Shopsmith Forums

I had been trying to get a Shopsmith for a few years now. They sell instantly on our local Craigslist as long as they are priced several hundred dollars or less, and someone always beats me to it. I guess I got an ok deal for $500 as it came with a bandsaw and only a few rust spots. I'm missing a few parts such as the bandsaw power coupler, chuck key, and owner's manual, and apparently, parts to mount the saw guard, which is why I'm posting here.

The saw guard looks like the latest version on the Shopsmith site, but there is no way to mount it. It has a grey plastic base that looks like it's supposed to slide into something horizontally, but it's not at all clear from the Shopsmith site what that is supposed to be. Mine has a dust collector/guard on the bottom but nothing to connect it to the upper guard. Looking at the web site it's still not obvious how it mounts on the upper/lower set they sell. I also can't figure out why the lower guard cost as much as the whole upper/lower set together.

I've been browsing trying to find a pic of what I'm missing but have been unsuccessful so far. Help would be appreciated.

I should point out that the previous owners didn't know much about it as they bought it used. They only used it to cut plywood at their shop and could not figure out how to use the bandsaw (because they were missing the coupler).

Welcome to the forum. If you could post some pictures it would help.

I tried to, but my ipad pic goes just over the upload limit. How do I downsize it? "Your file of 1.47 MB bytes exceeds the forum's limit of 1.43 MB for this filetype. "

I'm starting to think a previous owner bought only the upper guard and fashioned some kind of bracket as there are round marks on the plastic part where it was fastened with a bolt/nut. Part of the bracket is still riveted to the lower guard but it needs another piece to attach to the upper guard. I may have to visit a hardware store to come up with something.

The Shopsmith site says something about the guard upgrade needing some drilling/modifying the tie bar. So does the upper guard attach to the table or the lower guard???

So what piece am I missing to be able to mount the upper guard?

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I can't answer your question because I have no experience with this particular model Shopsmith or the saw guard but I'll be watching for the answer. It sure looks to me like you have it all.

Welcome to the forum. Great pictures. They help immensely to describe and communicate the issue.

You have half of two different versions of the 500 saw guard. Your upper saw guard requires an attachment block that is screwed to the table trunnion. Your lower saw guard which I like best requires a different riving knife assembly to attach to the "L" bracket. I remove the "L" bracket and use the upper saw guard that attaches to the table trunnion on my sawing Shopsmith. I believe there was at least 5 different versions of the 500 saw guards.

billmayo wrote:You have half of two different versions of the 500 saw guard. Your upper saw guard requires an attachment block that is screwed to the table trunnion. Your lower saw guard which I like best requires a different riving knife assembly to attach to the "L" bracket. I remove the "L" bracket and use the upper saw guard that attaches to the table trunnion on my sawing Shopsmith. I believe there was at least 5 different versions of the 500 saw guards.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. A previous owner must have bought only the upper part. I see a mounting block in the online parts list but nothing about how it's attached to the tie bar.
http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/partscat/sawguard500_expview.htm

Just got off the phone with Shopsmith. All I'm missing is the mounting block (about 8 bucks), BUT, after they emailed me the instructions on installing it I'm not so sure I want it.

To mount it you have to slice off a section of the tube boss with a hack saw to create a flat surface, drill holes through the boss and tube, then tap them to make screw holes. Then screw the block into place.

Sure seems like a lot of trouble to go through instead of just providing some kind of wide "U" clamp to wrap around the tube boss to the block. Heck, I'm thinking maybe epoxy or JB Weld would work even better and be easier to align. Don't have to worry about drill holes being off center. It's just a saw guard, not a fence or something that affects cutting accuracy.

On a side note, he kind of let on that they prefer you just buy the (expensive) 510/520 upgrade instead of trying to mount this block to the 500 table, "for safety reasons." Sorry, but if I wanted a 510 or 520 I would have bought one instead of a 500 and a $1200-$1400 upgrade. At least they would have the newer motors and the other improvements included. The whole reason for buying a 500 was the lower price. If I was a serious woodworker I would have bought a new Mark 7, but I'm just a casual DIYer who was about to spend $450 for a Dewalt bench saw, lol. Just sayin.'

I do not think the guard in post # 7 needs any drilling etc.