Shopsmith Forums

The photo below came from the Restored Shopsmith Planer Manual PL-5002 Oct 82 currently under restoration.

It shows the Hand Feed as well as the Power Feed system

JPG was kind enough to scan the manual for me to restore. Member br549 had later offered to scan the manual for me after JPG was already doing so.

I don't know if James is travelling on vacation etc. but I have been unable to reach him.

I have reached out to both he and br549 to see if I can get scans of pages 36, 37, 59, and 60 in 300 dpi in color if possible.

It's coming....

Everett

Yes I am away from home. Be back Mon. Scans will be sent then.

JPG wrote:Yes I am away from home. Be back Mon. Scans will be sent then.

Thank you so much James.

Your scans were very clean from an original manual, and retouched quite well with the tools I have available to me. It will be an exceptional piece to have restored for others. I can't thank you enough for the effort to do this.

I did subsequently find that br549’s manual and yours are not the same version.

Yours is PL-5002 dated 1982 and his, a photocopy from Shopsmith is PL-5049 dated 1985.

Once I have completed your version, I will see what I can do with his photocopied one to see if anything to improve clarity is possible.

Kindest Regards and Safe Travels,

Everett

Update 9-11-2019 The Manual is finished and uploaded to folder "Planers (All 3)" under My Google Drive Link


Well I didn't know that.....

Sometimes reading a manual can be quite informative. One must first have access to a legible manual to do so, and with Shopsmith equipment lasting 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 years or more, multiple owners are often involved and documentation is separated and lost.

Those who know me here in the forums understand that is one of my passions as I seek, scan (or request scans) of documentation that is no longer widely available.

I have a Professional Planer I bought used and obtained a free PDF manual from Vintage Machinery some years ago. It was very helpful. Subsequently I acquired an initial version of the Shopsmith mounted planer (NOS) effectively, as the owner had never even taken the protective film off the bed, but he had no manual for it.

As I sought a copy of that manual version JPG and others graciously offered to scan theirs for me to do a document restoration on. James’ copy is producing not only a good quality manual that I will publish free as I have other manuals, but revelations as well.

I find that there is sometimes a wealth of information in having generational versions of manuals as the writers frequently documented things in the early versions of manuals that I simply never knew.

I know that we have had numerous folks ask about converting an automatic feed model to manual feed and there are a number of threads discussing the reasons they need to consider that option, and one thread where someone actually fabricated a method to convert.

Imagine my surprise as I was restoring the early planer manual to learn that originally not only was there a manual feed model, but that the manual feed crank mechanism was offered as an accessory to those purchasing one with a feed motor.

I will be adding an addendum of my own to the end of this manual that will have active links to some of those threads, plus my comments and observations for upgrades that are available 3rd party to transform a very good planer already, into what I consider a most exceptional one.

Look for that when it comes out if you have a Shopsmith planer or considering buying a used one.

Everett

It is interesting that the manual you restored is dated 5/92 Copyright 1992 Shopsmith Inc. but 4 years ago after I bought a used ProPlaner that didn't have a manual, I ordered one from SS. It is dated 12/91 Copyright 1991 Shopsmith Inc.

chapmanruss wrote:It is interesting that the manual you restored is dated 5/92 Copyright 1992 Shopsmith Inc. but 4 years ago after I bought a used ProPlaner that didn't have a manual, I ordered one from SS. It is dated 12/91 Copyright 1991 Shopsmith Inc.

The manual I restored is October 1982. almost a decade before. The Professional Planer did not exist at that time. This manual is replete with photographs that do not exist in later manuals for the later Pro Planer.

Everett

I found what you were referring to. It came from a document I downloaded from Vintage Machinery several years ago for the Professional Planer. It even has that in its file name.

I simply shared that file but it was not modified. There is a 2nd copy of the manual there that was sent to me that is a little cleaner that did not come from Vintage Machinery

That’s not the planer manual I restored.

Everett

Everett,
Sorry for the mix-up, my bad. Glad we are on the same page now, or should I say Manual.