Craftsman router

[Steve]

When I got mine 2 years ago it was the same price either way. Don't know about now.

--Steve

[Steve]

My 9" Craftsman Radial Arm Saw is 33 years old, and it's only issue is that the motor won't start spinning once in a while. I have a sanding drum that screws onto the opposite end of the motor shaft from the blade, and it lives there without a sanding sleeve. So when the motor fails to start, I just give that a spin, and she starts right up.

But I haven't used that RAS once since I got my table saw, so I'm considering putting it on Ebay.

--Steve

[Vic Baron]

Have to ditto that feeling - I have a 1/4 Craftsman, all aluminum housing that I bought new in 1963. In the manual they show diagrams of the router moving *against* the rotation of the bit ( i.e. climb cutting ). Every pix and text description says the same thing. That's how I learned to use the router. Took me a while to get used to moving with the rotation. Router is still running - have had no need for replacement parts.

That was the good old days when Craftsman were top quality tools.

Vic

[CW]

[Rob Mills]

[B A R R Y]

I'm not breaking 'em off on you, but please answer a question for me.

Knowing that a particular Craftsman router is an exact, re-branded Bosch, and both are the same price, why would you choose the Craftsman version over the original?

This question has no right or wrong answer, I'm looking for your point of view.

[Mike]

I've just had my 2nd Craftsman router fail. A year ago I had three routers: my fathers Craftsman that must be 30+ years old, and two newer craftsman models. Care to guess which of the three is still running?

Oh well, now I get to start shopping for a good router...

[Steve]

With the Craftsman version I was able to walk out of the store with the router in my hands. With the Bosch, I would've had to wait a few days. It was just a matter of instant gratification I guess.

--Steve

[B A R R Y]

That makes sense. Thanks!

I forget that I'm spoiled with so many tool dealers I can easily visit in person.

[Steve]

What is the failure mode? My cheapie Craftsman stopped running one day about 4 years ago, and I was able to fix it by removing the top cover and reattaching the wire that had come loose. That was before I replaced it with the Craftsman/Bosch that I use now. I still have the old one, and it still works--I just don't use it any more.

--Steve

[J. Clarke]

Just a comment about your saw, if are in the US and haven't already done so you might want to take a look at . If your saw is one of the ones affected it gets you a new guard and a new MDF table, all at no cost to you. The new guard is a mixed bag--blade changes aren't as easy but it has a riving knife and full blade coverage, and on balance I think it's an improvement.

[Steve]

I looked into the recall when I heard about it. They didn't have a retro-fit kit for the 9" model, but they would pay me $100 if I shipped them the motor assembly. I decided to keep the saw as is. Now I don't use it any more anyway.

--Steve

[Tim Daneliuk]

I always chuckle when I see people engaging in tool brand wars. Good work comes from good craftsmen. I rather imagine that Isaac Stern could have made an $80 violin sound better than I could do with a Stradivarius - quite a bit better :) I learned this lesson working on the electronics on the fishing fleet in Alaska as a kid. Parts were hard to get and advanced diagnostic tools were almost entirely absent or impossible to use. Try dragging a 40 lbs test rig up the ice encrusted side of an 80 foot mast and you get real good at doing major work with minimal tools. It was a lesson well learned. My consistent experience in every discipline I've ever attempted has been that, the better you get at something, the less critical the variety and kind of tools you use becomes. There are exceptions - never try to properly torque a bolt with a pair of pliers - but in the main, this rule has worked for me.

Craftsman power tools are not the finest built, but sometimes it's all you have or can afford, and I've seen some fine work done with them. Besides, you can often "mod" them to make things work your way. I have this Craftsman table saw ....

isn't a Delta or Grizzly cabinet saw, but I managed to crank out one or two things with it that made me, at least, happy:

the time, space, and money, I'd no doubt opt for a different saw. But as I have these three commodities in very limited supply, my "Crapsman" will just have to do.

Here's to another 38 years of happy WWing to you and your router...

P.S. Wanna bet that Van Gogh never had endless debates with his peers about what brushes he was using?

[Mike]

The first one just stopped working. I took it apart and tried to isolate a bad connection or switch but couldn't locate the problem - then as I dug further into the router, I opened part of the case that held all of the springs and such for the plunge mechanisim. BOING!! Little parts everywhere. Humpty Dumpty.

The most recent one has a shaft lock slider that seems to cut the power when depressed. Something in that electrical cutoff is bad because it will only run if I press up on the slider - which makes it kind of difficult to concentrate on the work at hand. I will try to fix this one, but I'm still going to start looking for a decent quality router setup - it is just so frustrating to have to stop working and fiddle around with crappy equipment.

Mike

[Rob Mills]

[J T]

Sun, Oct 1, 2006, 11:27pm (EDT+4) [e-mail] (George=A0Max) doth claimeth: I have a Craftsman router too. =A0 It makes a nice paperweight. Self adjusting collet and all. And the infamous fly apart fan.

Interesting, I've heard about the self adjusting collets, but never problems with the fan.

I've got one I used for several years in my router table. No problems. Of course I just use a flush trim bit in it, and don't adjust the height. It quit one day, and I stuck another one in, and still no problems with it either, after maybe 5 years or so. Found out the first one had a weak solder connection that failed - a simple solder job will fix that - when I get around to it.

JOAT It's not hard, if you get your mind right.

- Granny Weatherwax