Shopsmith Forums

In May, I had taken my wife to the Shopsmith demo at Lowes. After seeing the Power-Pro in action, she told me to get my 520 headstock upgraded. Well, after clearing out my classroom (I've retired from teaching effective 8-1), welcoming my new grandson on 7/4, plus running train displays for the local history center and a model railroad swap meet, I will be taking my headstock down to Dayton to get the upgrade. I figure while the headstock is off I can replace the casters and upgrade the ends so I don't have to mess with the additional weight of the headstock.

BPR

That sounds like a pretty "up" type of summers end !

Congratulations

Well, I took the headstock to Dayton and received a phone call yesterday it is ready to be picked up Monday. That will also let my wife and I complete touring the USAF Museum where we left off last week.
BPR

I have completed all of the upgrades. Tomorrow I plan to complete the alignment process. However, I have noticed a little problem concerning the casters. After installing them. using the new drilling jig, I noticed the unit is still able to move. I was wondering if:1) anyone else has encountered a similar issue and 2) what did you do to solve it? During the installation, I made sure the new casters were firmly seated and the newly drilled leg holes line up with those on the casters.
BPR

ryanbp01 wrote:I have completed all of the upgrades. Tomorrow I plan to complete the alignment process. However, I have noticed a little problem concerning the casters. After installing them. using the new drilling jig, I noticed the unit is still able to move. I was wondering if:1) anyone else has encountered a similar issue and 2) what did you do to solve it? During the installation, I made sure the new casters were firmly seated and the newly drilled leg holes line up with those on the casters.
BPR

Good Grief! I thought this was fixed years ago.(or was it the opposite-not lifting high enough?)

I have a set of legs I have drilled recently with a new caster set I got from shopsmith. I have not installed the casters yet so I can not say how well they did this time.

In the past there were several issues, and I for one did not use the templates they provided on my first set. I had heard all things were fixed so I trusted them this time around. Maybe that was a mistake?

My previous issues came with the opposite issue, the lift was not as high as I would have expected. I'd like to see a 1/4" step and then a 1/2" step. This at least an 1/8" higher then the template allowed.

I would loosen the four screws holding the caster assembly and then place some cut off under each caster so the weight of the machine forces the fasteners to the extremes of the drilled holes and re-tighten. If there is enough slop that might fix things.

I hope to assemble my mini frame this week and I'll let everyone know how that works out caster wise.

One other question, did you add the supplied washers to the stems? If so then a quick fix might be to remove them.......

Ed

I recently did the caster upgrade and bought the drilling jig. I noticed in the upgrade kit, they included some flat washers. I did not use them and my casters work perfect. I believe that they are used when the casters don't lift up the Mark V/7 enough.

jdonovan wrote:I recently did the caster upgrade and bought the drilling jig. I noticed in the upgrade kit, they included some flat washers. I did not use them and my casters work perfect. I believe that they are used when the casters don't lift up the Mark V/7 enough.

Since Shopsmith provided washers in the kit would you not expect the instruction sheet to tell you what they were for? Oh, you did read the instructions, right?.

Just so we all be on de same page, 'perfect' is flat on the floor, one crank 1/4" off the floor, second crank 1/2" off the floor, third crank back to flat on the floor.

The casters 'may' touch the floor when it is 'flat on the floor, but are not supporting anything but themselves.

JPG wrote:Just so we all be on de same page, 'perfect' is flat on the floor, one crank 1/4" off the floor, second crank 1/2" off the floor, third crank back to flat on the floor.

The casters 'may' touch the floor when it is 'flat on the floor, but are not supporting anything but themselves.

Is this a Shopsmith criteria or is this what some users feel is ideal?

The only user controllable characteristic is how far the legs are off the ground at the first step up (a function of hole placement).