Adapting Ryobi rails to SS. Alternative to 520 rails?

[john_001]

Famous hot rod builder Boyd Coddington got in trouble over replacing most of a car with new parts and continuing to title it as an antique and avoiding emissions and tax laws. California charged him with "Ship of Theseus" fraud.

[gac5ss]

Hi folks:

Here's an idea for an alternative rail system to the 520. My main table saw is a Craftsman 22811, which is modeled after the Ryobi BT3100. As many of you probably know, the Ryobi BT3000/3100 has a pretty loyal following.

I had some extra rails I purchased years ago for an extended table and never used, and a lightbulb went off one afternoon that they may be able to be used on the Shopsmith. While I like the Shopsmith for many things, the table saw was never one of its strong suits to me. If you're using just the main table, then fine, but as soon as you start getting into floating tables, extra rails, the system to me just doesn't work well. I spend more time trying to align the fence or get tables level, than I do cutting wood. If you need to do a fine adjustment, then everything starts over again. I'm not sure if the 520 rail system allows better table alignment, but the 510 leaves a lot to be desired IMO.

I thought if I could mount the Ryobi rails on the Shopsmith it would perhaps make up some of the shortcomings of the saw. Some measurements between the craftsman and shopsmith revealed there was only a half inch difference between the rails. That meant if I shimmed out the Shopsmith a quarter inch on each side, the rails from the Ryobi should work fine. I did a little mock up with some MDF, and it seemed to work out just fine with just a few modifications.

The parts that I ordered were some aluminum stock, 1/4"x2.5"x36" 6011 grade. You can get a piece of this for under seven dollars on Amazon. I then ordered four of the quick clamps off of eBay for the Ryobi BT3000 (under $20). There was probably another miscellaneous $15 in hardware. The rails I had on hand, but if you had to buy new they are about $40 or so for a set. Extra tables are in the $50 range, but adapting one of the Shopsmith floating tables is not difficult. I also found I could use my Incra LS positioner, if I later wanted to add a router table.

I would say the hardest part of the build was making a notch in the aluminum for the rear rail. The back of the fence hits the shim, so 3/16 of an inch needs to be removed from the spacer. I took very light (1/64") passes on the router table, and then did a final sand with some 150 grit sandpaper to remove the mill marks.

I would say the most critical thing with this build is very precise measurements. I use one of the Incra marking gauges that use a 5mm drafting pencil. You need to be spot on with the measurements. I also center punched all of the holes, and drilled 1/16 diameter pilot holes to keep the drill bits on track. I also was certain my drill bits were spinning true, and were or as close as possible to the work to avoid runout. I used a half inch countersink bit for the machine screws. Those need to be absolutely flush in the rear spacer or the fence will hit. There is more room in the front.

So, how does it work? In a word, fantastic! The fence glides absolutely smooth, and locks down positive. I will add a measuring tape to the front. Depending on how you configure the rails you can get about 24 inches or rip capacity. One thing I really like is you can use the SS extension tables to support long pieces for crosscut. I also have the ryobi outfeed brackets. Those mount in the aluminum extrusion on the underside of the rails, and allow you to flip up an outfeed table. With the adjustable leg from shopsmith, you can have a pretty nice outfeed table.

I'm way happier with this system than I am with the stock 510. I now have a table saw that's actually useful, instead of one that's an exercise in frustration. Still need to fine-tune Shopsmith's rather mediocre dust collection, but already have some ideas for that.

Hopefully somebody will find this useful.

I'll close by saying after I built this, I did a little search and found that my idea was not original. As long as Shopsmith has been around I'm not surprised somebody else beat me to the punch. I can say I came up with the idea on my own.

Here's some pics to tell the rest of the story. Enjoy!

Posting from a very old thread...
If AKTroy is still on the forum, please explain the underlined part of your post. I did a mockup of the main table yesterday using my BT3100 rails, but am having trouble with the 1/4" x 2.5" aluminum spacers. The fence length is about 1/16" too short to fit on the Ryobi rails as mounted on the Shopsmith main table. It is so tight that the fence will not move.

I have the black rails from a BT3100. Should I replace the 1/4" rear spacer with a 3/16" thick spacer, or is there another option I'm not seeing? I could grind down the faces of the bolt mounting area, as they stand proud of the edge on the table casting.

Any suggestions?
Thanks
Jerry

[BigSky]

If only I could reset the clock to that day when I had a full set of Ryobi rails. I had not yet upgraded the 510 and the Ryobi rails would have been such an improvement. The fuss of going to drill press mode with Ryobi rails installed kept me from converting. What a fool I was.

[gac5ss]

Hi folks:

Here's an idea for an alternative rail system to the 520. My main table saw is a Craftsman 22811, which is modeled after the Ryobi BT3100. As many of you probably know, the Ryobi BT3000/3100 has a pretty loyal following.

I would say the hardest part of the build was making a notch in the aluminum for the rear rail. The back of the fence hits the shim, so 3/16 of an inch needs to be removed from the spacer. I took very light (1/64") passes on the router table, and then did a final sand with some 150 grit sandpaper to remove the mill marks.

Posting from a very old thread...
If AKTroy is still on the forum, please explain the underlined part of your post. I did a mockup of the main table yesterday using my BT3100 rails, but am having trouble with the 1/4" x 2.5" aluminum spacers. The fence length is about 1/16" too short to fit on the Ryobi rails as mounted on the Shopsmith main table. It is so tight that the fence will not move.

I have the black rails from a BT3100. Should I replace the 1/4" rear spacer with a 3/16" thick spacer, or is there another option I'm not seeing? I could grind down the faces of the bolt mounting area, as they stand proud of the edge on the table casting.

Any suggestions?
Thanks
Jerry

An after thought: Would it be advisable to shave off 1/16" total of the Shopsmith tables that I'm going to use in this conversion by running them through my Ryobi table saw? Of course making sure the cut is straight and square.

Thanks

[DLB]

An after thought: Would it be advisable to shave off 1/16" total of the Shopsmith tables that I'm going to use in this conversion by running them through my Ryobi table saw? Of course making sure the cut is straight and square.

I would advise against shaving the 510/520 main tables unless it is unavoidable. They don't have an excess of rigidity, and they get most of their strength from the edges. If you do shave them on a saw, be aware that blades sometimes flex on thin cuts in hard material, it may be difficult to get the edge square to the table top.

Re-reading AKTroy's post, it sounds like he is notching the spacer.(?) But if that's right it doesn't sound like the problem you are solving.(?) I've never seen this and don't think I understand the problem.

- David

[gac5ss]

An after thought: Would it be advisable to shave off 1/16" total of the Shopsmith tables that I'm going to use in this conversion by running them through my Ryobi table saw? Of course making sure the cut is straight and square.

I would advise against shaving the 510/520 main tables unless it is unavoidable. They don't have an excess of rigidity, and they get most of their strength from the edges. If you do shave them on a saw, be aware that blades sometimes flex on thin cuts in hard material, it may be difficult to get the edge square to the table top.

Re-reading AKTroy's post, it sounds like he is notching the spacer.(?) But if that's right it doesn't sound like the problem you are solving.(?) I've never seen this and don't think I understand the problem.

- David

You make a good point on trimming the tables. My mock up is using clamps and I could have it slightly out of square which could cause my fence to fit tight. I wish there were a close up of the rear attachment on his fence so I would understand better.
Thanks

[Kenders]

I also would like to adapt a set of Ryobi BT3000 rails to my 510, instead of going to the 520 system. Maybe someone else on here has more information on the Ron May plates?
Kevin

[gac5ss]

I also would like to adapt a set of Ryobi BT3000 rails to my 510, instead of going to the 520 system. Maybe someone else on here has more information on the Ron May plates?
Kevin

I tried to contact Ron in late January 2023 via an email he used back in 2014. We had held a conversation via email on his conversion kit and the necessary parts to complete the conversion. Ron did not respond so I assume the email he used then is no longer active, or that he no longer sells the kit.

There is a picture on the forum of his kit. viewtopic.php?p=289952#p289952 It appears that the aluminum spacers are milled to a step profile. This may explain why my 1/4" thick spacer is not fitting as good as his does.

Jerry

[Kenders]

Jerry,
I've also seen that post with the pictures of the plates, it looks like he was replicating the way the bars fit on the original Ryobi table. I just bought a used table off from ebay (cheap) to get accurate dimensions for plates like Ron's. I don't believe using just holes to index the bars would be good enough. Holes certainly will work though. From that photo it does look like it could be 1/4" stock milled. I'm basing that on the way the countersunk holes look, but it's a guess until I machine some bars and try it.
Thanks,
Kevin

[gac5ss]

Jerry,
I've also seen that post with the pictures of the plates, it looks like he was replicating the way the bars fit on the original Ryobi table. I just bought a used table off from ebay (cheap) to get accurate dimensions for plates like Ron's. I don't believe using just holes to index the bars would be good enough. Holes certainly will work though. From that photo it does look like it could be 1/4" stock milled. I'm basing that on the way the countersunk holes look, but it's a guess until I machine some bars and try it.
Thanks,
Kevin

I believe you are correct. I had not noticed that before. I need to have the bars milled or mill them myself to have that raised step to mate with the channel on the back side of the rails. That will give me the relief I need for the sliding fence to work properly. It will also make mounting and dismounting the rails much quicker and more accurate. Although since I have two Shopsmiths, I plan on leaving the Ryobi rails mounted all of the time.

Thanks Kenders