SHOP SMITH TABLE IDENTIFICATION

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 9:57 am

I dare say it is NOT mentioned in the patent application that this slot creates the ability to inadvertently create notches in the face of the miter gauge!

Thus demonstrating the ability of an old plain steel blade to accurately cut aluminum.

rpd · Post by **rpd** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 10:16 am

JPG wrote:I dare say it is NOT mentioned in the patent application that this slot creates the ability to inadvertently create notches in the face of the miter gauge! Thus demonstrating the ability of an old plain steel blade to accurately cut aluminum.

Of course, cutting bevels with the miter gauge in the wrong miter slot can also have that effect.

chapmanruss · Post by **chapmanruss** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 1:25 pm

Going back to an earlier post the table and fence in fig. 23 is from a Mark VII. Everett showed it again in his post yesterday with the drawing in fig. 2 which represents a Mark 2 table. So for my two cents worth, all the information I have seen has the second slot in the Mark 2 first. All the Mark 2's I have seen, both Greenies and Gray painted, have the second slot. We know the Mark 2 was introduced in December 1957 and made only a very few years, we do not have any serial number/production date information. It was later added to the Mark 5 and the best information I have is that happened in 1959. Finally when introduced and for sale in 1963 all the Mark VII's had the second slot. Another forum member provided us with a copy of the Shopsmith Inc. letter from January of 1980 discontinuing the second slot. See the attached PDF below. The confusion produced by this letter is in the opening sentence starting with In 1953. The problem with that opening is the second slot did not start in 1953. Another case of Shopsmith Inc. not knowing the correct history of the Mark 5.

second table slot notice.pdf: (295.11 KiB) Downloaded 870 times

everettdavis · Post by **everettdavis** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 5:27 pm

Russ is correct Fig 23 was from the Mark VII manual I completed restored and converted with word search capable text with tremendous help from JPG who is the Mark VII Guru among us all. I had posted it earlier in the thread and placed it on the drawing excerpt and text excerpt from the patent for clarity.

Equally Russ is correct that it appeared in the Mark 2 sold predominantly by Montgomery Ward, although it was marketed and sold by Shopsmith as well.

This Jan 1958 Patent application is for the Mark 2 as you will see later when I add that patent to the patents in My Google Drive.

The Mark 2 Manual (copyrighted 1959) shows it throughout as well as the Ads in Mar 1958 pages 14-19 I included in the manual and the Popular Mechanics Add May page 20 showing Shopsmith was selling it for $179. Manual is in the Mark 2 folder on My Google Drive and over 11 MB in size, too large for the forums. It was a very low cost machine built at the request of Montgomery Ward, and is not the robust quality standards of a 10E/10ER or a Mark 5. It was designed to be cheap, and was.

The Illustrated Parts Drawing for the Mark 2 does not show the slot (see below), suggesting the Mark 2 was designed and parts illustrations done, before it was added.

That omission begs another question for another day to determine if there were Mark 2's sold without it or not.

I have included some examples below. We know a little more, and yet have more questions... I guess that's what History is all about.

Everett
UPDATE the Mark 2 patent is now uploaded.
1958.01.22 Mark 2 - US002964075
Woodworking Machine - filed 1958-01-22 granted 1960-12-13