In 1954 Magna Power Tool Corp received a patent for the miter gauge with the safety hold-down which is the same as you see on the Mark V today. Well, not quite. One subtle change in the Mark V miter gauge came shortly after the Model 510 was introduced in the late 1980's. The quick grip was introduced as a retro-fit for the threaded hold-down, but what was discovered shortly after was that at just the right angle, and if your nylon glides are just a little too far out, and if you are running the miter gauge in the left-hand slot, the glide would drop into one of the shaper fence mounting holes and the miter gauge would stop dead in it's tracks! Not a good prize if you are in the middle of a cut, that's for sure. Obviously a new miter gauge protractor head casting had to be designed that could accommodate larger glides that could not drop into these holes in the table. The solution was to use nylon hex bolts and to insert them from the bottom head-side down, so that the miter gauge would slide smoothly on the heads of the bolts.
As for the old nylon bullet-shaped glides, they may still be available from Shopsmith under the old part # 501406. A quick search of Amazon turned-up a sale of 100 nylon set screws that would replace the original parts for just over $4! Nylon Set Screw, Slotted Drive
I tried that pack of 100 from amazon to replace my older bullet-shaped glides only to find they are too small. Need 5/16-18, which I found under Micro Plastics part number 0131218T050 for 1/2" long or 0131218T075 for 3/4". 10 packs can be found for $2.50.
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