Shopsmith Bandsaw Fence Attachment Adapter

I'm a big fan of the Shopsmith tools, and refurbished one of them to its former glory (see my Instructable about that process for tips!) For context, a Shopsmith is an interesting tool to have - it's basically a Transformer and swiss army knife of shop tools, with the ability to change between a few different tools: table saw, drill press, disc sander, lathe, and horizontal borer. You can also add additional attachments like a bandsaw and belt sander. All is powered by a headstock that has a motor and "gears" to change the speed of the output spindles for different uses.

I inherited an old bandsaw attachment for the Shopsmith from a friend who passed away - it had been sitting outside in his lawn for quite some time. I'll add some details in the last step about refurbishment for anyone who's interested, but that's not what this Instructable is about. The bandsaw didn't have a fence attachment for it, which is quite necessary to make good use of the tool - being able to make repeatable, accurate cuts is key. They came with a different style fence than what is used for the Shopsmith itself, and I didn't really want to buy one.

It seemed redundant to me to purchase a separate fence attachment for the bandsaw when I already had a fence for the main table of the Shopsmith, and - for some reason I can't remember - actually had a second one kicking around to dedicate to this use. I searched all over the internet for details on how to make the existing fence work with the bandsaw, but only found this random forum post with a photo but no details, and the vague process sounded too overcomplicated. So, in true DIY fashion I set out to make my own adapter/jig, and wanted to use the bandsaw itself to create the adapter to be fully meta. This Instructable is entered into the Jigs and Rigs speed challenge, which helped give me the inspiration to finally document this project!

Note that this project uses power tools like a bench grinder and bandsaw, use caution and common sense around these tools.

• Shopsmith fence that comes with your machine
• Shopsmith bandsaw attachment
• Aluminum L-stock that is 1/4" thick by 1" tall on each side by 1 foot long - from McMaster Carr
• Files - flat mill or bastard and round file
• Bench grinder
• Metal cutting blade for your bandsaw - I used 1/2" by 6tpi
• Measuring tape and/or combination square
• Scrap lumber
• 2 Woodworking clamps

Optional but recommended:

• An additional aluminum L-stock piece - I used this one from McMaster-Carr
• A small scrap of 1x2 lumber about 6-8" long
• Self-drilling screw
• Drill
• Zip ties or strap/rubber band

What we're really doing with this adapter/jig is replicating the profile of the way the Shopsmith fence attaches to the main table of the machine. That way, your fence will clip onto it in the same way that it does with the main table. The fence is longer than the bandsaw table, so the little arm that attaches to the opposite side won't compress on the table itself to keep things square - I'll share details on how to make this work later, don't worry!

This is basically a 2-step process - we'll need to make one side of the stock a bit shorter, and then mill the back of it down a bit so the back of the fence that sits against the adapter can fit. To create the attachment for the fence, take your 1/4" thick by 1" L-stock scribe a line on the inside of the L about 10mm or 3/8" from the edge. I used this very handy 3D printed scribing tool from Heliox Lab to achieve this - it's not necessary, but very handy to have around for things like this if you have a 3D printer! To scribe a line for the back corner of the bracket, simply line it up with the existing main Shopsmith table and draw along the back of the piece where it meets the table - this measurement does not have to be very precise.

To build our fence using our bandsaw that does not already have a fence, we need to make a fence. A Catch-22 if I ever heard of one. To achieve this, you'll need to set up a temporary fence on your bandsaw to cut the aluminum L-stock to the proper dimensions. I took a piece of scrap lumber and two woodworking clamps and using my combination square measured from the edge of the table to the blade, then added our 10mm distance. I locked the square into this measurement, then clamped the piece of wood on each side and measured this across the face of the table so that the wood was in a plane evenly across the fence with respect to the blade. You can also use the mark made in the previous step as a guide here, what's important is that the temporary fence is straight across the table so that you're not cutting at an angle!

Now that all is marked properly and your temporary fence is set up, it's time to use the bandsaw to upgrade itself. I first cut the 10mm lip off one side, filed down, then worked the back of the L-stock, but you can cut both then move onto finishing. First, use the fence and slowly push the aluminum through the machine - if you go too fast your blade will want to walk. If you get off a bit, that's okay - these cuts don't honestly have to be that precise and mine sure weren't.

For the back corner of the piece, I first thought it would be easiest to grind off the back but there is a lot of material to remove. So, I set up the fence again with a thicker piece of wood (a 2x4 scrap worked great) and put the two points of the L against the fence and cut the back off. This was honestly the trickiest part of the whole job, and I got a little off at one point and removed too much material. I was worried I would have to start over, but when testing how the clamp attaches to the piece I determined it was okay - it still works fine, so if you mess up a bit don't worry!

I kinda guessed that the 1-foot length of the piece when ordered from McMaster-Carr would be too long, but it ends up being just right to get full use of the fence so you don't need to shorten the piece at all.

Once you have all cut down, you'll need to clean it up and soften the rough cut that we made for smooth operation. I know some will say, "but you're not supposed to grind aluminum on a bench grinder!!". My longtime experience has been that you can totally do this if you use caution, common sense, and a dressing tool. Aluminum does clog up the grinding wheel a bit, and I've heard tell that it can heat up when grinding other materials and make the wheel explode. I'm not honestly sure if this is a myth or not - I grind aluminum all the time as well as steel and have no issues. The secret? Get a cheap grinder wheel dressing tool and use it after grinding aluminum on your grinder - this will keep your wheel edges sharper and also remove the aluminum bits that clog it up.

Okay, now that we've got that out of the way, clean up the edges of your piece with the grinder quickly, then follow up with a large bastard file to make them nice and smooth. Once done, fit the piece on the bandsaw table with fence to ensure that you've removed enough material from the back corner so that the little lever that pushes against it when you turn the knob will securely clamp.

To properly attach the fence bracket, you'll need to use the existing holes in the bottom of the table and cut some notches so that the bolts can hold it in place. I put the fence in place and made marks where the two holes were on the lip of the piece, then nibbled it just a bit with the bandsaw blade - you don't need to take too much out here. I worked it with a round file to get the desired round notches for the bolts. The bolts that came with mine were large button head bolts, so the lip has plenty of room to securely hold the piece in place. One thing to consider here is that the fence needs a little bit of play to slide along the bracket we've made - don't attach the bracket so close that your fence can't easily slide along it, which means don't cut these notches too deep.

Honestly, you can probably do the above and have the fence work pretty well. I found that putting it on the adapter and clamping down made the fence reasonably square with the table and blade, but there is a bit of flex just because our fence is longer than the table and only attached on one side. The solution is to make a simple T-shaped piece that will help keep the fence attached to both sides of the table, removing the flex and ensuring it is squared up all the time. I semi-permanently attached this to my fence because I have an extra one, if you don't just make this piece and use a strap, rubber band, etc. to keep it temporarily attached to your fence.

I wasn't sure what was going to work when I started this project, so ordered two different pieces of stock from McMaster-Carr of different thicknesses. Turns out that was a boon, since I was able to repurpose the extra piece for this step. I took a piece of 1x2 lumber and cut it down to the distance between the clamp arm on the fence and the table. Then I nibbled off just a bit of it with the bandsaw so that it could sit over the L-stock piece and be flush. I used a self-drilling lath screw to attach these two pieces together to make a T. Then, used some thick zip ties to attach to the fence. Once you do this, your fence will be much more square to the table, though it is always advisable to check this with a combination square similar to how we made the temporary fence - even with precision work, there will still be some slop here so if you are making precise cuts use that method.

I like to share helpful information about refurbishing stuff like this when I can, here's some random Shopsmith Bandsaw information I came across that was helpful when getting mine into good shape from being left outside in the rain for probably a couple of years - hopefully it is helpful for you as well!

- If you have an old one that uses bronze bushings instead of bearings for where the blade rides, replace it with bearings - I promise your ears will thank you, as it runs much quieter! I bought a kit from eBay, you can source the parts separately but this worked out well.

- Urethane tires for the wheels are super nice - also purchased some from eBay, just make sure they are made for your diameter wheel.

- Definitely replace the metal blade guide blocks with something like Olson Cool Blocks - it's a marked improvement to the precision of the blade, and keeps thinner blades from getting messed up.

- Scott Markwood at My Growth Rings on Youtube has some great videos on Shopsmith restoration. This one about tuning your bandsaw is very helpful when going through them to refurbish, upgrade, etc. See his other stuff for useful tips and lore about these machines.

- I 3D printed the power coupler to attach to the headstock from Thingiverse here and the insert for the blade from Thingiverse as well.