I BOX review of sorts (spoiler alert)

Create a review for a woodworking tool that you are familiar with (Shopsmith brand or Non-Shopsmith) or just post your opinion on a specific tool. Head to head comparisons welcome too.

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reible
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I BOX review of sorts (spoiler alert)

Post by reible »

Hi,

My box from shopsmith arrived this afternoon. What was in the box? I think you can pretty much tell form the title.

I will be putting mine together quite soon and I'll let you look over my shoulder if you want to. There will be pictures of the contents of the box, parts going together and all that fun stuff. So if you what to do yours all by yourself do not look at this tread. Yes spoiler alert!

It is way to late for me to start this tonight but I will let you have a preview of the contents of the box.
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Ed
Last edited by reible on Tue Dec 27, 2016 1:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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fredsheldon
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Post by fredsheldon »

Ordered mine today. Will be following this thread with great interest.
Fred Sheldon
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'52 10ER # 60869 (restored in 2012, used as a dedicated drill press), '52 10ER # 88712 (restored 01/2013), 52 10ER # 71368 (in process of restoring), '83 500 Shorty with OPR installed, '83 520 PowerPro with Lift Assist, 6" Joiner, 6" Belt Sander, 18" Jig Saw, 11" Band Saw, 12" ProPlaner, SS Crosscut Table. SS Dust Collector, Hitachi 1/2" router, Work Sharp 3000 with all attachement, Nova G3 Chuck, Universal Tool Rest, Appalachia Tool Works Sled.
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reible
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Post by reible »

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.
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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.
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The labels makes it easy to see what you have.
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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.
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More to come.

Ed
Last edited by reible on Tue Dec 27, 2016 1:32 am, edited 3 times in total.
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reible
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Post by reible »

Next I checked the squareness of the miter bar assembly, it was fine. I then started the adjustments of the miter bar. I was having trouble getting a nice fit. That is when I noticed that one of the guides had a slight problem. The pictures show it but it very difficult to see, (sorry about that) this occurs when the slit rotates in to the opening. When that happens the disk will not expand properly. When corrected it worked much better, but I'm having to put a lot of torque into it. From previous Incra adjustments this seems excessive???
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In case the picture in the last post still confused you the next two should make things even more clear.

First is a front view showing the left miter slot being used.
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Yep more to come.

Edit to put pictures back in text and to eliminate a misleading photo.
Ed
Last edited by reible on Tue Dec 27, 2016 1:47 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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reible
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Post by reible »

Major edit on this post.

It seem interesting to me that some people were reporting that they did not have a fit problem and many others had the same issue that I did. Today Dec 27, 2016 I went back to revisit the situation.

It turns out that there are two ways to mount some parts and depending on which way you went you either have the interference or not. But it also shows me that either way has an issue.

Since people often looking for information start a thread and begin reading at the beginning I've chosen to edit this post with the new information I have now found.

Below is part of the original post:

**************************************

Now I left a lot out because it seem pretty straight forward from the book and no use repeating a lot of what the manual says.

The backer board can be adjust to many positions and flipped over for even more "backing". It is 1/4" MDF and seems to be a piece of cake to make more of.

Here are a couple of cuts I made. It looks like it might take a few tries to get the feel for how it all works together.

As for me, I'll be taking a step back from additional postings for now. I have a project in mind but it will be a while before that starts. Until then I hope to make a few practice cuts and get the feel for the fit. No use having you watch that time of adjustment but those who wish to adventure forth think about helping us all out with some of your details.

**********************
Now here is the new information as of 12/27/16. First in case there are any questions as to the mounting of the hardware up to this point here is a picture with the "I" mounted on my shopsmith. Note the red knob is to the left and the left miter slot is used.
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Now here is the new information that I found today. First I have recreated the situation where the mounting hardware interferes with the mounting bolt. The original bolt head ran in to the head of the screw holding the miter bar on. The fix was a "toilet" bolt and the heads of the two parts slid past each other rather then butt heads. It has been too long for me to remember if I tried many solutions but this was the fix I was informed of so I did it. The other situation was that the tunnel in the blade guard needed to be slightly trimmed. This was not a big deal and no metal parts were harmed. You will notice that I have labeled this blade guard "A".
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Now had I decided to select the other blade guard which I have assume some people did things look quite different. I labeled this "B" In this case the tunnel is located in quite a different place and the mounting holes are no were near being in the same location. You can see that here:
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How ever on my system it would appear this is not a perfect choice either. The nut ends up being about have way in/out of the channel below. I don't find that to be a good situation either but I think either way will work and I have no idea which is the correct way. Anyway here is a picture of what I'm seeing.
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Perhaps someday I'll get the manual back out and have a look at this part of the assembly to see if they make it clear as to how it should go.

Ed
Last edited by reible on Tue Dec 27, 2016 2:34 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by Mike907 »

Ed -

I ordered an IBOX about three days before Shopsmith announced their version. Incra was nice enough to exchange the miter bar for free. I had setup problems similar to yours. I wanted the miter bar and adjustment knob to the right of the blade as shown on the Shopsmith website, but like you, I found that the bolt for the blade guard and the screw attaching the miter bar interfere with each other. I took a file to the head of the bolt, and they now fit in the same space. I also found the glidelock washers extremely tight. I snapped one allen wrench and twisted another like a pretzel and stripped out the hex recess in one screw trying to get the miter bar snug in the miter slot. My opinion is that the washers are counter bored too deep and the screws are bottoming out before the correct adjustment is reached, but it might just be that I'm doing something wrong.

Mike
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Post by reddog5362 »

I have a couple of questions about the jig and I guess box joints in general.

Why would it matter which direction the saw tilted? Aren't box joints cut perpendicular to the edge?

If the above is true could the miter bar have been put in tho other slot and avoided the interference with the other screw?

I've really been looking hard at this jig and will hopefully have one soon.
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Post by Gene Howe »

Mike and Ed,
I had the same problem with the blade guard bolt. My solution was the same as Ed's.
As for the glide lock washers, I forced a screw driver into the slot on the washer and got the hex screw to turn enough.
Mike907 wrote:Ed -

I ordered an IBOX about three days before Shopsmith announced their version. Incra was nice enough to exchange the miter bar for free. I had setup problems similar to yours. I wanted the miter bar and adjustment knob to the right of the blade as shown on the Shopsmith website, but like you, I found that the bolt for the blade guard and the screw attaching the miter bar interfere with each other. I took a file to the head of the bolt, and they now fit in the same space. I also found the glidelock washers extremely tight. I snapped one allen wrench and twisted another like a pretzel and stripped out the hex recess in one screw trying to get the miter bar snug in the miter slot. My opinion is that the washers are counter bored too deep and the screws are bottoming out before the correct adjustment is reached, but it might just be that I'm doing something wrong.

Mike
Gene

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dusty
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Post by dusty »

Has anyone spoken with Mark (Incra) about this "specific" alleged problem. As described, it does not seem to be Shopsmith version related and therefore should be a prominent issue with the I-Box. Given the details, I would think that Incra might have the solution in the form of corrected instructions and/or parts.
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dusty
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Post by dusty »

Ed Reible, as always, great work here. Very informative.

One question: Is it just the MDF blocks that you "trimmed" or did you also have to modify the size of the clearance opening in the fence.
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