shopsmith m5590

[mike liuzzo]

hey guys! first post!

i found a shopsmith m5990 planer on craigslist for a pretty decent price, and i need a planer!

the seller says that he cant turn it on because he doesnt have the shopsmith setup…

i get what he thinks hes saying, but from my little research, the m5990 doesnt need the whole shopsmith shebangbang, right? its a separate piece, right?

any thoughts on this planer? what would you guys pay if it was in good, working order?

thanks!

[Adam Herman]

i think the "pro" version was self contained? or they sold a stand with a motor you could mount things to, or it mounted the the rails and used the regular setup to power the planer head. it has its own feed motor.

double check that it does have a motor with it, or you can get it cheap enough to convert it, which looks to be a fairly simple process. I have no idea about the quality of the machine.

[mike liuzzo]

i read that about the pro model, but im unable to figure out if this is the pro model.

but, yah, its got a motor...

a picture of it even shows the cord still zip-tied...

[Dan Siedschlag]

I've got a free standing model and although I haven't used it in a long time, it has two motors one for feed and the other to turn the blades. The feed motor is on all the units, the motor for the blades is only on the free standing units. On the non-free standing units it is designed to sit on the normal Shopsmith rails and use the Shopsmith motor to drive the blades. As I recall the feed motor has a separate cord. That may be what you are seeing.

I should also add that I liked Shopsmith planer. I bought mine before the other small planers had hit the market and have never used any of them to compare, but I was happy with the performance of the Shopsmith. One of the best features was that the feed motor had a rheostat to be able to vary the feed rate. It allowed setting a faster feed rate on the early runs thru the planer and then setting a very slow feed rate for the final cut which made it very smooth. The only reason I don't use it anymore is because I got into combination machines which had planers as part of the combination.

[Dave Lehnert]

The Shopsmith planer is a great tool.

The Pro model is the free standing unit. Has a feed motor (Separate electric cord, That you may be seeing.) And the cutter head motor that is mounted under the planer between the legs. The Pro Model also has a cast iron table.

The planer also comes is a Shopsmith MarkV mount. This unit does not have a cast iris table. (not as heavy to lift onto the Shopsmith MarkV) It does have the same feed motor but the cutter head is powered by the headstock of the MarkV.

This is the pro planer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFa4q-tETQI

This is the Mark V Mount planer.
https://youtu.be/3MbbprBcg0o?t=28s