Shopsmith Forums

Ok, so took the plunge and bought a used SS 500. Finding that the way tubes are not 90 degrees to the horizontal tubes. Is this normal?

racerchris wrote:Ok, so took the plunge and bought a used SS 500. Finding that the way tubes are not 90 degrees to the horizontal tubes. Is this normal?

racerchris,
Can knot say that I have ever checked that on my Mark V. I do knot see how it makes any difference in the function of the drill press: The important thing is how the table is aligned to the bit. In most cases, you want the table to be perpendicular to the bit, unless you are drilling an angled hole. Check out the Sawdust Session pagefor alignment procedures, or buy a copy of the SS Rick Davis DVD.

racerchris wrote:Ok, so took the plunge and bought a used SS 500. Finding that the way tubes are not 90 degrees to the horizontal tubes. Is this normal?

Glad to see you found the forum racerchris. You'll enjoy the info here.

You should be relatively close to 90* but precise isn't too important. How far off are you?

racerchris wrote:Ok, so took the plunge and bought a used SS 500. Finding that the way tubes are not 90 degrees to the horizontal tubes. Is this normal?

Hi & Welcome,
I seem to recall that one of the videos said the nominal angle is 91 degrees. Another thing to check is whether the bench (lower) tubes are bolted tightly into the end-castings. If not, then this can introduce some extra sag angle which makes the drill-press further from vertical.

nuhobby wrote:Hi & Welcome,
I seem to recall that one of the videos said the nominal angle is 91 degrees. Another thing to check is whether the bench (lower) tubes are bolted tightly into the end-castings. If not, then this can introduce some extra sag angle which makes the drill-press further from vertical.

This has been discussed on a thread somewhere but I am unable to find it. If only people would put titles on these posts that allow them to be found by the search engine. But that has also been discussed before.

nuhobby wrote:Hi & Welcome,
I seem to recall that one of the videos said the nominal angle is 91 degrees. Another thing to check is whether the bench (lower) tubes are bolted tightly into the end-castings. If not, then this can introduce some extra sag angle which makes the drill-press further from vertical.

A couple I bought had been badly overtightened at the clamps (not sure how they did it without stripping the threads) and the tubes were no longer round at the end. That in itself could throw it off but if you have it apart and put it back with the tubes rotated to a new direction it will also be off, maybe more.
Also be sure that the tubes are installed to the proper depth into the end mounts.
As others have indicated I can think of no instance where not being exactly square at that point would be a factor.

racerchris wrote:Ok, so took the plunge and bought a used SS 500. Finding that the way tubes are not 90 degrees to the horizontal tubes. Is this normal?

Let's make certain that there is a problem before we attempt a fix. How far are the tubes from being vertical? If they are not vertical - is the angle formed with the way tubes less than or more than 90 degrees?

I don't know that that makes a difference but it might.

Wow guys, thanks for al the replies!

Yes, I understand it's not that important, but it was significantly off to the point that I was concerned it would fall.

When I investigated I found that the horizontal line formed by the leg to end casting was not parallel to the tube. So I unbolted the home made shelf and reseated the tube in the end casting. This helpful alot, but it's still not vertical. How far off? Well, I'd say about 1-2" from the bottom to the headstock - definitely noticable. The machine is missing the lock screw, so I'll definitely get one of those, but being a complete newbie to the SS, I thought I'd check with other users. Not sure what I would do further to adjust the angle...

One more strange thing, the Serial number is scratched. Looks to be 320480, based on this the website suggests 1956/1957 is manufacturing date. But i find this hard to believe. It came with several 500 parts including the smaller table and the 510 table, connected tubes, so I think it's a 500 that has been upgraded to the 510. It's green in color. The headstock has two shades of green. Could this unit be 50+ years old?

racerchris wrote:Wow guys, thanks for al the replies!

It's green in color. The headstock has two shades of green. Could this unit be 50+ years old?

If your machine looks like this, it's called a Greenie and yes, it's 50 years old.

racerchris wrote:...One more strange thing, the Serial number is scratched. Looks to be 320480, based on this the website suggests 1956/1957 is manufacturing date. But i find this hard to believe. It came with several 500 parts including the smaller table and the 510 table, connected tubes, so I think it's a 500 that has been upgraded to the 510. It's green in color. The headstock has two shades of green. Could this unit be 50+ years old?

Yes! This Leave it to Beaver episode displaying the Mark V 500 was first aired on November 15, 1957. Almost 52 years ago.