Shopsmith Forums

In the pictures of the 520 fences I have seen, I do not see holes available for mounting auxiliary fences, such as for rabbeting with the moulder or with a dado blade.

Am I just not seeing them? If there are not holes, how do you guys hold such fences in place?

Thanks, Mike

No holes but they have slots for T nuts. It is a much better system and you can order the T nuts from Shopsmith. Check out my dado fence in the fifth post in this thread. https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=4235

The slots are more versatile then holes!

a1gutterman wrote:The slots are more versatile then holes!

YEP! The t-slots are adjustable, the holes are NOT!

BTW Is the height of the t-slot the same as the old holes?(i.e. will an old fixture made for the fixed holes on 500 or 510 fences work with the 520 with t-nuts etc. using the existing holes in the fixture?)

mbcabinetmaker wrote:No holes but they have slots for T nuts. It is a much better system and you can order the T nuts from Shopsmith.

Btw, the "T nuts" from SS are like nothing else I'd seen befo. I've used ye olde standard water closet flange bolts or square nuts for various slot fixtures (like the router table fence) in the past and hardly recognized what these gadgets were when they arrived from SS. Vastly different, heavy duty, long base/easy sliding, three holes, fit every SS "T slot" I got, inexpensive, a "Best Buy" if ever I saw one.

I'd forgotten about that great big hole in the top of the 500 fence. The fence must have been pretty strong for a mortising device to be used in there (I see a ref. p. 141 PTWFE).
And then the 510 fence had no similar capacity.
Likewise the 520.

This leads to a question: does anyone know, or have a good sense for, whether the 520 fence is strong enough to have two 1/2" holes about 2-1/2" apart drilled into the top surface in the left T-track slot, almost mid-length? Or otherwise think it aint such a good idea?

keakap wrote:I'd forgotten about that great big hole in the top of the 500 fence. The fence must have been pretty strong for a mortising device to be used in there (I see a ref. p. 141 PTWFE).
And then the 510 fence had no similar capacity.
Likewise the 520.

This leads to a question: does anyone know, or have a good sense for, whether the 520 fence is strong enough to have two 1/2" holes about 2-1/2" apart drilled into the top surface in the left T-track slot, almost mid-length? Or otherwise think it aint such a good idea?

I really do not know. But, I would be hesitant to do that. If all you were going to do is drill the holes, I think you could do that with consequence. But obviously that is not all you are going to do. You are going to mount something and I don't believe the structural integrity of the 520 fence will support that. The previous fences were much more stout.

How about a call to customer service to see what ShopSmith has to say about drilling holes in the 520 fence?

Jim

Dusty and Jim, thanks.
You're right, Dusty, structural integrity is my basic concern.

I want to mount a Rip-Strate safety hold-down/guide.
The 2 holes are for the front "feet" of the body. A screw on the back then applies pressure to that side of the fence to hold the assembly. That clamping stress (not big) would be between the screw pad and the edges of the two drilled holes. This would be a bit more stress than using the Rockler fence clamp.
If you can picture that you may understand why I questioned the strength of the fence.

Jim, good thought too. I'll get my "hands-off" thing for the phone ("All agents are busy at the moment...") and call tomorrow. Oops, Monday.

And tomorrow, then, becomes a good time to figure out an alternative.

Keakap,

Does your rip-strate look like the pictures on the link that Tim provided in the other tread where you mentioned this item? If so, I was thinking you could you make a metal plate that would lay down inside the frame. You could drill holes in the plate to pass 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch screws that would thread into four SS sliding t-nuts sitting in the dual tracks of the 520 fence.

Mike