I know the opinion of the "wreck" on Craftsman products but the wife bought me one of those Craftsman tablesaws with the router extension wing for father's day about 3 years ago for a good price. With a Vega replacement fence, a router fence based on Norm's Deluxe Router station and an 890 PC router bolted on it with a link belt driving a Forest Woodworker II, it cuts like a dream.
Now the problem:
After about 4 mos. of regular use I started getting noise from the arbor bearings and returned it for a new one - same model. Another 4 mos., same story except I opted for in-home service. The serviceman took one listen and said "yep, bad bearings". He ordered new arbor bearings, arbor housing and a new arbor to be sent directly to me and told me to call him back if I needed him to install the parts. Long story short - I have a complete set of bearing pullers and changed them out myself and reinstalled the assembly - piece of cake. The only problem is I have to keep repeating this process. The last time I ordered bearings from Sears, they were USA made but that didn't make any difference neither did the China made bearings I bought local.
Now the saw is 3 years old and Sears has decided to raise the price of the bearings to almost $35 a piece!
Does anyone know of a brand/supplier of a high quality 6202Z 15mm id,
1 3/8 od shielded bearing that can stand the loads of a typical table saw? I don't mind spending the money if I never have to replace them again but this 4-8 month life cycle is getting ridiculous...Joe L