Shopsmith Forums

while attempting to assemble the parts of a recently acquired 510 I experienced difficulty getting the end castings to square up.

should the exposed way and bench tubes all be the same length thus making the end castings parallel to one another?

I'm not sure if this is true for all models, but generally, the bench tubes are 3/4" longer than the way tubes. Make sure the tubes are seated all the way. I went nuts for about 10 minutes once when the way tubes seem to have grown about 1/8". The set screws were loose at the hinge end and the tubes had shifted.

The way tubes are the same length as each other. The bench tubes are also the same length as each other, but 3/4" longer than the way tubes.

Also, in this thread I ran into a casting that wasn't properly bored. Did you see this 510 assembled, or was it already apart? Other problems could occur with bent tubes. Once assembled make sure the headstock slides on the way tubes properly.

It has long been a practice of mine to square the castings to the bench tubes when attaching the castings to the bench tubes. The two bench tubes are to be the same length and at one end are butted up against "hard stops" in the casting. These hard stops do not exist in the casting at the other end of a 510/520. I don't know why not but in their absence I square that casting to the tubes. To verify that I am done I measure the distance between the castings (exposed bench tube length). If doing this on a full length set of bench tubes I expect the length to be 48" (or very, very close to that).

I theorize that the hard stops do not exist so as to allow this tweak "to square". If these castings are not square to the tubes it becomes almost impossible to later square the extension tables to one another.

Dusty described in a little bit of detail how he aligns the Bench Tubes to the Base and Headrest. It is the Base end that has the stops for the Bench Tubes. The stops for the Bench Tubes on the Base end can be seen, as indicated by the arrows, in the picture below. The Headrest end must be adjusted for the length and should be set so the Way Tubes with the Way Tie Bar rest correctly.

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Setting the Bench Tubes too short in the Headrest and the Way Tubes and Way Tie Bar will not rest correctly on the Headrest and lock in place. Setting the Bench Tubes too long in the Headrest and the Way Tubes and Way Tie Bar will be too long to sit down onto the Headrest and also interfere with mounting Tubes going into the Headrest for the Extension Table or SPT's.

As Dusty said,

If these castings are not square to the tubes it becomes almost impossible to later square the extension tables to one another.

The Headrest must be parallel to the Base and Arm. If they are not parallel the Extension Table will be out of alignment when moved between the Base/Arm end and the Headrest end.

Until recently when Shopsmith changed to only providing the Double Tilt Ends, all Models of the Mark V used the same Base/Arm and Headrest ends. There have been some slight changes to the Base/Arm and Headrest castings over the years including the change around 1960 of the original Bench Tubes being 1-7/8" in diameter as opposed to the current 1-3/4" Diameter Benck Tubes. All Mark V Models be it a 500, 505, 510 or 520 use the same Bench and Headstock. It is the Table/Fence System including the Carriage that makes the difference between the Models. The current Mark V 520s has the Double Tilt Ends as shown on the website.

If doing this, start with Bench and Way tubes that are 3/4" different in length; Way Tubes being the shorter.

If using full length tubes, I measure for 48 1/2" of exposed Way Tubes between the castings.

Bench tubes are 3/4" longer than way tubes.