Mortise hold down - how to upgrade

[wdelliott]

I have a mortise hold down from the 500. Since I have upgraded to the 520, the fence differs and hence, my old mortise hold down does not work. The photo of the part from the catalogue shows a T-Track type attachment to the bottom of the hold down bar, designed to slip into the 520 fence.

Question: is this a part? How to I convert my my 500 still hold down to a 520 style hold down?

Bill E.
Ravenna, Texas

[charlese]

Hi Bill! If you would make your mortises from the horizontal boring position you would find it a lot easier. Chuck up a router bit on the headstock. You will need a router bit chuck from SS. (Might as well get both the 1/4" and the 1/2" chucks) You'd be surprised how easily the mortises can be made this way. The high speed setting on the headstock is ample to drill out mortises with a router bit.

For a hold down, you can clamp a board onto your fence.

[bobgroh]

I have the same problem - an older (i.e. model 500) mortise hold down and a new SS model 510 with the new fence. What I intend to do (I haven't tried it yet!) is to drill a hole in the end of the hold down's shaft, tap it and then attach a Tee nut with a suitable screw. Then the hold down will slide in the track on the top of the fence. I will, of course, use my 510 in the horizontal drilling mode to do this. Very slow speed and lots of lubrication! And hope the shaft is not too hard!

I'll file another note in this thread after I've tried it.

Bob Groh, Kansas City area

[james.miller]

The rod is # 514487, I bought one for less than $10.00 from SS. You will need one of their T-nuts and a washer. If you can drill a hole in the end of a 5/8" rod and tap it so a section of threaded rod will fit the center hole in the T-nut it will work. Then cross drill the other end of the rod (top) to put the 5/32" Allen wrench into to tighten it.

It would be best to drill and tap the end of the rod with a lathe to center the hole. You could cut threads on the end of the rod, this is what SS does.

[wdelliott]

Thanks Jim.
Could you recheck the part number. I can't find it in the search box.

Bill E.
Ravenna, TX

[a1gutterman]

Thanks Jim.
Could you recheck the part number. I can't find it in the search box.

Bill E.
Ravenna, TX

Hi Bill,
It is possible that the number is correct, but not available without actually talking to customer service.

[dusty]

I don't know what is happening but this worked for me.

Mortising Holddown Rod, 514487....$8.18 (Quantity is low).

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/itemfind.htm?item=514487&Submit=Find+Item

[onetrack]

I have just finished 'upgrading' my 500 mortise hold down to be compatible with the 510 T-nut fence. I used one of my T-nuts (http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=8403) and simply tapped the bottom of the Holddown Rod for 3/8-16 UNC set screw.

onetrack
[ATTACH]14004[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]14005[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]14006[/ATTACH]

[JPG]

I have just finished 'upgrading' my 500 mortise hold down to be compatible with the 510 T-nut fence. I used one of my T-nuts (http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=8403) and simply tapped the bottom of the Holddown Rod for 3/8-16 UNC set screw.

onetrack
[ATTACH]14004[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]14005[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]14006[/ATTACH]

Nicely done! A heavy duty(thick) washer can take the place of the top plate(requires longer 'setscrew'). That way only the 5/8" rod need be rotated to install(tighten)/remove(loosen). At least that's the way ss did it!;)

[kd6vpe]

Chuck I really like your idea of the router bit and horizontal boring. I have a jig made for my router but using the 510 table top would give me more stability with projects. Now I have a new way to try thank you.