Shopsmith Forums

Fellow ShopSmith Geniuses,
I have a new set of the ShopSmith casters on order. ShopSmith makes the switch sound like a walk in the park. I intend on keeping existing brackets. I know I need to redrill mounting holes for proper position. I read a few threads on clearance issues.
My machine is a1983 500. Will it be as easy as ShopSmith contends or will I have issues?Since I work in a wheelchair my leg strength is not real good. Please do let me know.
Regards,
Thom Schuck
Portland

The issue you might find is that the lever will hit the casters due to the lever location on the rod. My machines from mid 70's into early 80's all had this issue. At some point shopsmith changed the design and moved the lever farther away from the casters but I don't know when that was.

There also has been other issues with the template shopsmith shipped along with the upgrade. In my case they were making copies and did not have them 1:1 so that made them useless. In and during that time other issues came out and there were revisions to the drawings, the last one I got I think was "D" but that is just from memory.

My guess is that you are going to require help to do the install given what you have said. There have been several threads on the subject but while long this one tells how my experience went:

https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/view ... hp?t=10221

It details how I moved the holes on the rod which you might find you need to do or perhaps not. The other possible solutions are adding washers to the casters, grinding the foot to fit or biting the bullet and replacing the whole assembly.

Ed

After reading the directions on how to do the replacement I decided to get the $20.00 jig that they sell also. I then set my machine down off the old casters removed the casters from the legs bolted the jig to the legs and drilled the legs with the machine upright. I removed the old wheels from the holder installed the new wheels and proceeded to bolt the caster assembly back onto the legs of the machine. I then levered the machine up with the new casters installed and love it. I have had no problems with them.

Vince

Most Excellent! I did catch up reading other post in regards to potential problems. Thanks for the added impute. I plan on removing the leg to make the swap. That way I can use a bench. I will get it fit up. It’s a real hoot learning how to use a ShopSmith. Add in a wheelchair and that’s when the fun starts. ShopSmiths are wicked cool. It is truly amazing what you can do safely when sitting.
Thanks,
TS

I took a slightly different approach you might want to try. I mounted the new casters in the old holes and use two long wooden blocks under the legs to compensate for the height difference. The blocks could be attached to the legs but I left mine loose so I have more clearance when moving it around. I just slide them in place when I am ready to let it down. Also makes it easier to get to the lift lever since it is down in the original position.

sehast wrote:I took a slightly different approach you might want to try. I mounted the new casters in the old holes and use two long wooden blocks under the legs to compensate for the height difference. The blocks could be attached to the legs but I left mine loose so I have more clearance when moving it around. I just slide them in place when I am ready to let it down. Also makes it easier to get to the lift lever since it is down in the original position.

That’s an interesting approach, and might just solve a problem I have. My walk-out basement shop has French doors opening onto a patio, which is a good place to work on large or messy projects in nice weather. But the door threshold is a couple of inches above the floor of my shop. When I lift one end of my 520 high enough to clear the threshold, the tilt angle causes the metal legs on the other end drag to on the floor. Sometimes I have to lift the entire machine.

The patio outside has pavers, and the larger wheels should roll much better across the cracks. The extra height would be no problem for me.

I have two plastic barrels (saw horses would work) that I put under the bench tubes when I work on the casters. This lifts the legs (wheels) up off of the floor about an inch or so.

With the weight off of the wheels (or legs), the caster assembly is more easily removed and then later reinstalled with the larger wheels inserted. The elevation makes it a bit easier to reattach the caster assemblies to the legs (better floor clearance while attaching caster assembly to legs allows for movement without interference).

You'll love the new casters.

Hi Thom,
I did this upgrade a few years ago. I used the installation kit and it worked great. I made myself comfortable sitting on the floor, removed the caster sets, drilled the new holes with the guide, switched the wheels than reinstalled them. Most of the earlier discussion had to do with the clearance using the new Shopsmith spacing of the holes and a modified spacing that gave more clearance with the wheels down. With smooth, even floors either way is fine. BuckeyeDennis' threshold problem is a different consideration. With any "bumps" to go over more clearance would be better. Thom, with your mobility issues I would not recommend using the suggestion of simply changing the wheels and putting boards under the legs. I don't know if you are still able to do it the way I did or if you can enlist some help but I would recommend you install them, the Shopsmith recommended way, raising the caster assembly up. If you need more help you can also email me directly if you still have it or PM me here.

I had fitment issues with the caster bodies not fitting onto the edge of the sheet metal legs. As I moved the bodies upward to accommodate the larger wheels the edge didn't fit nicely into the body. I used a little persuasion to permanently adjust the edge so it would fit. Did anyone else encounter this? Perhaps the ball pein hammer wasn't the most elegant but I really didn't care, the resale is so low I might as well make me happy, not my heirs....

Two different caster bodies on two different Shopsmith legsets. Look closely and you'll see the sheet metal has been adjusted:

Nope. I did not have that problem with the three sets that I have installed.

I have one set yet to be installed. When I get that task done I'll try to remember to post my update.

I suspect that patience and finesse rather than a hammer might have been the better tools to use. OR: Maybe a rat tail file in the newly drilled holes.