A friend who made a lot of furniture as a hobby recently passed away. He never used a table saw. He had a Wards Powerkraft 10" radial arm saw that had outputs for router and shaper blades. His wife has asked me to value his shop equipment. I am having a tough time with this one. It is old but in good shape with all the attachments (as near as I can tell) and the original instruction/parts manuals. Any input would be appreciated.
It was $159 with a little 5-gallon Powerkraft vacuum made by shop vac when I got mine - 25 years ago. Or maybe it was $169. Ennyway, I'll bet a hundred would still be a reasonable expectation.
I know for sure MG was using the PowrKraft name at least until 1971, and I'm fairly sure for quite a few more years.
I'm thinking that Wards gave up the PowrKraft Name in about 1958.. so what you may have here is "Junk. " or an "antique$$$" the good thing about some of that Old stuff is that it was made in America using Standard bearings. brushes, etc.. I just re-built my Powrkraft lathe headstock complete for $10.00 good luck!
Doug Winterburn responds:
Quite a few, at least until they went bust. My brother and I went in together on a Powrkraft RAS in '79 or so.
Charlie Self "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America." William J. Clinton
With a decent supply of accessories $250.
I have and use a MW PowrKraft which I bought used several years ago. It does all I ask of it. I wouldn't let mine go for less than $150.00 if I ever found the need to sell it. Your local market for such an item may dictate a different price, but that should be about the neighborhood for price.
re. email, I have no equal
I have no idea how long the name lasted but it was until much later than 1958. I purchased my PowerKraft radial arm saw from Wards in
1973.I have no idea of the value, but I know that m>
I bought mine that same year - it must have been a good year because I've had the same experience.
Wow I got mine for five bucks well actually when I told the gentleman how far I drove, he gave it to me. Granted it wouldnt move up or down due to the head being stuck and that it was very bumpy on the radial part (fore and aft) but the motor turned and was really loud!!! Well a couple of smartly place blows with a hammer and wd40 took care of the stuck part and a quick reface on the arm had it moving extremely smooth. Now where can I get a 7/16 collet set up so I can put some router bits on this puppy :) Wouldnt trade this for anything. It makes great cuts and has gotten me out of a couple of jams.
Think Doug got a new one a couple years back, so maybe he'll chime in. If not, drop a note back here and I'll swap a picture of Lincoln for my used one.
Now where can I get a 7/16 collet set up so I can put some
It's a 15/16" thread on the high speed spindle. My PowrKraft RAS went TU about a month ago, so I can part with the router collet and the shaper spindle. The router collet is for 1/4" shank bits and the shaper spindle takes 1/2" shaper cutters. Send me an email if you're interested.
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