What's your favorite accessory?

Create a review for a woodworking tool that you are familiar with (Shopsmith brand or Non-Shopsmith) or just post your opinion on a specific tool. Head to head comparisons welcome too.

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charlese
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What's your favorite accessory?

Post by charlese »

Thought it might be interesting to hear about SS owners favorite accessory and what makes it so. Some might like the lift best as without it, their use of the SS is limited. Some might like the band saw for a particular reason. Some might really have problems with one of their accessory and want to vent! Here is your chance!

I, for one, would like to hear about such things.

My favorite accessory, (if I have to pick just one) is the adjustable stop collar. That little simple tool has made it possible to obtain accurate tenon faces, dadoes and sloped panel edges when using the saw. It has also made it a whole lot easier to precisely align the drill press and shaper. It is a real time and accuracy saver. (Actually I have more than one favorite, but will wait 'til later for those.)
Octogenarian's have an earned right to be a curmudgeon.
Chuck in Lancaster, CA
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edflorence
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favorite accessory

Post by edflorence »

Wow...tough question.

I think the answer is going to vary with the kind of woodworking a person does. Each of the accessories...those that I am familiar with anyway...I sure don't have all of them!...seems to do a really good job of providing a specific solution to a specific issue. Looking at it from the other side, I would have to say I can't think of any accessory I have that I don't like. I have read some heated discussions involving conflicts of opinion about the sharpening jig and the mortising attachment, but I don't have experience with either. As far as the accessories that are in my shop, I can't find a problem with any of them.

OK, with that preamble, I would have to say that my recent favorite is the Miter Pro jig. My wife is an artist always in need of frames for her pieces and for the last few years I have been her on-call frame builder. I think I have built nearly three dozen frames in the last three or so years. The Miter Pro has done a great job of cutting the corners.

Ed
Idaho Panhandle MkV 500
paulmcohen
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Post by paulmcohen »

The Universal Tool Rest for the lathe, it is heavy and very flexible. It allows me to get all over my turnings.

I will save my complaining about it since they are covered in another thread.
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dusty
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What's your favorite accessory?

Post by dusty »

I believe my favorite accessory would be the adjustable stop collar with the tenoning jig running a close second.:)

The stop collar because it does what it does with such ease and accuracy. The tenoning jig because it makes safe what could otherwise be a bit hazardous.:D It does a good job of making repeatable tenons, also.

Now, you change the wording of this thread to "What is your favorie SPT?" and this becomes a whole different discussion and would not be near as easy to answer.:eek:
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Bruce
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Post by Bruce »

I would have to say the jointer with the conical disk sander a close 2nd. The jointer because I can turn a twisted, bowed, or cupped board into something useful and the conical sander because it will sharpen my jointer blades as well as square an edge while dimensioning a board to width.
charlese
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Post by charlese »

edflorence picked the Miter-Pro. I was going to list that as my second choice, but Ed already took that one. Hey, guys! This is a wonderful tool! Not only will it allow you to cut perfect 45's ever time,(without making adjustments) but it has a long 24" arm, with a stop block. This arm can be easily removed and attached to your stock miter gage for repeated length cuts. Incidentally the replacement long arm for the Miter Pro is exactly the same as the Fence Extension (555429), but costs less.

That being said - now I'll pick the 5 foot extension tubes as my next favorite. They are invaluable for extended set-ups and the only good way to align all tables. Really don't know what I'd do without them.

Should mention here that problems with the planner blade sharpening jig ended when I traded out the stock spring washers with smaller ones.
Octogenarian's have an earned right to be a curmudgeon.
Chuck in Lancaster, CA
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manvelar
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Post by manvelar »

For me my most recent acquisition is the Oneway chuck with the jumbo jaws - I had previously made a big dangerous device that allowed me to finish the turning of bowls and plates, but the chuck is absolutely great and has taken my turning to new heights!
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edflorence
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2nd Favorite

Post by edflorence »

The oneway chuck is great; I haven't used mine nearly enough. I actually got the jumbo jaws with it as well, but have never yet had the chance to try them out. I am still excited about just being able to make candlestick bases that don't have faceplate screw holes in the bottom! If I did more turning, I might nominate this accessory as my 2nd choice, but since lately I have been using the SS mostly in the tablesaw mode, I will restrict my choice to SS accessories for the saw. Therefore, I would say that my 2nd favorite accessory is...the envelope please...

The sliding crosscut table.

Before I had the SS version, I had been using a couple of shopbuilt sleds. They worked fine, but were smaller than the SS accessory and sat on the saw table, straddling the blade. The SS sled is offset to one side of the blade, which for the SS table is a better design. Also, I really appreciate the side to side size of the SS table that results from this offset design. I am using it on my old 500 and it really increases the table saw work surface. If I have wide pieces to crosscut I add a front table extension to the main table and another to the extension table and gain quite a bit of width capacity that way. The cross-cut table comes with pre-installed threaded inserts so that the fence can be angled at various angles (22.5, 30 & 45, as I recall), so the table can take the place of the miter gage for these common cross cuts. I haven't tried them out yet, but I can say that once the fence was adjusted initially at 90 to the blade it has stayed put and has made for really accurate cuts.

Come to think of it, I might nominate the front extension tables ( I have 2) as my 3rd favorite accessory. They are so easy and quick to attach that I find myself using them quite often in conjunction with the cross cut table.

Ed
Idaho Panhandle
MkV 500
ericolson
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Post by ericolson »

#1-bandsaw, hands down.

#2-SS outfeed table. No more feed roller hassles.

#3-router chucks. Great for horizontal mortising applications.
Eric
Rock Creek Designs


Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!
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rkh2
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What's your favorite accessory?

Post by rkh2 »

I would have to say that probably the Universal Tool Rest for the lathe, as I do more turning than anything else. It really makes it nice to do bowls and hollow Christmas ornaments being able to maneuver my tools easily when removing material from the inside of the piece. Otherwise, so many of the other accessories are really useful and make my SS so enjoyable to use.

Ron From TN
Ron from Lewisburg, TN
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