Shopsmith Forums

br549 wrote:

dusty wrote:... the ID of my 510 rails is 1.061".

I forget .. are yours the older or the newer version?

That's considerably more than I had deduced from JPG's other post for either version. Curious and anxious to hear what other 510 owners' are.

Dusty's are the newer version. Did I say 1.029??? 1.060 is more accurate!

JPG wrote:Did I say 1.029??? 1.060 is more accurate!

Well, I don't think you specifically said in the other post, but from the differences in diameters you cited I came up 1.012" I.D. for the original fence rail version and 1.035" I.D. for the newer fence rail verison, but perhaps I misunderstood. Since I don't have a 510 or 520, I'm just trying to clarify what the I.D.s of the various rails are, so that others can then decide whether or not they want to try to substitute conduit, and if so, what type and size of conduit.

Would like to hear what others' fence rails measure and I will go back and amend my previous post once there is a concensus.

And if anyone with a 520 can measure the equivalent circular space available inside the extruded fence rail, that would be appreciated as well.

I trust that the rails are all compatible to 1" OD extension tubes no matter which version of Mark XX we are talking about.

This does not constitute proof of anything but here are some Shetchup drawings that depict my 520 rails (front and back).

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... 94#p232894

Recently added.(4/17)

The tubes I ordered from Metals Depot came yesterday. My 5' SS tubes are not straight. They are not real bad but still not straight. The tubes from Metals Depot are 6' long 304 stainless steel with a 0.120" wall. The roll test says they are straight and with that wall thickness I expect them to stay that way. As one would expect they are very rigid.

Also the 6' length allows you to add an outboard floating table on each end. No need for telescoping legs. The tubes are plenty rigid and of course 6' is not long enough for legs.

John, they look great. About the same price as the solid precision ground ones that I got. I still like the heft and precision of mine but have to put up with the extra weight. I am able to get the same fence to miter slot precision when mounted on one of the floating tables that I get on the main table, about .001 to .002". Never was able to do that before even with the short shopsmith tubes.

Looks good John! Set up that way, changing height looks like it would become easier/less complicated. Do you find instability (racking) becomes more of an issue without the fixed table included in the set-up, or does it seem fairly stable as is?

ecom1 wrote:Looks good John! Set up that way, changing height looks like it would become easier/less complicated. Do you find instability (racking) becomes more of an issue without the fixed table included in the set-up, or does it seem fairly stable as is?

Oops, I just noticed you are using the fixed tables too

Did you say that the depth of cut could easily be changed without removing the extension tubes?

If you did, I have something bad wrong with my extension table tubes. My extension tables do not adjust easily even when unlocked.

Those look great, jsburger! I think I'm going to order a set.