Shopsmith ProPlaner

[Ken Frohnert]

I am looking at planers. Does anyone have any experience with the Shopsmith ProPlaner (the stand alone planer)? They look nice and can plane up to 12". However, there appears to be a height limitation of only 4" which is less than even the lunchbox type of planers. Not sure how often I would plan something thicker than 4" though. Opinions?

[Dave Verstraete]

Ken
I'm not familiar with the Shopsmith, but would 4" get a little short if you start using a planer sled?? Just a thought

[Andy Haney]

Just last weekend I "finished" the front "block" of a workbench project. 4" capacity wouldn't have been enough. That said, this was the first time I ever used that much thickness capacity.

Andy

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Ken, since the planer is frequently used to surface the second edge of a board, and make it parallel to the jointed edge, 4" is too small in my opinion.

You will be working with material just less than 6" if you have a 6 inch jointer, and just less than 8" if you have an 8" jointer.

Of course if all the work you do is less than 4", it would be fine for your application.

Regards, Rod.

[Vernon Taylor]

Ken
Just my opinion but I think you might be better off dollar wise to look at some alternatives such as Delta,Jet,Grizzly etc.For the same dollars you can get a 20" planer with 7,5 inch capacity and a 5hp motor @grizzly. They also have a 15" planer/moulder @675. This would give you the ability to make mouldings as well. I think Shopsmith makes fine equipment and if made in USA is important to you it may be the way to for you but given the price differential and spec. differences I would consider an import in this case.

[Dave Lehnert]

I own and use the Shopsmith Pro-planer for about 20 years now. Never needed anything more than 4".
Here is an link to some good info

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=1511&highlight=planer

http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/SS_Archives/SS105/SS105_Planing_Procedures.htm

[Bryan Hopfensperger]

And here's a review on lumberjocks.com

http://lumberjocks.com/reviews/156#comments

[Ken Frohnert]

The lumberjock review was very positive and it looks like a good quality product still made in the USA. It does seem slightly pricey.

However, the point about wanting to surface a 2nd edge of a board makes me think. I have never did the planer jointer thing. But have access to rough sawn lumber so I am looking to get a 8" jointer so maybe a 4" or 6" planer is not really the smart way to go. I was also looking at the Grizzly 15" planer but not crazy about the not made in the USA thing.

[Dave Lehnert]

The Pro planer goes on sale often. I think around $900-$950. If you use the Shopsmith planer you will see what American made is all about.

[James Hart]

I have a SS Planer. It's very solid. Table moves up and down, making infeed/outfeed tables a bit more challenging than most planers.
I picked mine up used for $300. Typical used price is $500 or so with casters.

Jim

[Ken Frohnert]

I was thinking about the input from Rod. An I think this in a critical factor for me and appreciate his input. Being new to a jointer/planer I may not understand the process to square a board so let me run this by you folks and tell me were I am wrong.

1) Jointer - Side A
2) Jointer - rotate 90 degrees and use the jointer on B or C. Say we did B
3) Tablesaw - Side C
4) Jointer
5) Planer for Side D

So based on this plan would I need to run the 8" wide board standing on edge thru the jointer? I would think I could use Tablesaw in step 3 above to take care of this by putting the 8" wide side against the table. Under this scenerio would I not hit the ProPlaner limitation until I tried to work with bigger than 4x4 stock thru the ProPlaner since then I could not use it for step 5 side D. If I am wrong about this then the ProPlaner is definitely out based on Rod's input. Thanks for the help.

[Richard Wagner]

Is there some confusion here? Are we discussing the 12" ProPlaner which has a 4" maximum depth of cut or the 4" Jointer.

Rod...Do you really turn 6"-8" stock on edge and run it through the planer? Do you have a jointer?

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, yes I have a 12 inch jointer, and yes I run stock on edge through the planer as follows;

- joint one edge and one face

- rip on tablesaw a bit wider than required

- plane other face in the planer to desired thickness

- plane other edge to desired width

Since a jointer only makes things flat, and a planer makes things parallel, you need to edge the second edge in a planer.

Running the second edge through the jointer results in two flat surfaces that aren't necessarily parallel.

regards, Rod.