Shopsmith Forums

I have been having a lot of problems with the knurled wheels the hold the extension tubes tight to the main, extension and floating tables loosening during use. This is especially a problem when I have the fence locked on a floating table and try to make a rip cut. If the table loosens only a bit the cut is a mess. Other than using vise grips, which I don't think is a good idea, I can't stop the problem from occurring.

I don't really have an issue with the 510 rip fence, although the 520 one would be nice. But what I want to know is if the upgrade to the 520 system will solve the problem I am having locking down the tables? Are there any other real benefits other than the rip fence that justify a $600 cost?

If an upgrade won't solve my problem, does anyone have any suggestions to get these locking wheels to stay secure?

All my machines are 520's and I have never had the problem you describe. More importantly when I had 510's I never had that problem either. I think the first order of business is to find out what is causing you this problem. I don't believe it is at all common to the 510 rail system.

I got a used 510 and had problems but not the ones you describe. Now I can not be sure if it was me, the machine or the design but I did not like what I had. It is also true that I had upgraded my 500 to a 520 before I got the 510 so my expectations were based on that. To make this already long story shorter I upgraded it to a 520 which I'm total satisfied with. If I had to do it I'd do it again.

As to your problem, it really depends on what the problem is as to if the upgrade with fix it. When you upgrade you don't receive all new parts, so you will be using some of the old parts and if they happen to be the problem then....

Is the machine some thing you got from shopsmith or did it have a previous owner? I have a collection of machines and I can tell you from experience previous owner can be wonderful or not. I've had to fix more then a few issues that were previous owner ones.

Right now before you spend the money it would be worth while to see if this is an issue that can be solved and if it can do that first. You still might want the upgrade but then again you might not. We have plenty of users who love their 510's, I just wasn't one of them.

There are vintages of 510's so if you can get some pictures of the machine that might help us decide on what things need looking at.

Ed

I avoid mounting the rip fence on a floating table because they do float. However, you should be able to secure a floating table to the tubes and expect that they will not move.

As for the extension table, I find mine to be perfectly capable of supporting the rip fence when being used as a rip fence. Occasionally I have it slip if I am doing horizontal drilling against the fence. When I have that happen - clamps are in order.

I've not witnessed your problem with my 510.
Try tightening the knurled knobs in a single sequence each time you use the tubes.Starting with the main table first, then proceeding long the tubes. Always tighten the front knobs first, then snug the rear ones..

My opinion there were only two models of the Mark 5 the 500 and the 520. In my opinion the 510 was a major engineering and quality failure which forced the design of the very good upgrade known as the 520.

With that in mind I would certainly upgrade to the 520.

Add me to the 510 users who don't have this problem. But, I don't think I've ever used the rip fence on a floating table. I do, however, use the rip fence on the extension table quite often.

Do all your knurled wheels not work properly, or only some?

Ed in Tampa wrote:My opinion there were only two models of the Mark 5 the 500 and the 520. In my opinion the 510 was a major engineering and quality failure which forced the design of the very good upgrade known as the 520.

With that in mind I would certainly upgrade to the 520.

With all due respect, I believe Ed's problems with the 510 were all local. Both of my machines began as 510s and I have had issues with either of them that would cause me to bad mouth them. Actually, one of my machines began its life as something else. It is labeled a 510R.

Consider the knurled knobs as suspect. If you find defective ones, there should be many available as they become almost useless after a 510 to 520 upgrade.