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Ken's stupid question of the week
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 7:01 pm
by kkoyle
Hello forum friends,
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 20767 times
- Lonely T-Nut
- T-Nut small.jpg (760.81 KiB) Viewed 20767 times
Re: Ken's stupid question of the week
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 7:14 pm
by jsburger
kkoyle wrote:Hello forum friends,
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.
Re: Ken's stupid question of the week
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 7:33 pm
by kkoyle
Thanks! I bet I can find something in the alignment chapter about how to use them to align the table rails.
Re: Ken's stupid question of the week
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 7:36 pm
by algale
I'm not sure but the T-nut may be part of the table-mounted shaper shield.
Re: Ken's stupid question of the week
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 9:33 pm
by Mike907
I believe the screws and washers mat be to mount the dust collecting elbow to the drum sander table insert.
Mike
Re: Ken's stupid question of the week
Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 8:48 am
by videobear
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.
Re: Ken's stupid question of the week
Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 10:04 am
by dusty
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.
http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewtopic.php?t=2371
Re: Ken's stupid question of the week
Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:43 am
by pilvr83
dusty wrote: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.
http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewtopic.php?t=2371
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.
Re: Ken's stupid question of the week
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 8:30 pm
by gsmyth
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.
Re: Ken's stupid question of the week
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 8:34 pm
by oldiron
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!!!
Mike