Shopsmith Forums

Has anyone thought about or actually widened the miter slots on your SS to the standard 3/4 size? I have been thinking this would be useful since then I coule use devices designed for a stanadrd sized miter slot. Of course the question is how to do this and keep the slots dead on straight. Maybe a machine shop could do it. Anyone have any thoughts on this idea?

Doing so is a lot of trouble to go to create many future problems.

Making those non-ss things 'fit' will cause none of the ss things to fit.

A machine shop could probably do that but I really think it is a bad idea. They would have to do 4 passes and get them all aligned to each other as well as the correct amount of 'widening'.

However it is yours to do with as you please.

shealyl wrote:Has anyone thought about or actually widened the miter slots on your SS to the standard 3/4 size? I have been thinking this would be useful since then I coule use devices designed for a standard sized miter slot. Of course the question is how to do this and keep the slots dead on straight. Maybe a machine shop could do it. Anyone have any thoughts on this idea?

You can get universal miter bars here, they would allow most 3rd party accessories fit the Shopsmith and other devices with standard sized miter slot as well and they are cheap enough (under $10 on sale) and available locally.

shealyl wrote:Has anyone thought about or actually widened the miter slots on your SS to the standard 3/4 size? I have been thinking this would be useful since then I coule use devices designed for a stanadrd sized miter slot. Of course the question is how to do this and keep the slots dead on straight. Maybe a machine shop could do it. Anyone have any thoughts on this idea?

There is no doubt that you could widen the miter slot to accept a standard miter bar (if there really is such a thing). The amount of material that would have to be taken off is really pretty minimal.

But why would you want to do that. While you are making the table compatible to 3/4" miter bars, you are making it incompatible to the Shopsmith and Incra miter bars and the many third party adjustable bars that are available today.

I'd bet that you have seen an ad for an attachment that you can't use because the miter bar is too wide. Get a different attachment or file down the miter bar. Don't mess with the Shopsmith table. BTW, have you checked around your shop for miter slots to see how many you have - not just the two on the main table.

dusty wrote:There is no doubt that you could widen the miter slot to accept a standard miter bar (if there really is such a thing). The amount of material that would have to be taken off is really pretty minimal.

But why would you want to do that. While you are making the table compatible to 3/4" miter bars, you are making it incompatible to the Shopsmith and Incra miter bars and the many third party adjustable bars that are available today.

I'd bet that you have seen an ad for an attachment that you can't use because the miter bar is too wide. Get a different attachment or file down the miter bar. Don't mess with the Shopsmith table. BTW, have you checked around your shop for miter slots to see how many you have - not just the two on the main table.

Besides all that, Do you have any idea what a machine shop would charge for a
one-off job like that? It's the setup time that's the time consumer.
Most legitimate shops start at around $100.00 an hour or so. Give or take.

http://www.infinitytools.com/MicroJig-Zero-Play-Guide-Bar-Systemt-2-Bars-2-Stops/productinfo/MJG-ZPS/

Universal bars now on sale. This is a kit with extra parts the bars themselves are about $10.

Ok you guys make lots of good points. I will leave my SS miter slots alone. By the way the reason I was thinking about widening the slots is I have lost of miter slot stuff from a standard slotted table saw I used before getting my SS.