Shopsmith Forums

Has anyone checked stainless pipe sizes to see if they can be used to replace the tube assemblies?

jhall423 wrote:Has anyone checked stainless pipe sizes to see if they can be used to replace the tube assemblies?

Have you checked the price of stainless steel tube?

What we would need is avaiable. Check page 13 of the following. http://www.eagletube.com/catalog2008.pdf

The local scrap dealer is close to resonable and there is zero maintenance after replacement.

jhall423 wrote:The local scrap dealer is close to resonable and there is zero maintenance after replacement.

I don't know what the minimum wall thickness would be but that is the critical specification.

If you find that it is available from your dealer, I'd bet there is more than one person on this forum that might be interested.

From one of the posts, the Bench Tubes are shown to be 1 7/8" (1.875" OD) - 1 1/2" pipe is 1.90" OD & the Way Tubes are shown to be 1 3/4" (1.75" OD) - 1 1/4" pipe is 1.67" OD.

I found 4 pieces of 304 stainless and will let you know progress.

Schedule 40 pipe is as thick or thicker that the existing carbon steel tubes (which look like welded pipe to me) and much stronger that the cast aluminum that holds everything together.

I was hoping someone else had already tried this but I'll be the ginni pig and give it a shot. Tired of cleaning rust.

jhall423 wrote:From one of the posts, the Bench Tubes are shown to be 1 7/8" (1.875" OD) - 1 1/2" pipe is 1.90" OD & the Way Tubes are shown to be 1 3/4" (1.75" OD) - 1 1/4" pipe is 1.67" OD.

I found 4 pieces of 304 stainless and will let you know progress.

Schedule 40 pipe is as thick or thicker that the existing carbon steel tubes (which look like welded pipe to me) and much stronger that the cast aluminum that holds everything together.

I was hoping someone else had already tried this but I'll be the ginni pig and give it a shot. Tired of cleaning rust.

A word of caution here. The 1 7/8" bench tube applies to Greenies ONLY. I do NOT recommend using standard pipe of a different OD.

jhall423 wrote:From one of the posts, the Bench Tubes are shown to be 1 7/8" (1.875" OD) - 1 1/2" pipe is 1.90" OD & the Way Tubes are shown to be 1 3/4" (1.75" OD) - 1 1/4" pipe is 1.67" OD.

I found 4 pieces of 304 stainless and will let you know progress.

Schedule 40 pipe is as thick or thicker that the existing carbon steel tubes (which look like welded pipe to me) and much stronger that the cast aluminum that holds everything together.

I was hoping someone else had already tried this but I'll be the ginni pig and give it a shot. Tired of cleaning rust.

I strongly recommend that you make some of your own measurements to determine what OD stainless tubing you need. It would be a shame to spend money on replacement tubes only to find that they only fit some one else's machine.

Also, the dimensions on pipe and stainless tubing is not the same. Check the catalog that I referenced previously in this thread.

jhall423 wrote:Tired of cleaning rust.

WHY are you always cleaning rust?

You know... within reason the sizes on the bench tubes are not all that critical. There are all sorts of ways to make them fit properly. If the O.D. was too big but the walls were thick chucking them in a metal lathe and turning a short section on each end down to fit the end castings would be enough. The O.D. of the way tubes would be extra critical of course. The I.D. is not really critical though. Even thinner is not a deal breaker if you apply a little imagination. Beefing up a tube could be as simple as dropping a smaller pipe (it would not need to be stainless) down inside of the stainless tube and pouring epoxy down between the two tubes which would add both the strength of the epoxy and the second inner tube (not to be confused with a tire item). Even the inside of the inside tube could be poured full of epoxy or maybe there is an even better product. I found out many years ago that if you fill a steel pipe with a good mix of common concrete that it increases the rigidity of the steel pipe by an amazing amount.
The lower tubes (bench) could be done the same way or a second set of bench tubes cut shorter by enough to clear the end castings could be attached to the bottom of the full length bench tubes by any one of several methods. They could be bolted through, welded together or even attached by welding them with a space and using bridging to make them into mini steel trusses. The added weight certainly would not hurt anything when doing lathe work and it would be stout enough to park a truck on.
At least far stronger than the rest of the Shopsmith.
I had thought about the beefing up of the tubes a while back as a way to stretch one Mark V out long enough to make a turning about 5' long and around 4" in diameter...
BTW, the bench tubes if a second tube was added to each one it would not have to be below the regular bench tube. The front one could sit to the front and the rear one could sit to the back if it was desired to maintain height under the bench tubes like for storage units under there.

I sound like a smart aleck--doesn't wax work for you. About once every two months I just slap some wax on the tubes, gently wipe/buff and things stay shiny-Iowa is real humid in Spring and Summer but everything slides well too(I, am not judging-I get curious upgradeitis too.)Mike T.