Shopsmith Forums

I wanted to post a couple pics of the upgrades I've been working on. I've already posted one which was the bearing upgrade but here I will list them with pics. I bought some of the parts from forum members so now that I'm almost done with my monster....

1. Went from a single bearing 1954 greenie to 3 bearings.
[ATTACH]11301[/ATTACH]

2.Upgraded the tables to cast iron tables from a total shop.
[ATTACH]11302[/ATTACH]

3. Built a table that sides right into the carriage to attach a cross slide vise.
[ATTACH]11303[/ATTACH]

4. When the whole machine was apart, made 2 sleeves of vinyl filled with sand which sit inside the bench tubes. Adds about 10 lbs. Not much.
[ATTACH]11304[/ATTACH]

So, I'll try and add some pics about the cross slide table in another post below this one.

The cross slide vise table is out of frustration trying to add brass corners and parts for a Federal Table I made. Maybe I need to post a pic of it.
Couldn't find the part I wanted so I made my own. Now I can turn brass knobs etc.
Here is the Table top. This is 2 pieces of 3/16 steel plug welded together. The trunion legs and the supports are welded to the underside:
[ATTACH]11308[/ATTACH]

Below the table (welding looks bad from the flash but I'm a better grinder than welder).
[ATTACH]11305[/ATTACH]

Turning brass
[ATTACH]11307[/ATTACH]

Steel
[ATTACH]11306[/ATTACH]

So how did it do? Well, with some tinkering I think the soft metals are ideal. The steel didn't cut smooth but I did plastic and brass and the cuts were great. The cross slide vise has had the clamp flipped to be on the same side as the table adjustment. Height adjustment (to bring cutter to center) is the same as any carriage function. It needs far more weight to be stable to turn ferrous metals.
Of course, wood cuts perfectly!

You be a man after Bill Mayo's heart!

Nicely done. Rather than sand, how about buckshot?(they still make it?).

I can see why you needed the 'extra' quill bearings.


P.S. Nice Pix!

Thanks...and yes buckshot. I will go as far a solid roundbar shortly! That should add a ton of weight. I'm partially kidding of course.
Bill Mayo was teasing me with his upgrades...I had to get in the cage with mine.
The cross slide table makes short work of perfect dowels, fine parts, etc.

Here is the fabled Federal Table that started my quest to work metal a bit more.
This is the full table.
[ATTACH]11309[/ATTACH]

This is the brass corner piece I made. Not perfect but it really works.
[ATTACH]11310[/ATTACH]

Now I should be able to do some of this a bit more and to my own design. Once again, the other day, I again swore "I couldn't be the only guy looking for XYZ" while I paced Lowes. Never again. Well, almost never.

Great upgrades indeed. Could you give some more info on how did you fit the 3 bearings in the quill?

Thanks

Here is my past post.
"Well, I just mentioned this in another thread but I did manage to add 2 bearings right behind the single. These 2 bearing tuck up inside the quill. As you remove the ring and pull out the spindle you'll see the current single bearing and then on down the spindle some hat washer. I pulled off the washer. Then ordered some bearings 22x32x7. These were high speed rated as well as had a high 900 lbs dynamic load.
To make a long story short, it took some fiddling because the bearings were a bit loose at first on the spindle. I had to make a metal sleeve to shim the bearings tight to the spindle. But the bearings were, of course tight to fit inside the quill. I tried the freeze and heat method to expand the quill and shrink the bearing. The choice was machine shop to remove the material or grind it away. So, with more time than money, I spend the next 2 days or so with my calipers and a drum sander mounted in my drill. Finally, after learning a trick from Bill Mayo on mounting the bearings I managed to put the assembled quill back together and slide it into my headstock. It fit tight, but it fit. Then I heald my breath and started her up. She went through all of the speeds. Then I mounted everthing I could to test side thrust and no problem. I tested runout and it was less that.001. I lastly mounted my 3 jaw chuck and turned some pipe and no problem.
So, in the end, it worked and worked very well. Necessity is the mother of invention and again, with more time than money and a ton of patience I was able to have a huge change with these 2 bearings."

Now that I've played with my cross slide table I probably would have made the sleeve out of cpvc. Drilled out the center then fitted the sleeve into my chuck and turned it down.

Rob, how are you? Hope you like what the tubes have become? Yeah, I am thinking of using a shelf to add some weight. I only played today on a piece of EMT, steel tubing. All other materials cut well but the steel. I figure I might just go to solid round bar for weight. Next would be to fashion some collars which tie the way and bench tubes together. I could then attach and remove them as needed.

holsgo wrote:Rob, how are you? Hope you like what the tubes have become? Yeah, I am thinking of using a shelf to add some weight. I only played today on a piece of EMT, steel tubing. All other materials cut well but the steel. I figure I might just go to solid round bar for weight. Next would be to fashion some collars which tie the way and bench tubes together. I could then attach and remove them as needed.

Maybe for light work on steel you could use a setup more like a tool post grinder and let the abrasive do most of the work. A little limited I know but might be useful.