rip width deadzone

[waynef]

i have a mark v 500, if i put the rip fence on the main table i can rip from 0 to about 4 inches if i put the rip fence on the narrow aux. table i can can rip from about 8 1/4 inches minimum (with the two tables touching ) and larger. so how do i rip from 4 inches to 8 1/4 inch. someone please help me think outside the box.
I probably am just missing something simple.
thanks in advance
wayne f

[JPG]

i have a mark v 500, if i put the rip fence on the main table i can rip from 0 to about 4 inches if i put the rip fence on the narrow aux. table i can can rip from about 8 1/4 inches minimum (with the two tables touching ) and larger. so how do i rip from 4 inches to 8 1/4 inch. someone please help me think outside the box.
I probably am just missing something simple.
thanks in advance
wayne f

I assume you do NOT have the table with two slots. The second slot was created for just this problem.

Now the question is: which aux table do you have? The original narrow(4 1/4?) or the larger/newer (7") version. The narrow one had a cast in rip fence mount so bridging the two tables with the rip fence is not possible/likely to be acceptable(the reason the second slot was created).

The newer/wider aux table has the same extrusion as the main table so it is supposed to be possible to mount the rip fence with it bridging the joint between the two tables and do so accurately(A lot of precise alignment of the aux table required for that to happen.

Now y'all 510/520 folks need to realize this is about a Mark 5 or Mark V 500 only.

[reible]

If your table has two saw slots then use the other one......... forget the ranges but that should help. If your table is not one of these then:

If you have a newer 500 and if it is aligned correctly you simple add the extension table then slide the carriage and head stock over until they touch. Then you can use the rip gauge to bridge the tables and you have all the points between.

If you happen to have one of the older 500 you might not be able to get the alignment to work..... or so I have heard.

If you have the Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone book look for some ideas in there. One I remember and have uses makes use of clamp board and the edge of the main table....

You can make a "L" fence attachment then clamp it to the extension table and then slide the main table and headstock as needed....

Ed

[waynef]

yes i have the narrow 4" aux table.

are you saying that the some main tables have and addition blade slot nearer the edge which allows moving the blades position closer to the aux table?
i bought this used a few years back never imagined that an engineer would design a table saw with a dead zone in it. i was thinking of somehow widening the rip fence to shrink the "dead zone"

[reible]

I got my machine in 1976 and it had the dual slots. At some later time the table mold needed to up redone and they decided that the second slot was no longer desirable or some such reasoning and it was eliminated. I have 1979 that doesn't have it but the saw came to me used so I can not say for sure if the table is original or not. The slot was on the side near the head stock.

The "L" attachment that I referred to effectively changes the width of the rip fence.

Keep in mind the extension table need not be in the same plane as the main table. You can attach the rip fence to it and have it lower then the main table so the main table slides over it right up to the rip fence.

Right now I don't have easy access to my books but there is also an online version that you could look at. It is one for the newer versions but might still contain some ideas for the older machines. You can find it here:

http://www.shopsmith.com/academy/introduction.htm

See if that helps.

Ed

yes i have the narrow 4" aux table.

are you saying that the some main tables have and addition blade slot nearer the edge which allows moving the blades position closer to the aux table?
i bought this used a few years back never imagined that an engineer would design a table saw with a dead zone in it. i was thinking of somehow widening the rip fence to shrink the "dead zone"

[JPG]

This posting has good pix that show the second slot.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Shopsmith-Mark ... SwmNxah1j2

It increases the available rip width using the main table only to greater than the minimum using the aux table.

BTW that one appears to be in excellent condition!!!!

[waynef]

thanks for the help guys very much appreciate it .
wayne f

[garys]

I used a 500 for 25 years and never found that dead zone on mine. I could put the rip fence on the main table for narrow rips, and move it as desired as the cuts got wider. When I reached the end of the main table, I simply moved it over against the aux fence and kept sliding the rip fence as needed. The rip fence can straddle the two tables if needed to rip any width needed. When you exceed the width of the two tables together, simply slide the headstock away to make wider rips.

[robinson46176]

A Shopsmith has a couple of known limitations as a table saw due to required compromises. I knew about them going in but chose to base my shop around multiple (5 plus the double drill-press) Shopsmiths anyway because of the extreme flexibility of making special set-ups with them. I never found the saw limitations to be any particular problem. I guess I should look to see how many have the second slot table.
I did take the easy way out though, I just don't use them as table saws on a daily basis but I do embrace all of the other functions and flexibility of them. My Ridgid TS-3650 is too good and too easy to use for it to not be my daily use table saw. I do use a SS as a table saw now and then and would have no hesitation of daily use if it was the only saw available but as a tool nut with space I have the Ridgid, several other older table-saws, a Craftsman RAS and a Delta compound miter-saw.

Rambling here...
This year is an example of why I like a lot of duplication of tools. I'm (slowly) working on several buildings here on this farm and starting a full rehab on a house and large shop building over in the next county (waiting for a bit better weather maybe in a couple of weeks). I will be taking quite a few tools including a Shopsmith (not one from the basement shop), a table-saw and a lot of smaller tools to the rehab house and keeping them there until it is done.
One set of buildings I'm working on here is almost a 1/4 mile down the road at the west edge of the farm and a bit far to be walking back and forth all day to the shop. I have a small building there about 16' x 18' with a good concrete floor (I once had a wood shop there) where I'm setting up a temporary shop just to work there on those buildings. At a minimum it will get a 10" table-saw, saw horses and hand tools...

I've always wanted a mobile shop in a box trailer for such work. I probably should make one even at my age because my son could make good use of it after I can't. I do have an older, 4 horse with living quarters space, gooseneck horse trailer I could use...


.

[JPG]

I used a 500 for 25 years and never found that dead zone on mine. I could put the rip fence on the main table for narrow rips, and move it as desired as the cuts got wider. When I reached the end of the main table, I simply moved it over against the aux fence and kept sliding the rip fence as needed. The rip fence can straddle the two tables if needed to rip any width needed. When you exceed the width of the two tables together, simply slide the headstock away to make wider rips.

Not with the narrow aux table with the cast in rail did thee.

FWIW the narrow tables vary considerably from each other(no attempts was made to make them compatible with anything at all other than the rip fence mounting only to each rail).

25 years places thine having a 90's birthday. Did you get the wide aux table with it?