Finally... my 500 to 520 upgrade experience!
Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:31 pm
Hi all,
Two big boxes showed up today. I took some pictures of the unpacking and installation process:
big boxes of toys!
You can see a picture of my sad old 500 in picture 1586, waiting patiently for its upgrade.
Everything was exceptionally well packaged in the boxes, and nothing was able to move around and cause scratches, nicks or dents. There is no single instruction sheet which lists everything a 500 owner should do, but I was able to work through it once I pulled all the instruction packets out of the various packages.
The main table upgrade instructions are poorly written, with lots of typos and many ambiguous instructions. I'll send some feedback to Shopsmith and post that feedback here as well.
The upgrade pieces have a very high quality feel, much more robust than my aging 500 was.
I have all the big pieces put together. I am still waiting for my Freud thin-kerf blade to arrive, then I'll install the blade and arbor. I also don't quite understand how the upper saw guard installs and aligns, but perhaps I'll give that a closer look tonight.
I admit I am a little overwhelmed by the floating table system. I think I need to do some alignment, because the tubes don't line up easily and it feels very awkward and jerky to adjust and move things around. I'm sure everything will feel better once it's cleaned, waxed and aligned. There are knobs on the underside of each table which lock the extension tubes into place, and I am not sure how tight I am supposed to tighten these. I guess getting indentations/marks on the extension tubes is normal and expected when tightening them down?
I ended up with the configuration shown in picture 1591, with the main extension table on the left side, and a set of extension tubes and floating table on each side of the main saw table. I wish I had one long pair of tubes, instead of four shorter ones. I know things need to be aligned because when I slide the tubes into the main table and lock them, they don't line up evenly with the left extension table. I'll work on that later.
This is the first time I've ever had a table saw with a featherboard. I can't seem to adjust the featherboard upwards very high. At its highest setting, I would still only be able to run relatively thin stock underneath it. Do I have it mounted incorrectly? Also, can anyone identify what the four screws in picture 1593 are used for? I put all the big bits on, and they are left over.
I am still waiting for my miter gauge and 24" miter extension to arrive, as they are backordered. So far so good! Once the remaining Shopsmith items arrive and the Freud thin-kerf saw blade arrives, I will be working on my first project - set of ceiling mounted storage shelves for the garage! Crosscutting the 8' stock was a dicey proposition at best on the old 500, but it should be a real piece of cake with the 520.
- Chris
Two big boxes showed up today. I took some pictures of the unpacking and installation process:
big boxes of toys!
You can see a picture of my sad old 500 in picture 1586, waiting patiently for its upgrade.
Everything was exceptionally well packaged in the boxes, and nothing was able to move around and cause scratches, nicks or dents. There is no single instruction sheet which lists everything a 500 owner should do, but I was able to work through it once I pulled all the instruction packets out of the various packages.
The main table upgrade instructions are poorly written, with lots of typos and many ambiguous instructions. I'll send some feedback to Shopsmith and post that feedback here as well.
The upgrade pieces have a very high quality feel, much more robust than my aging 500 was.
I have all the big pieces put together. I am still waiting for my Freud thin-kerf blade to arrive, then I'll install the blade and arbor. I also don't quite understand how the upper saw guard installs and aligns, but perhaps I'll give that a closer look tonight.
I admit I am a little overwhelmed by the floating table system. I think I need to do some alignment, because the tubes don't line up easily and it feels very awkward and jerky to adjust and move things around. I'm sure everything will feel better once it's cleaned, waxed and aligned. There are knobs on the underside of each table which lock the extension tubes into place, and I am not sure how tight I am supposed to tighten these. I guess getting indentations/marks on the extension tubes is normal and expected when tightening them down?
I ended up with the configuration shown in picture 1591, with the main extension table on the left side, and a set of extension tubes and floating table on each side of the main saw table. I wish I had one long pair of tubes, instead of four shorter ones. I know things need to be aligned because when I slide the tubes into the main table and lock them, they don't line up evenly with the left extension table. I'll work on that later.
This is the first time I've ever had a table saw with a featherboard. I can't seem to adjust the featherboard upwards very high. At its highest setting, I would still only be able to run relatively thin stock underneath it. Do I have it mounted incorrectly? Also, can anyone identify what the four screws in picture 1593 are used for? I put all the big bits on, and they are left over.
I am still waiting for my miter gauge and 24" miter extension to arrive, as they are backordered. So far so good! Once the remaining Shopsmith items arrive and the Freud thin-kerf saw blade arrives, I will be working on my first project - set of ceiling mounted storage shelves for the garage! Crosscutting the 8' stock was a dicey proposition at best on the old 500, but it should be a real piece of cake with the 520.
- Chris
