Shopsmith Forums

dusty wrote:Thank you, John. I believe I might have just learned something that should have been obvious to me the day a received my first stop collar.

You are more than welcome Dusty. We ALL learn things almost every day on this forum. That is why it is so great.

The other thing you can do is put an adjustable stop collar on the bottom end of the table tube. That way you can set two precise up and down table settings that are repeatable. All you have to do is raise or lower the table to the stop.

Beating his subject to death, but some means MUST be included that allows for blade od and kerf variability.

Personally I do not use just one blade. I have several and which I choose to use depends upon the task. All this marking talk ignores the variability of the blade(s).

I simply do not think any height(cut depth) or width(fence/quill ...) setting(s) is "calibrateable".

Even a cabinet saw with fixed arbor positioning has the same issue(s).

JPG wrote: I simply do not think any height(cut depth) or width(fence/quill ...) setting(s) is "calibrateable".

I have no direct experience with this, but there are a lot of users online who either have the Incra positioner or a DRO to set width of cut on tablesaws (not just Shopsmith's). In the online forums I have visited and reviews I have read, those users rave about using them for setting precise and repeatable widths for tablesaw cuts. Again, I have no direct experience with either, but I think both offer the ability to zero (calibrate) to the sawblade. I am sure there is some learning curve with this, e.g. how close do you get the fence to the outer tooth on the blade. Might have to fine tune a 32nd one direction or the other after making a test cut, but once that is known it should be bulletproof. I don't think I would be seeing so many glowing reviews of Incra or DRO's if this wasn't the case. Understandably some of this could be marketing BS to sell the tools, but I think I have seen enough posts in forums from what appear to be actual users of the tool.

RFGuy wrote:

JPG wrote: I simply do not think any height(cut depth) or width(fence/quill ...) setting(s) is "calibrateable".

I have no direct experience with this, but there are a lot of users online who either have the Incra positioner or a DRO to set width of cut on tablesaws (not just Shopsmith's). In the online forums I have visited and reviews I have read, those users rave about using them for setting precise and repeatable widths for tablesaw cuts. Again, I have no direct experience with either, but I think both offer the ability to zero (calibrate) to the sawblade. I am sure there is some learning curve with this, e.g. how close do you get the fence to the outer tooth on the blade. Might have to fine tune a 32nd one direction or the other after making a test cut, but once that is known it should be bulletproof. I don't think I would be seeing so many glowing reviews of Incra or DRO's if this wasn't the case. Understandably some of this could be marketing BS to sell the tools, but I think I have seen enough posts in forums from what appear to be actual users of the tool.

Absolutely necessary if one changes the blade or moves the quill.

JPG wrote:
Just do not change the blade nor move the quill.

Agreed. I think you would have to re-zero (calibrate) whenever you do that. I never move the quill when sawing, but blade changes would affect it.

Also, I think a few members have put a DRO on their Shopsmith planer as well.

RFGuy wrote:

JPG wrote:
Just do not change the blade nor move the quill.

Agreed. I think you would have to re-zero (calibrate) whenever you do that. I never move the quill when sawing, but blade changes would affect it.

Also, I think a few members have put a DRO on their Shopsmith planer as well.

That makes more sense! Only calibrated after sharpening/changing blades.

P.S. or serious wear.

The mkv fence has reference marks