The table on my Vernon bolts to a casting I'd call a saddle which slides crossways, actuated by the cross-slide screw. That casting is bolted to another casting which slides vertically, actuated by the table raising screw. This last casting, which might be called the cross rail, is machined with female dovetails. The main shaper body has male dovetails machined for the cross rail to slide up and down on. There is no way possible for the cross rail to come off the top or the bottom, therefore the only way to remove it is to back off the gib screws, remove the gib (which is less than half as long as the dovetail, so it could be pushed down and removed with the cross rail fully elevated) and remove the cross rail straight out. Can this be correct? It seems amazing to me, like so many things about shapers.
GWE