Shopsmith Forums

I went to a public auction today that had many woodworking tools belonging to the estate of the deceased owner. I went primarily for the Shopsmith M5990 planer (which had been converted to a free-standing unit). The planer appears to be practically unused. Hardly a mark on it anywhere. The auctioneer's helper plugged it in and it ran quiet and smooth. Imagine my surprise when I bought it for $90 plus tax!!!

Anyway, when I got it home I cleaned off the dust, blew out the few chips and turned it on. The cutter runs quiet and smooth, however, I was disappointed to see that the feed rollers do not rotate. I checked the plug for the feed roller motor and everything appears to be fine. There's no evidence that anything has ever been messed with. There's very little wear on the rubber roller and the metal roller looks like new. I pulled the roller motor off and I can turn the small gear (with some effort).

There was no owner's manual with the unit. Am I missing something simple here like a safety override or something? Does the rheostate go bad on these? The rollor motor appears to be very heavy duty. Do they usually go bad? I didn't pull apart the electrical control (on/off) box since it looks like new too.

Would appreciate any suggestions/help. Is there any place on the web to get a free download of the planer manual? Thanks much.

allthumbs

$90 bucks is very cheap for this planer, Shopsmith can sell you a copy (really a copy) of their manual. Planer motors and control units come up on that big auction site in the sky on a fairly regular basis... a set just sold recently by BIN for $199 and I think the shipping was free. Still starting at $90 you won't spend what most do for a used machine after you get her running. Good luck!

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Thanks for the link. Great information. Since I'm not handy with electricity, I think I'll just try and find a variable DC power source and bypass the control box. The voltages on my motor appear to be a bit different than the ones in the link, though. My motor's data plate says 90 Volts DC and 5 amps. Still, it shouldn't be a problem finding a power supply that will work.

Are you sure it is the power supply? I had a similar experience and in my case the motor was defective. I took it to a local motor rebuilder and he found the field coils had separated from the motor housing. He reglued them and it now works like a champ. If you decide to take the motor apart, be sure to mark the line up before removing the end cap. I failed to do this and sure enough---the motor ran backwards!

allthumbs wrote:Thanks for the link. Great information. Since I'm not handy with electricity, I think I'll just try and find a variable DC power source and bypass the control box. The voltages on my motor appear to be a bit different than the ones in the link, though. My motor's data plate says 90 Volts DC and 5 amps. Still, it shouldn't be a problem finding a power supply that will work.

Even if you are not handy with electricity, you can open the control box to do a visual inspection. I would bet that if the control box is defective you will be able to see evidence of the damage. View the photos in the link provided above and you see both good and bad control boards.

This control is costly enough that you want to confirm the degree of damage if at all possible.

Another option is to have Shopsmith repair your planer. You have certainly purchased this item cheaply enough to undergo the expense of a factory repair job. Call shopsmith's customer service.

Planers are often damaged in shipping if they are not packed properly. The jack screws are often bent by the destructive testing agencies that mask their identites as shipping companies. You can also drop off items to be repaired at the plant (must call first) if you happen to be traveling West on I70. I did this two years ago and even got a little tour of the plant and got to meet the folks in customer service.