Shopsmith Forums

Has anyone used a 12" saw blade on their 500? Is this not safe? I do realize the shopsmith is designed to use a 10" blade.

Why even try it????

It will nibble the table/insert if lowered too far.

Would the lower saw guide fit? I would not want to run that large a blade without one. Also, the blade propably would have a larger hole fot the arbor.

I have done it for years with no issues. Since it is designed to accept a 12" disc sander everything works fine. I have a tenryu blade that I had them put the 1 1/4 hole in with very good results. On my 500 and 510 I only made trim cuts after bandsawing the piece within an 1/8". Mostly I used it for final cuts on tapered table legs. Now with the PP it will knaw through 12/4 mahogany with ease. On the 510 in order to use the saw blade guard you have to modify it slightly because the blade sits a little closer to the headstock than the sanding disc. I don't remember if I used the saw blade guard on the 500.
Paul

Thread is about a 500 folks!

The reason I ask is that I slabbed off some sweet gum with my chainsaw. The slabs range from 8 to 14 inches wide roughly 20 inches long and 4 inches thick, I believe I have around 30 of them. I want to begin ripping them down and don't have a band saw.

I don't think a 500 will have the HP for that. That's pretty big stock. That's band saw territory.

It may still be under powered for the task but I have replaced the 3/4 HP motor with the 1 1/8 HP motor. I should have mentioned that earlier.

Those are nice-looking slabs, but I wouldn't run them directly through any tablesaw in their rough state. Even with ample power, I'd either use a sled, or else flatten the bottoms and straight-line the fence-side edges. If it can rock, the risk of kick-back is high. Even if you can fit a 12" blade onto your Shopsmith, the blade guard (with kickback pawls) isn't likely to fit.

JSBurger has built a sled that is probably big enough to rip those slabs -- but of course a sled will use up some of your cutting height.

A bandsaw really is the right tool for this job. With luck, you might find a good Shopsmith bandsaw on Craigslist for $100 or so.

I appreciate all the responses, and will delay the project until I can secure the bandsaw SPT.