but if you set up with the quill fully extended (blade still coming up through the insert), does that give enough clearance between the end of the table and headstock to allow the table to go a little lower?

If you really want blade height and don't care much about safety, you could set up with the blade off the end of the table, rather than through the insert (think like using the disc sander) and drop the table even further to get additional height (with the arbor washer being the height limitation in this configuration). If you do this be very, very careful. Any cut off on the waste side will be unsupported and likely will become a projectile. I've actually made a rip cut in this configuration (I don't recall why, but it wasn't to get more blade height) but I made sure that I was just cleaning up the edge and my cut was less than the kerf of the blade so that all I had to contend with was sawdust (no cut off to go flying).

By the way, I think most 10 inch table table saws have a maximum depth of cut of 3.125, so you are already ahead of the game with the Shopsmith whether it is giving you 3.22 or the advertized 3.25.

Al

dusty wrote:Maximum depth of cut is about 3 1/2" with a 10" blade. Logic tells me that if the blade doesn't hit anything that it should not, an 11" blade would give you 1" additional inch in depth of cut. BUT...I don't know if an 11" blade will fit without mechanical interference and I would not recommend trying.

How would you get 1" additional cut when the radius is only increased by .5 inch???

algale wrote:Well, Shopsmith could certainly be wrong.

I'm not in my shop right now, but my memory is that if the quill is fully retracted and the carriage is up tight to the headstock (separated by the rubber bumper on the way tube), the limitation on blade height is due to the fact that the table will bottom out on top of the headstock.

I'm not sure about this, but if you set up with the quill fully extended (blade still coming up through the insert), does that give enough clearance between the end of the table and headstock to allow the table to go a little lower?

If you really want blade height and don't care much about safety, you could set up with the blade off the end of the table, rather than through the insert (think like using the disc sander) and drop the table even further to get additional height (with the arbor washer being the height limitation in this configuration). If you do this be very, very careful. Any cut off on the waste side will be unsupported and likely will become a projectile. I've actually made a rip cut in this configuration (I don't recall why, but it wasn't to get more blade height) but I made sure that I was just cleaning up the edge and my cut was less than the kerf of the blade so that all I had to contend with was sawdust (no cut off to go flying).

By the way, I think most 10 inch table table saws have a maximum depth of cut of 3.125, so you are already ahead of the game with the Shopsmith whether it is giving you 3.22 or the advertized 3.25.

Al

You are correct and yes the table is hitting the power case. So moving the quill out might just let the table drop a little more and give me the extra I need to cut those 4x4. You are also right 3.125 seem to be common with a lot of 10 inch saws.
RICK

ljhhontx wrote:How would you get 1" additional cut when the radius is only increased by .5 inch???

You can't. That old man who said you would isn't really with it these days.