Shopsmith Forums

Hi,

I checked here and didn't see this post but I thought I posted it here???? Anyway since the photo's at Flickr are going away I thought I give the whole story here.

This will be part first impressions, part repair, and part upgrade... This was Christmas season 2007 (last year)....

I decided to add the Miter Pro (555404) to my collection of tools and I had a project in mind for Christmas.... guess what that might have been? If you said "picture frames" you would be right.

As things turned out they were out of stock for a LONG TIME but rather then get into that lets go on. Going on was when the item arrived and the one part was well how shall one put this... less then a quality part. I complained and they had me send that one back and then after another wait they sent me a replacement which was to be "inspected" before being sent. By this time my shop had to shut down for the cold weather and no the Christmas project never got done.

I was also less then thrilled with the replacement, the same part that was a problem while better still wasn't quality. Since it had been inspected I figured they thought it was OK that way. The problem was with burrs from the cutting process so rather then send it back again I decided to just fix it myself.

The first problem shown below are the holes that needed work. When the screw heads don't sit flat with the surface and this surface should be flat I don't think it is right... So what happens when you have 6 hole and 5 of them need to be reworked, well you send it back or do it yourself.

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The other issue was with the long arm and the amount of a burr left. It would have made a good cabinet scraper, but that is not what I got it for. The arm with the burr problem and where it would rub over the main table are shown. My finger is pointing to the edge that needed work.
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I stuck the parts in a box and wait for spring, then when I had some limited shop time again and I got out my Miter Pro and proceeded to power wire brush off the burrs and other sharp edges (always a good thing to do). I then moved on to the part about the 5 countersunk holes. Using the only one was deep enough to have the head of the screw flush or below level I went ahead and made them all like that one.

The next post will add more details as to my next steps....

Ed

Round two.

As some of you know the Miter Pro has a short and long arm. They will go on either side of the head. As I said this is common knowledge for owners and those that have studied it but for people interested in the purchasing of one take a look here:
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If you notice the arm and the miter gauge and were thinking "hey I bet that those two would fit together" you would be right. And look how nice and long that arm is!!

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FYI:
The long arm is also sold as a 24" Aluminum Miter Gauge Extension (555429). You may also know that the 20" Aluminum Extension (556005) will fit the Miter Pro. You can also exchange the arms, short for long, long for shot.

OK no shocking news in this post but please read on in the next post.

Ed

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So what is the big hammer for you ask??? Are you going to smash the miter pro in to ball of twisted metal and hang it on the Christmas tree???

No, but I did do some pounding...

When you get to the part where the sandpaper goes on something becomes clear. The sandpaper is going to cover the mounting screws. OK OK I know some of you will put it out in the sun for 15 seconds and have to wear gloves to peal it back etc etc. However here might be another idea for the rest of us folks.

So I think the photos explain this quite well.... and keep in mind the shopsmith is not a work bench so while some the pictures show the shopsmith the hammering was not done on the shopsmith.... Take a look at the first picture to see where the pounding was done.

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Ed

So all is well that ends well.... but wait this has a bit more of a story to it.

Just before I put the sandpaper on the long arm some at the other site had a problem so I was looking at mine again and guess what??? It was perfect, not. With a straight edge against the arm was all but straight.

If you can call 1/8" gap at 22-1/2 inches out on the long leg a "little problem". I had a "little problem".

The error didn't take long to spot, about 6" down from the intersection the long arm started to bend back and guess what, the error just happens to add up to the gap I'm seeing.

I gave it a "treatment" and got it down to about half the amount. Additional efforts got the amount down to almost straight but you still can see light down at the end. I didn't want to go to far so that is where it stands today.

It seems to me that part was a trouble maker from the get go. If you buy one of these that is where I would start checking it over. I will say this tool and I have not been friends yet but life is not over so who knows??

Ed

Hi Ed- I do absolutely remember: I had recommended the Miter-Pro several times as being one of my very favorite and useful accessories.

Later on (about a year ago) you posted you had ordered and received one and were quite disappointed with the finish of the arms. From that time, I never noticed any additional comments on the subject. I was quite surprised at your unhappiness with the tool, and was, frankly, hesitant to defend it any longer. I didn't, but have remained curious if the issues were ever resolved.

Now, I know and understand the issues. None of which, I had. As other new Miter-Pros may have some of these issues, your post is more appreciated. Thank you for this thread, and your description of the issues you had.

As some of you may remember, I have two of the long arms, one of them is almost permanently attached to my miter gauge. The holes on the other end of the long bar allow hanging of my miter gauge on the side of a cabinet, out of the way. Attached are a couple of photos showing the miter gauge (in the background) hanging from the right side of the blue metal shelf, and out of the way very near the wall.

Hopefully your Miter-Pro will serve you as well as mine has. You have shown, it is a relatively easy matter to remove any burrs from the arms. Glad you have straightened the bend from the long arm. Again, I did not have that problem with either of mine.

Thanks for your photos - I know they are helpful to many of us! Sorry about your Flicker problems!

Now, taking the recommendations from Nick, you and others, I have ordered a Strip Sander. Hopefully, I will find it's usefulness and quality as good as advertised.

Hi Chuck,

Yes I see the parts it was rather like the "Where's Waldo" things from a few years ago. I ended up taking both arms off and store the hardware and head in one place and hang the arms which both happen to be longer then the drawer for the head.... another thing to work out.

Since none of you live all that close to me I want to share a little secret. We have some second hand stores near us... Salvation Army, Goodwill, and the like, they often have picture frames for 25 cents up to maybe a couple of dollars for large ones. If you look at them the corners are often damaged or pulled apart or a 10p nail holding the corner together. Looks like junk to a lot of people but to me I see another use or if you rather another life for them.

Go to Rockler and price picture frame molding... a 4 foot piece will run you at least 6 or 7 bucks even for the narrow stuff. So I pick out some of the ones that I like the molding on and then later re-cut them albeit a smaller frame then they were...

I have a bag of frames in the garage right now and I think the whole bag of frames was less then $2. Now if I just had time to get at that project.

Ed