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New Mark V 500 owner

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 9:33 pm
by rechilcot
I have been looking at getting a new drill press for my shop. I came across an ad in the local Craigslist for a gently used Shopsmith. I thought about it and for me to purchased a variable speed drill press, the Shopsmith made more sense because of the horizontal boring. Anyway, I purchased the Shopsmith for a little over 150 dollars. I cleaned it up and it runs great. It came with the main table, aux table, tailstock, tool rest. I just ordered a new chuck. Now onto my questions.
I have a shop full of woodworking tools, so I doubt I will be using it in tablesaw mode, but I do like the new style tables and adjustment wheels. Also, I like the disc sander capability; however, I do not have any of the guards. What guards are necessary for the disc sander? It is advisable to upgrade the tables if I am not going to use the tablesaw?

Re: New Mark V 500 owner

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 10:22 pm
by JPG
One man's opinion.

I have used the Mark 5 size tables etc. for over 50 years and have found the size to be adequate.

I suggest you get experience before making a decision.

I never used any guard with the sanding disk in all those years either.

Realize the disk is used positioned just off the left edge of the table only.

Others without similar experience may offer a different view.

Welcome to the forum!!!

Re: New Mark V 500 owner

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 5:59 am
by BuckeyeDennis
I’ve used the new-style 520 table only. For drill-press purposes, I don’t see any major advantage. The T-slots in the fence might come in handy for mounting jigs once in a while, but are unlikely to be worth the cost of an upgrade.

On 510’s and 520’s, the sanding disc fits in the saw guard, and through the table slot like a saw blade. This affords pretty good dust collection. If that’s important to you, a used 510 setup is likely to be considerably less expensive than a 520.

You might want to check out Shopsmith’s conical sanding discs as well. They add some unique capabilities to a Shopsmith. Likewise, if you don’t have a drum sander, the sanding drums can be very useful.

Re: New Mark V 500 owner

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 7:45 am
by br549
Welcome!

I have only used the 500 table and setup. While no guard was made (or is necessary) for using the 500 (or Mark V) in disk sanding mode, I made a "guard" that is more for dust collection than for safety. I modeled it after the saw guard, but made it larger to accommodate the 12" sanding disk, and have openings at front and rear into which dust collection hoses friction fit. The improvement in dust collection is considerable, considering the fact that normally there is no way to collect dust while disk sanding on a 500. Sanding is still done off the left edge of the table. Since the chute isn't easily tightened around the quill housing like a saw guard, I added blocking on the bottom to fit snugly between the way tubes. The sides are 1/2" plywood, with some notching to fit the underside of the 500 main table. The curved portion was fairly thin masonite (I think).

I use the disk sanding function frequently with a home-made 8" sanding disk ... 3/4" birch plywood mounted to a small lathe faceplate. I chose 8" because I could find 8" PSA sandpaper in a coarse grit (36). When I need fast stock removal, the 36 grit works great, and 8" has proved to be large enough for my needs. When I use the 8" disk, I use a strip of a corrugated plastic yard sign material hook-and-loop fastened to the chute to help close off the space behind the disk for improved dust collection. For use with the 12" disk, no closure piece is necessary.

If you don't already have one, you might want to get a fence, even for sanding. The fence can be offset slightly to the right rear, for sanding to uniform width (when stock is fed from back to front). And jigs can be added to a fence useful for boring or drilling operations.

One other accessory that be useful for sanding or drilling would be a speed reducer. These don't show up used very often, and are fairly expensive, but if you find one at a good price you will not be sorry.

Re: New Mark V 500 owner

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 7:50 am
by RFGuy
I have never used the 500 table, so I can't comment. The one thing that I will add here is my 510/520 table, being cast Aluminum, I always hate that it flexes when doing things on the drill press, e.g. drilling mortises. For this or drilling with good size diameter Forstner bits, I wish there was a replacement table. I have thought about adapting/making something like the Woodpecker drill press table (link below). For metal working, it would be nice to have a solid cast iron table that can more easily mount a vise to it. It is too bad Shopsmith, or a 3rd party, hasn't created a cast iron table option. Yeah, I know it would likely be too heavy to lift in and out, but for dedicated stations like this, I think it makes sense.

Anyone have any good mods to the table (500/510/520) that they have done for drill press operations? If so, please share with pics if you can.

https://www.woodpeck.com/drilling/drill ... age-2.html

Re: New Mark V 500 owner

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 10:10 am
by rechilcot
Thank you everyone for your kind comments. I have a radial drill press from Grizzly, which was the worst investment I have ever made in a drill press. Has anyone else had issues on deflection while drilling?

Re: New Mark V 500 owner

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 11:41 am
by RFGuy
rechilcot wrote:Thank you everyone for your kind comments. I have a radial drill press from Grizzly, which was the worst investment I have ever made in a drill press. Has anyone else had issues on deflection while drilling?
Just an fyi...Below is a previous thread that talks about the flex, but I have had problems with it myself as well. I have a 510 table that I converted to 520, so I can't speak to the 500 table. For drill press, the 500 table may be better than my 510/520 table. Shopsmith sells a telescoping leg just for the drill press. I purchased it recently, but haven't tested it yet. From what I understand some members have made their own metal insert and/or tried to stiffen the center of the table (where the saw blade fits through), in addition to using some kind of leg support underneath the table. For one of the MDF router tables Shopsmith used to sell they had optional metal struts that would mount underneath to help stiffen the MDF table and limit flex on it. I wish Shopsmith had designed the 510/520 tables so that something like this could be added underneath to stiffen the table for drill press mode. Hopefully some other members will respond here and share their ingenious solutions to this problem. Again the 500 table may have less flex than the 510/520 tables so maybe not a concern for you. I just don't know.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/gener ... 13122.html

Re: New Mark V 500 owner

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 11:55 am
by chapmanruss
Anyone using the 510/520/M7 larger table system can add additional support to it in Drill Press mode by adding the telescoping legs to the unsupported ends of the table attached to the connector tubes. There is a table leg support for the 500 table system that uses the telescoping leg with a clamp on the end to attach to the table. It can also be used on the larger table system for anyone having the Mark V 505 and no floating tables, connector tubes or telescoping legs. It is part number 555627 Telescoping Table Support Leg. I have used this when Mortising holes and it does help.

For anyone using a Sanding Disc on a 500 Table system, you can have dust collection with part number 555167 the Model 500 Disc Sander Dust Chute. This is a stripped down version of the 510/520/M7 Lower Saw Guard. It does require a steel sanding disc so if you have an aluminum sanding disc it has to be replaced.

Re: New Mark V 500 owner

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 5:59 pm
by rechilcot
Everyone here is a wealth of information. I really appreciate the help. I am sorry to ask another question. I removed the quill to check the bearing. It is very smooth and tight. Given this is a single bearing, are the dual bearings that much better?

Re: New Mark V 500 owner

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 9:13 pm
by JPG
rechilcot wrote:Everyone here is a wealth of information. I really appreciate the help. I am sorry to ask another question. I removed the quill to check the bearing. It is very smooth and tight. Given this is a single bearing, are the dual bearings that much better?
THAT is a matter of opinion!!! ;)

Actually it depends upon what you are using the quill for.