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Sears Craftsman Tools


Adam Brown

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Two weeks ago I had the belt on my Sears Craftsman Belt Sander fly off and do some pretty serious damage to my guitar project... and two days ago, The Sears Craftsman Router I borrowed from a friend, burned, instead of routed the top of the same guitar.

I will no longer use any craftsman products... I don't care WHAT Bob Vila says.

Is anybody else in agreeance with me!? Any bad experiences?

(ps. I will be using another friend's router with a Freud Spiral router bit I just bought)

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I think that some of Craftsman tools are good for the price. The burnt wood from the router is from a dull router bit, not the router. Either that or your using the wrong technique with it. Was you routing too slow? Was you routing too deep? These are some of the questions that might help you pin point the problem, and my guess is that it isn't the tool. You can have a high dollar, top of the line tool, but If you use the wrong techniques, you'll end up with the wrong results. Seriously, check into that, because it sounds like your router bit has seen it's better days. You might want to read Krazy Derek's router tutorial. Also, as far as the belt coming off, it might be something faulty or could be you need to adjust it so the tension keeps it in the right spot. In closing, yes there are probably better tools, but they aren't the worst I've seen by far. I do buy some from Sears, it just depends on the tool that I'm needing and if I had heard good things about that certain tool from Sears. Anyway, hope you figure out your problems.

MaTT

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Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars

No problems. Except that one time, but that was because I didnt know how to use a belt sander. Or the time the router bit bound up and bent the screw that holds the chuck lok, but that was a pure crap bit.

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I got a love/hate/love thing going on with Ryobi routers.

I love them, I think they're comfortable and very user-friendly, the BEST grips.

But, they just don't last that long. I've gone thru 3 already, they last me about 2.5 years or so, but I keep going back and buying them again because I really really like them.

Most other power tools are DeWalts, love that stuff too.

A Makita here and there, those things will never break.

I wouldn't go anywhere near a Sears craftsman power tool, but we all have our favorites, don't we? :D

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I found a helluva deal on a Craftsman 14.4 cordless drill, maglight, dustbuster, 2 batteries and charger a while ago. I find their battery chargers are good quality and the batteries last a long time before needing a recharge.

But if you want to bash tools then I say stay away from Black & Decker cordless products. CRAPOLA

Sorry, but I agree with Guitarfrenzy on this one. If you smell wood burning then you better stop and find out why.

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the high end craftsman tools are great...the cheapo's are crap,just like anything else.

By cheapo do you mean the 'Companion' line by Sears? Now THOSE are CRAP. I have a Companion bandsaw. BLOWS hard. I want to get a 14" bandsaw with a height attatchment so I can resaw my onw tops.

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westhemann.....If you need someone to resaw your tops......let me know....I have a 36in bandsaw that will resaw damn near anything....up to 20in thick!!!!! This past week I cut 1/8 x 15in purpleheart bookmatched panels. I also have a 14in bandsaw with a riser block.....but there is nothing like a 36incher with a 7.5hp motor!

Greg

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The little light in my crapsman router stopped working after I only had the new tool for about 2 weeks. Tried a new bulb, cleaning contacts, best I could do was get it to blink on and off all the time while the routers running.

The miter saw that my carpenter buddy has, broke fairly early in the saw's life.

I think crapsman's main thing is to cut corners every way possible. What do you expect ?, their stuff is for the average lower and middle class joe who can't build anything better than homer simpson.

But I must also say, that I think they used to be more quality oriented before 20 years ago. I think when cheap tools started to be made in taiwan, it forced crapsman to get much more crappy.

But, they seem to be good about having repair parts available, which I can't say for many import tools. My buddy got the miter saw working , after buying new parts to rebuild the "trigger" assembly.

Some tool companies basically advertise by making an impressive quality tool, which will get talked about. Then there's the other companies who have to advertise on TV to get you to buy their stuff.

And their best trick of all, being the Sears Co., is to have a store in every mall, so when the wife forces you to go to the mall, you can at least " escape" to the crapsman tool section at sears. And then you buy something there, to teach the wife a lesson for making you go shopping.

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Craftsman hand tools are only about one notch worse than Snap on, Craftsman power tools however are only about one notch above fisher price. The old ones, (10 years old or so) were pretty good, but I bought a router from craftsman, it lasted just under 2 minutes, then the switch quit working. They refused to warranty it so I told them to go f*ck themselves and bought a porter cable, I've had ryobi and wouldn't buy another one, the porter cable stuff is the only way to go in routers I think. I won't buy another crapsman power tool though

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I like my craftsman hand tools. Never bought a craftsman power tool and probably never will. My Porter-Cable router has treated me well but I'd be willing to try others if I had to.

Concerning re-sawing -

I have a 14" JET bandsaw (that I really love). I was thinking about getting the riser but I wasn't sure if I had enough HP to re-saw? I think it's a 1HP motor. It seems to cut 4" hardwood fine but I don't know how well it would do with 6+" ?

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