Some of you may remember me from my recent questions about making angled cuts on the table saw, and problems with my sticky miter gauge. I have a brand-new Mark 7, and I've been doing a lot of basic stuff for the past two months - using the table saw to cut some shelves, building a workbench and a French cleat system, and a few projects with the band saw and drill press. Today I was going through all the stuff that came with the Shopsmith, and I came across a couple of things that I couldn't identify from the owner's manual. There are two little aluminum pieces that look like they should hook on something, and then there is a single T-nut with a couple of bolts and washers. I know that T-nuts are used to set up jigs on the fence, but it seems that you would almost always want two for any jigs I would use (I plan to buy a few from the Shopsmith site soon). But what would I do with one T-nut, and what are the little aluminum things for? As always, any help from the smart crowd would be appreciated!
Ken
Mystery aluminum things
Aluminum things small.jpg (706.93 KiB) Viewed 20756 times
Some of you may remember me from my recent questions about making angled cuts on the table saw, and problems with my sticky miter gauge. I have a brand-new Mark 7, and I've been doing a lot of basic stuff for the past two months - using the table saw to cut some shelves, building a workbench and a French cleat system, and a few projects with the band saw and drill press. Today I was going through all the stuff that came with the Shopsmith, and I came across a couple of things that I couldn't identify from the owner's manual. There are two little aluminum pieces that look like they should hook on something, and then there is a single T-nut with a couple of bolts and washers. I know that T-nuts are used to set up jigs on the fence, but it seems that you would almost always want two for any jigs I would use (I plan to buy a few from the Shopsmith site soon). But what would I do with one T-nut, and what are the little aluminum things for? As always, any help from the smart crowd would be appreciated!
Ken
Aluminum things small.jpg
T-Nut small.jpg
I am not sure what the T nut is for but the Aluminum "Thingies" are for aligning the 520 table rails to the table.
John & Mary Burger
Eagle's Lair Woodshop
Hooper, UT
Now that you own a Shopsmith, you can never again throw out any odd-looking piece of hardware in your shop.
I tossed out a planer knife alignment tool, thinking it was a cheap wrench thing for assembling something...the sort of thing that comes in the box of something with "some assembly required."
And, dammit, I think I may have tossed out those rail alignment tools too.
kkoyle wrote:Thanks! I bet I can find something in the alignment chapter about how to use them to align the table rails.
I am not sure you will find anything describing how the aluminum jigs are to be used. There was a flyer that came with the jigs when purchased but I cannot locate mine.
However, a picture or two should explain everything. They are nothing more than a gauge to be used to position the 520 rails so that they are ALL the same distance below the table surface.
View this thread. There are a couple pictures of how I used them.
kkoyle wrote:Thanks! I bet I can find something in the alignment chapter about how to use them to align the table rails.
I am not sure you will find anything describing how the aluminum jigs are to be used. There was a flyer that came with the jigs when purchased but I cannot locate mine.
However, a picture or two should explain everything. They are nothing more than a gauge to be used to position the 520 rails so that they are ALL the same distance below the table surface.
View this thread. There are a couple pictures of how I used them.
I too had one of those aluminum pieces that I did not know what it was for. I almost tossed it but then thought, "that sure is a nice piece of aluminum!" so I kept it. Thank you for the insight.
I agree about not throwing anything out. When I was cleaning out my Dad's stuff, I found the planer alignment tool in a coffee can with a bunch of nuts and bolts. Had no idea what it was but kept it just in case. A few months later I came across it while reading the manual and made the connection. Keep all unknown spare parts in a box just in case they pop up later in a manual and you need them.
gsmyth wrote:I agree about not throwing anything out. When I was cleaning out my Dad's stuff, I found the planer alignment tool in a coffee can with a bunch of nuts and bolts. Had no idea what it was but kept it just in case. A few months later I came across it while reading the manual and made the connection. Keep all unknown spare parts in a box just in case they pop up later in a manual and you need them.
Couldn't have been said better! Hang onto the "ODD"stuff... It has a purpose... We may never realize the purpose but someone else may very well!!!
