Shopsmith Episode 12: “Get Off the Table, Mabel!”

Now that we have the main drive train and basic infrastructure of the Shopsmith complete,  we turn our attention to the various accessories.  

First up: the table. 

Background

Traditional table saws have tables which are “fixed”, choosing to raise and tilt the motor/saw blade mechanism with a series of threaded rods and external cranks.  

The Shopsmith folks, on the other hand, had a better idea: keep the motor, pulleys/belt, and saw blade fixed...and move the table.  

This may seem like a much simpler design, and it probably is, but the table support and tilt system is still a rather complex system. The Shopsmith 10ER table mounts onto a tie bar which in turn sits on top of two vertical rods.  The tie bar provides pivot points upon which the table rotates through all degrees, including a full 90⁰ which is required when converting the unit to a vertical drill press configuration.

A trunnion mounted on the tie bar indicates the tilt angle and provides the ability to lock in the angle.  A spring-loaded locking lever automatically locks into the standard 90⁰ and 45⁰ angles.

The height of the table is controlled by a raiser bar attached to one of the vertical rods and a raiser level crank mounted on the carriage.  As the crank is turned clockwise or counter clockwise, the table raises and lowers accordingly.

Rusty’s Table

Enough of Shopsmith 101; let's get back to Rusty’s table. It was, well you guessed it, ...rusty.  

I disassembled the table parts - which was the easy part (it’s always the easy part!).  There are more pieces than one (certainly I) would think.  I soaked them in Evapo-Rust overnight and hoped I could remember how to put everything back together.  My goal:  no left over parts after re-assembly.  

I cleaned up the table a little with a simple scrubbing...but I think I can do better.  

And what’s with the insert?  It looks like it was made with a chain saw. This simply won’t do....won’t do at all!

Thanks to MKCTools.com, I ordered a new set of inserts, including one to fit my DADO set. 

I then downloaded a procedure on how to clean and shine up an aluminum surface, which included using oven cleaner, turpentine (not both at the same time), and a sequence of ever-increasing grit sand paper using a wet-sanding technique.

I was able to put the table parts back together again (good thing I took plenty of photos as I was taking them apart!)....and the good news:  no parts left over.   The underside trunnion and brackets cleaned up nicely.

Although there remains several deep scratches, I was satisfied with the result of the table top and assembly.

The next steps:  

The table needs to undergo alignment as the front-to-back angle is off as well probably all the other axis as well.

The remaining accessories (fence, miter gauge, tailstock, end table, etc) all need some attention.