Shopsmith Forums

Yesterday, I was about to square up the glued up alternating black and white boards for a chess board. Going for 2 3/4" squares, the board was a little over 22"x22". The chore was to rip out 8 boards each 2 3/4" wide. This would give me 8 boards of alternating black and white squares.

To do this would require correct alignment of the 510 table with the saw blade. So I got out the dial indicator. The table hasn't been aligned for at least 6 years, and the shopsmith has been moved all around my shop, sometimes on a rubber pad, sometimes on concrete, sometimes half and half (a twist of the tubes). It hasn't been treated gently - just reasonably.

Okay - now the story - The blade checked out at .003" deflection. Not too sure of this measurement after reading all the horror stories in the forum, I rotated the machine 90 degrees and measured again using both miter slots. Well they repeated the same .003". Aren't 3 little marks on the Shopsmith Dial indicator = to .003"? Anyway it is still pretty well aligned.

Charlese, I saw neat thing on a You Tube post on how to glue up black and white boards, cut them and then turn/alternate them for Chess Board, I thought I saved it but cant find it. I dont know if it was here or LumberJocks.
.003, darn the TiteBond will fill that.

charlese wrote:Yesterday, I was about to square up the glued up alternating black and white boards for a chess board. Going for 2 3/4" squares, the board was a little over 22"x22". The chore was to rip out 8 boards each 2 3/4" wide. This would give me 8 boards of alternating black and white squares.

To do this would require correct alignment of the 510 table with the saw blade. So I got out the dial indicator. The table hasn't been aligned for at least 6 years, and the shopsmith has been moved all around my shop, sometimes on a rubber pad, sometimes on concrete, sometimes half and half (a twist of the tubes). It hasn't been treated gently - just reasonably.

Okay - now the story - The blade checked out at .003" deflection. Not too sure of this measurement after reading all the horror stories in the forum, I rotated the machine 90 degrees and measured again using both miter slots. Well they repeated the same .003". Aren't 3 little marks on the Shopsmith Dial indicator = to .003"? Anyway it is still pretty well aligned.

Be confident that those readings are correct! I have said all along that if the Mark 5/V was properly aligned that it would maintain that alignment even through 'heavy use'. A very important factor is the five locks. Not so much the quill but the other four must be secure to get repeatably accurate cuts.

I remain satisfied with mine. I added the double tilt but I do not believe that improved either accuracy or repeatability. It is hard to improve upon .005".

Thanks Charlese. I often wonder how often I should "align" my table(s). Every time I check them, they were in alignment (even the 10ER's) but that just created a doubt as to whether I was doing it right or not.

You just added a lot of confidence in not only my alignment prowess, but confidence in the machines themselves.

Again thanks!

They sawed square and glued up square. Yes, I have confidence that the machine will hold alignment through many operations and many years. When measured corner to corner - this board measured 31 7/8" both ways.

Nice job. Did you use a sled or just the shopsmith miter gauge?

Shopsmith miter gauge with Shopsmith 20" Aluminum extension. Fence with a starting block for width of cuts. Did a trial piece first to make sure the width was correct.