Shopsmith Forums

I have what should be a simple problem, but I have not been able to solve it yet... In trying to square and align my 520 Pro Fence, according to Ricks directions on the Journals DVD, you are to loosen the 4 screws on top of the fence. I can get 2 of the screws loose, but have been unable to loosen the other 2. I am about to twist the long hex wrench out of shape and I am afraid to strip the screws. Anyone have any ideas on how to loosen them?

Thanks in advance for any tips

George

George,

Have you tried any sort of penetrating lubricant that is for loosening stuck bolts? Not sure if it might work or not.. My father used to do that along with a few taps of a hammer to ensure the lube gets into the nooks & crannies..

georgek1 wrote:I have what should be a simple problem, but I have not been able to solve it yet... In trying to square and align my 520 Pro Fence, according to Ricks directions on the Journals DVD, you are to loosen the 4 screws on top of the fence. I can get 2 of the screws loose, but have been unable to loosen the other 2. I am about to twist the long hex wrench out of shape and I am afraid to strip the screws. Anyone have any ideas on how to loosen them?

Thanks in advance for any tips

George

George
I know a couple of those screws were buggers to loosen on my fence. Only you can really judge what might break but being very careful I was able to exert enough pressure that they both snapped loose. I would try a little penetrating oil and make sure you apply enough pressure to keep the wrench in the hex socket and don't let it cam out, which will strip the socket. I was able to get a good bite on the screw and when I finally reached the point of thinking it simply would not come out all of a sudden it let loose with a snap and the screw became loose. Steady pressure slowly applied!!!
Ed

I had the same problem in trying to loosen the screws. The long handle hex wrench was not working so I got my hex socket and socket wrench out and tried to ease out the screws. Three finally came out (just snapping loose like on Ed's post) but of course the last one cammed out, stripping the socket. Any ideas on how to get it out? I thought about using a "Grabbit" screw removal tool. Do you think it will work? Or should I send it back to the factory??

thanks for any help or ideas

Joe

P.S. any owners in Denver want to get together to make sawdust?

joecson wrote:I had the same problem in trying to loosen the screws. The long handle hex wrench was not working so I got my hex socket and socket wrench out and tried to ease out the screws. Three finally came out (just snapping loose like on Ed's post) but of course the last one cammed out, stripping the socket. Any ideas on how to get it out? I thought about using a "Grabbit" screw removal tool. Do you think it will work? Or should I send it back to the factory??

thanks for any help or ideas

Joe

P.S. any owners in Denver want to get together to make sawdust?

I have had success with using steel weld epoxy in the screw and put an old hex key directly in with it. After it cures well, surprising how it holds.
.

Also, check your PM. I am near Belmar.

With something like this that must be loosened for adjustment, I wonder why those factory guys have to go all macho and over-tighten them. It's like the guys at the tire shop that put a pneumatic driver on the wheel lugs and tighten them so much it would take an act of congress to get them off.

The wheel lugs might be tightened down that way to reduce the likelyhood of an accident.

When I read this thread, I went to the shop immediately to check mine. Mine have only been loosened once since I got the fence. The fence was perfectly aligned when I received it as part of the 520 upgrade kit.

Just to reduce the likelyhood that I might experience this problem, I loosened and retightened all four of the referenced screws (one at a time).

I've had one stripped out allen screw (not in the fence) already this year. Don't want another.

Checked all my allen wrenches to make sure that I didn't have any that showed damage and might be the cause of camming out. I had to grind down (shorten) a couple of the long wrenches for the Shopsmith. These get used quite often.

Occasionally, when I loosen an allen screw I hear a loud snapping noise and some times see what looks like sparks when it looses. What causes the sparks. BTW, I don't believe I over tighten the allens. Am I wrong?

Joe Said:

P.S. any owners in Denver want to get together to make sawdust?[/quote]

I am thrilled to become aware of SS users in Denver area. We plan to move there as soon as our house sells. Jim

dusty wrote:...Occasionally, when I loosen an allen screw I hear a loud snapping noise and some times see what looks like sparks when it looses. What causes the sparks. BTW, I don't believe I over tighten the allens. Am I wrong?

Hi Dusty,
I frequently loosen and tighten allen screws (not necessarily on my Mark V] and the changeover requires turning the allens). Many times, I have had the same experience that you are describing, although I have never noticed the sparks. I have thought that it could be caused by a couple of different things. Keeping in mind that steel and aluminum work against each other, when it comes to corrosion, a small amount of corrosion could build up and when you loosen the screw, you break the corrosion loose, causing the loud snap. Now, as this makes a kind of sense (to me anyway), that will knot explain why I have also had steel to steel create the snap too; therefore, another thing that I have thought may happen, is that the screw gets compressed (the opposite of over-torqueing, where a bolt can get stretched to it's breaking point) between the threads and the item that the screw is tightened against. When you loosen the screw, you relieve the compaction and get the snap.

Well, these are just some possible reasons. Nothing to back them up, just something to think about.

Bruce wrote:With something like this that must be loosened for adjustment, I wonder why those factory guys have to go all macho and over-tighten them. It's like the guys at the tire shop that put a pneumatic driver on the wheel lugs and tighten them so much it would take an act of congress to get them off.

Hi Bruce!
I have seen some tire shops over-tighten a lug nut that way, and have been the victim of such work, in the form of a busted lug bolt. But, it is possible to use the pneumatic wrench to save time, but knot tighten the lug nut all of the way down, and then use a torque wrench to correctly set the torque on the nut. This is how the Costco tire shop does it for me.