Shopsmith Forums

earlmorton wrote:Hi!

I made these tables some time ago, and have been asked to post information on them here. I have tried to post pictures before without success, but have been asked again, so thought I'd give it another try. I have posted these photos at least once on the SSUsers Yahoo group, so you might have seen them there.

Feel free to copy or modify my design to suit your needs. If you'd like any more information, please contact me directly.

Earl

PS: Well it still won't let me attach the photos. Another forum member has offered to post them for me, so I'll send them to him and let him try.

dusty wrote:Ed in Tampa and I have communicated in the past with Earl regarding his amazing Infeed/Outfeed Table Design. He has asked me to post these photos for him so that the members of this forum can have access to them as well.

earlmorton wrote:Here is some general information about my infeed and outfeed tables.

The tables themselves are 3/4-inch melamine particle board (17-11/16 x 23-7/8)*, and they are supported on both sides by aluminum channel rails. The rails are 3 inches wide, with 1.5-in flanges, and 6'8" long. The "web" (top) of the rails is 1/8-in thick. The flanges are 3/16-in. The rails slip onto the tubes on the front and back of the 520 main table.

My design criteria were simple:
1. They had to slip on and off easily, without any fasteners, clamps, or
adjustments.
2. They had to be flush with the main table regardless of the table height and tilt.
3. I didn't want to modify the standard SS parts in any way: no holes drilled in the table or its supports, etc.

The rail brackets are made of 3/4-inch MDO plywood. The angled slots in them allow the rails to just slip on and off the SS table tubes easily, but prevent them from lifting off when weight is placed at either end (or anywhere in between).

The table brackets are mostly 3/4-inch MDO plywood. Small hardwood blocks sit directly under the tables. I chose hardwood for that so I could more precisely plane it to the correct thickness and keep the tables flush with the main table. Small aluminum pins in the table brackets fit into holes drilled along the sides of the tables.

Both the rail brackets and the table brackets are attached to the web of the aluminum channel with countersunk screws. I was advised by an engineer at work to not screw into the flanges so as to not weaken the rails.

I have a short video that shows how easily the tables come on and off. I can e-mail it to anyone who wants it. I have it in both low-resolution (720 KB) and medium resolution (7 MB) .wmv files. On the video the SS seems to wobble a little. I noticed after the taping that it was on an uneven spot on the driveway, and was only sitting on three legs. Oh well!

If I was more adept with metal working, I might have made both the rail
brackets and the table brackets out of aluminum plate or angles, and welded them onto the channels, rather than using the plywood. But that's well beyond my skill range.

I bought the aluminum channel at a local industrial supply store, and they cut it to length for me. I based the size choice on both the recommendations of the engineer I consulted at work and what was available at the store. I wanted them to be stiff enough to support them only on the 520 rails without them drooping at the ends, but thin enough to not limit the depth of cut any more than necessary. The left rail sits over the headstock and prevents lowering the table all the way, so the maximum depth of cut is reduced by about an inch. So far it hasn't been a problem for me.

If I'm working with fairly heavy work pieces, I put the SS telescoping legs on the table tubes just to provide a little more stability. There's a lot of leverage out at the ends of these tables, and I would hate to break the table carriage casting or something by putting too much weight on it.

I've also found that it's a lot easier to adjust the table height and tilt before mounting the infeed and outfeed tables.

By the way, the aluminum rails without the tables mounted provide a lot of
support and sometimes all that is needed for crosscutting wide stock. When using my panel sled, I only need one of them.

*I should have made the tables a little wider (19-3/4). As they are, the rip fence can't be moved as far to the side as it might be. And if the infeed table was 23 inches long, it wouldn't interfer with the rip fence lock levers. I'll trim it off someday.