Shopsmith Forums

When your Mark 5/V is in the drill press position, are the Way Tubes equal distance from the miter track on the Main Table?

If they are not equal distant, what is the difference between the two readings?

These questions are being asked while assuming that the Main Table has been aligned so that the miter track is parallel to the face of the saw blade in the TS Mode.

Yes.

At least as close as I can determine with a combination square and my finger.

That be the Goldie!

I hoped to get more response from this post but I continued my quest even without collaboration from others. I think I have discovered a new and much easier way to align the main table.

I loosened all four trunnion bolts so that the table is free to move. I then tilted the main table to the 90° position (drill press if the Way Tubes were vertical) and then position the main table so that the edge of the table was against the Way Tubes.

(see attached image)

I then applied pressure to the outfeed edge of the table table, pushing it as far as the trunnion bolts would permit it to move.

While holding everything in position, I tightened the two accessible trunnion bolts.

The dead center being installed and the quill being extended has nothing to do with this alignment procedure.

Resting the table against the Way Tubes aligns the table (miter track) to the plane of the tubes. Pushing the table toward the infeed side aligns the quill to what I believe was Shopsmith's intended drill line.

Try it, you just might really like it.

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Interesting, Dusty. Have you checked the results with a dial indicator to see how close to parallel the blade is to the slots after using this technique?

My thought is that this could work but the acceptability of the resulting alignment may depend on how smooth the edge of the main table is and how parallel that edge is to the miter slots.

On my table, I've got some rather large "bosses" on the table edge and even ignoring those rather large bosses, the edge of my main table is quite irregular and I would be concerned about using that edge as reference surface.

If, however, the table edge were both smooth and parallel to the miter slot, why would it be necessary to raise the Shopsmith in drill press mode to do this alignment? Couldn't the Shopsmith be left horizontal and the table put vertical?

Finally, what does the phrase "drill press of the Way Tubes were vertical" mean?

Al

Dusty -- I had a Model 500, 3-4 years ago, that I rebuilt for a brother-in-law. This one had an interesting 'quirk'. The (500) Carriage evidently had slightly mis-aligned bore-holes. If I butted the table against the way-tubes like you show in drill-press position, then rotated the table to table-saw position, the table was not well-aligned. I'm trying to remember all the details, but somehow I ended up needing some extra shims with the table-bolts to get things well aligned for both drilling and sawing. That's the only one I ever saw that was that far off.

algale wrote:Interesting, Dusty. Have you checked the results with a dial indicator to see how close to parallel the blade is to the slots after using this technique?

My thought is that this could work but the acceptability of the resulting alignment may depend on how smooth the edge of the main table is and how parallel that edge is to the miter slots.

On my table, I've got some rather large "bosses" on the table edge and even ignoring those rather large bosses, the edge of my main table is quite irregular and I would be concerned about using that edge as reference surface.

If, however, the table edge were both smooth and parallel to the miter slot, why would it be necessary to raise the Shopsmith in drill press mode to do this alignment? Couldn't the Shopsmith be left horizontal and the table put vertical?

Finally, what does the phrase "drill press of the Way Tubes were vertical" mean?

Al

Yes, there is a dependence on the smoothness of the table edge. My tables are all relatively smooth but if they were not could they not be made smooth without changing their relationship to the miter slots by doing a light sanding. The bosses do not contact the tubes so I don't believe they are an issue.

My wording is poor. It is not necessary to go into the drill press mode. Just tilt to table as shown in the photos. However, this could be done in the drill press mode. Nothing that effects the procedure physically changes. This thread started in the drill press mode. I was initially working at the drill press when I noticed the relationship of the tubes to the rip fence. It evolved from there.

Trust me, I would not be posting this here if I did not have reason to believe that the measurements would be acceptable. My ZCI Table Saw Insert fits exactly like it should which tells me (without using the dial indicator) that all is well.

I am hoping for some collaboration from the membership.

Using a dial indicator, before I loosened the trunnion bolts, the saw blade was within .003" of being parallel to the miter slot.

dusty wrote: I am hoping for some collaboration from the membership.

I'm happy to give it a try but it may have to wait until the weekend.

Same here. I'll give it a try on my 500 this weekend.

I was going to hold off on declaring how good the numbers were but decided to reveal them now.

Using the dial indicator, the outfeed side of the blade was +.002" with respect to a measurement at the same location on the infeed side. This is better than it was before this exercise.

The answer to my opening question is YES, the Way Tubes are equal distant from the miter slot when the table is at 90° to the tubes.

I think that I will take both before and after readings with the dial indicator so that I can quantify the change, if any, in alignment.