Shopsmith Forums

Ummm... so, I saw Rockler had the Miter 1000HD on sale last month... and I looked at my SS 510 miter slot, and said, "Well, that looks like 3/4 of an inch..."

Apparently it is more like 23/32nds. Yeah, I know, I should have measured (what was I doing thinking that someting on the SS would be standard), but I didn't, and I didn't read the forum postings about this issue prior to now. Of course, as a funny conicidence (hah hah) Shopsmith started offering the V120 with the SS-sized miter bar about 2 weeks later.

Anyway, my question is this - I like the HD package, and I called Incra customer service to ask them about my options. I thought maybe I could by the SS V120 miter bar and use it, but it doesn't mate up with the M1000. I asked about fabrication, and they said they didn't offer that service, but I could probably find a shop that would do it. Then I asked about grinding down the existing miter bar, and they indicated that also was an option I could pursue on my own. According to Incra, grinding it down "should not be a problem, and it should work fine."

So I am thinking about grinding the bar down using my hip and groovy conical sanding disc, but before I do:

Is this stupid?

Has anyone else done this?

Would it be smarter to return the HD, then buy the SS V120 and upgrade it with the Incra miter fence and flip stop? It will probalby end up costing more, and alas, no 1/10 degree adjustment - but given my skill level (low/medium), 1/10 degree adjustments may be the least of my worries.

Any other suggestions?

It seems like this should be a pretty simple and straightforward proposition, but then again, I thought it would fit fine out of the box. :-p

Riot_Nrrd

could you drill new mounting holes in a SS V120 miter bar or
one of the miter bars that SS sells for sleds or for fixture creation?

seems like drilling a couple of holes would be easier than precision grinding 2 sides of a miter bar. (assuming that the bar is not case hardened. I don't think it is, but I haven't tried cutting one - yet.)

if you do go the grinding route, would the miter bar fit in the planer/jointer blade sharpening jig that one uses with the conical disk? if so, it might give you more control of the grind.

FWIW,
Ivan

A machine shop could machine down the bar in seconds and I hope would only charge a very miminal fee.

You could carefully file it down, very little has to be removed.

You could sand it down, again be very careful because very little has to be removed.

You could drill a different bar. A little bit more tricky because it can effect the accuracy of the miter guage.

Return the one you bought and don't worry about it, the standard SS miter bar is accurate enough 99.99% of the time. Of course then you wouldn't have any braggin rights nor do you have anything to impress others with but you do have extra jingle in your pocket.

I bought a similar item from Incra and took it back for the same reason's. I think Ed is right taking it to a machine shop is an easy answer. In fact I may do the same thing. Either mic out your shopsmith bar or take it to the machine shop and just tell them you would like it machined to those tolerences. I have talked to Incra on the phone and cannot understand why they will not offer the products with shopsmith tolerances.

stevespix wrote:I bought a similar item from Incra and took it back for the same reason's. I think Ed is right taking it to a machine shop is an easy answer. In fact I may do the same thing. Either mic out your shopsmith bar or take it to the machine shop and just tell them you would like it machined to those tolerences. I have talked to Incra on the phone and cannot understand why they will not offer the products with shopsmith tolerances.

Incra does offer some items with miter bars that fit the Mark V. The ones that they don't offer have probably had poor sales results and are no longer offered. Marketing folks do strange things, sometimes, but they always believe they have good reason for what they do. Don't we all.

Incidently, I have an Incra miter bar that was made to fit the Shopsmith and it does. There is absolutely NO SLOP in that mechanical interface.

If Shopsmith would implement a slight modification in the miter bar width specification (make it like Incra), I don't believe they could keep them in stock. A large, large number of us with the standard Shopsmith miter would upgrade. I know that I would order three (3) the first day I saw the offer. Maybe more later for jigs.

After doing a little more research, I decided to buy the Incra Miter Express for Shopsmith. More money, but will solve the problem, and give me some additional options (plus more braggin' rights).

Thanks!

Andy