Purpose of second slot on old 500 tables?

Collector · Post by **Collector** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:23 pm

Hello all:

I see an old Mark 500 table, carriage, and fence for sale on Ebay, and the ad and picture show the table has a second saw slot very near the headstock side, slightly smaller than the main slot in (more or less) the middle of the table. My old 500 from 1980 has only this latter slot.

I'm wondering what is the purpose of this slot, why they eliminated it on later machines, and whether it could have any use for us today?

Someone out there must have some information on this. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Regards,

John

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:34 pm

Collector wrote:Hello all:

I see an old Mark 500 table, carriage, and fence for sale on Ebay, and the ad and picture show the table has a second saw slot very near the headstock side, slightly smaller than the main slot in (more or less) the middle of the table. My old 500 from 1980 has only this latter slot.

I'm wondering what is the purpose of this slot, why they eliminated it on later machines, and whether it could have any use for us today?

Someone out there must have some information on this. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Regards,

John

1) The older Mark 5's were 9" saws. This is important since using a 10" blade with that slot may(will) cause the blade to slice part of the table!:eek:

2) The intent was to increase the width of a bevel cut(table tilted). The location of the 'second' slot is further away from the miter gauge slot. Another 'gotchta' with its (mis)use is the miter gauge will also be sliced if you use it in the 'nearer' slot.

IMHO the all too often occurrence of these 'problems' is PROBABLY why it was discontinued.(Yes I have 'extra' cutouts in both my miter gauge and table)!;)

easterngray · Post by **easterngray** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:21 pm

It's also useful when ripping. With the older smaller tables, sometimes its nice to have the extra width between the blade and the rip fence without having to go to the extension table. And yes, my miter gauge bears a scar too! Alec

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 9:18 pm

easterngray wrote:It's also useful when ripping. With the older smaller tables, sometimes its nice to have the extra width between the blade and the rip fence without having to go to the extension table. And yes, my miter gauge bears a scar too! Alec

YES Alec I have noticed!;)

Collector · Post by **Collector** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 12:26 am

Hello all:

I see that I've been remiss. I asked a question a month ago about the second slot on the old 500 tables, but then never thanked JPG and Eastern Gray for their kind explanations.

Thanks, guys. I do appreciate your help.

Regards,

John