Shopsmith Forums

Recently bought another Shopsmith. This time a 510. One of the differences between it and my older Mark 5's was the miter gauge clamp.

This may have been mentioned somewhere on the forum, but thought I'd add it anyway.

The old one has two knurled nuts to adjust the clamp. The new one has a single knob for quicker adjustment. I liked the newer method and updated my old ones with the retro kit #555125 $26.11.

Okay, that's bait overly dramatic, but…..

I ordered a new safety miter gauge a couple of years ago and after using it for a few days it fell apart during a cut and part of it (never found) chipped one of the carbide teeth on my saw blade (never found the tooth either).

So I advise all to lock-tite in the set screw on top of the safety miter gauge. I didn't and it cost me a blade.

Forrest

wrdavis wrote:Recently bought another Shopsmith. This time a 510. One of the differences between it and my older Mark 5's was the miter gauge clamp.

This may have been mentioned somewhere on the forum, but thought I'd add it anyway.

The old one has two knurled nuts to adjust the clamp. The new one has a single knob for quicker adjustment. I liked the newer method and updated my old ones with the retro kit #555125 $26.11.

I believe I probably have something other that the "old miter gauge clamp" but I would sure like to know for sure. Why? Because my Safety Grip (though it has been moved to my Incra V120 Miter Gauge) seems to be very loose. It seems as though it was more rigid and held together than it is now.

Is there some sort of upgrade that I should have?

[ATTACH]25109[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]25110[/ATTACH]

Locktiting the set sounds like a good idea. The old clamp always seemed a bit more work to use than I wanted, so hardly used it myself.

Here's what the newer one looks like. Unthreaded rod with a foot riveted on, and a clamp shaped piece to slide over the newer straight sided lever arm. And a clamping knob.

WRDavis
I have the miter gauge hold down that you just bought. I think that mine may have come with one of the table upgrade packages over the years. I use it very often especially when making angle cuts when I make the toys for the Toys for Tots program. I have never had the problem that Forrest described nor have I had mine come loose when in use. I set it up by just letting it drop down on the work piece and tighten the clamp. There is enough wiggle room to get the next piece under the foot so you will not have to readjust for each piece.
I have a belief that safety equipment that is well designed and easy to use and set up will be used more often and when that happens shops are a lot more safe.
Bill V