Jump to content

Sears Craftsman Tools


Adam Brown

Recommended Posts

one of my routers is a craftsman. The push in & slide switch which locked the shaft snapped of, i wasn't even going to bother tyring to get it serviced (probably would have been like 40$ for a peice of plastic the size of my finger) so i glued it back together with aircraft epoxy.

I was extremely unimpressed with the amount of plastic parts.... especially somethinkg like the shaft locker.. ( the only safe guard on a router)

That and the fact that my blender has almost as much power......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't suggest buying any Craftsman power tools, because just like you guys have said, they don't make quality stuff anymore. My brother-in-laws jointer was a Craftsman and it never did work right.. I ended up wasting time and getting frustrated with it. But I still say that the bit was wore out or routed too slow to get burn marks on the wood. Even the Craftsman should route good, may not last as long as better ones, but should route and not burn into the wood. I say you can't go wrong with Jet, Dewalt, Bosch, Porter Cable, Rigid, Delta, etc. Always read up on what your gonna buy, you can find alot of reviews on the internet, because even with good brand companies, they sometimes make lemons..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's odd to read so many people diss Craftsman tools. I love my sander and router, never had ANY problerms with then. The only thing that has ever broken on a Craftsman tool I've owned was the switch housing on my old Craftsman drillpress. I bumped my head on it setting something up on the drillpress, and it just kinda hurt so much and made me tick that I punched it and it broke, though I glued it back on when I gave the thing to my sister's boyfriend for X-mas after I got a larger one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dewalt actually makes Black and Decker now, which doesn't make cordless Black & Decker tools any less crap.

As I make my money selling Craftsman tools at Sears, it is my job to know what is crap and what is not, and how to get people to buy what is not crap.

Much of the Craftsman lower line is cheap. If you look at it and say "hey thats a good price," odds are that its not worth your dollar (unless of course you have the belt sander that Lex and I as well have).

If you have a Craftsman plunge router and you think its crap, you must have bought the wrong router. Right now, they only have 2 versions, the cheapy 2 HP (which I have and it still works quite well) and the Industrial 3.5 HP. The Industrial (Professional) router is worth the $250 price tag if you can afford it.

If i had the money, all of my tools wouldn't be Craftsman just because I know and work with the Bosch, Porter Cable, Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee tools, and the quality and construction is much better than most of the craftsman line. However I am only 18 and cannot afford to spend all my cash on the nicest of tools.

For future reference, if any of you have questions about some Craftsman products you're looking at purchasing, and your not sure the salesperson you talked to (if you talked to one) actually knows what he's talking about, let me know. A lot of the sales people at the Sears stores here are undertrained, misinformed idiots. If you're not sure, get me a product number (5 digits) and I'll see what I can dig up.

LGM - Craftsman offers extended warrantees on all of their power tools, that are cheap cheap (15% of the overall price). If you're spending less than $100 on any non bench tool, you better buy it when it gets offered because your tool will break in the 2 year period that the warrantee covers (its a full replacement warrantee, so you get a new tool, this covers everything down to scratching the shell).

For bench tools (table saws, mitre saws, etc) you better look no less than $200. Craftsman makes only 1 mitre saw thats worth while right now, and its the 12" Laser Trac saw. As Ryobi took over the building of Craftsman tools, the tables on the mitre saws are smaller and made with less (thinner) metal. A good table saw starts at about $450. Buy the extended warrantees on table saws (they come out to your house and fix it at no extra charge, this also covers down to accidental damage, even the little stickers on the fence slide...if you don't buy it and it breaks, you're going to pay $90 just for them to knock on your door).

Sorry for the book.

Mitch

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, my crapsman router was the 3.5hp model, I paid $350 Canadian for it (just over $275US) and like I say, in less than 2 minutes the switch quit, at least I assume the switch, the router is just dead. Also, the bearing housing is very flimsy at best, I don't trust it, don't like it, and after Sears told me that they wouldn't warranty it (without a real reason) within the first MONTH of owning it, I basically said screw you guys.

I have thousands of dollars worth of craftsman hand tools, wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers etc, they are fantastic, however, every craftsman power tool I've seen, even their industrial lines, is flimsy by comparison. And bloody expensive!!!!!!

I just bought a new belt sander, a 6" x 89". It is made by General and weighs 250 pounds, it has a cast base, and is rock solid, 3hp motor on 220. I paid $1000Cdn for it. In sears, the craftsman belt sander was half the size, and the same price, and maybe weighed 60 pounds. Their bandsaws are priced so high I don't know why anybody would buy them, and their routers IMO are just dangerous.

I'm not trying to knock them, but experience with them has taught me that even the best sales pitch won't convince me anymore. I used to think they were decent, my first bandsaw and belt sander were craftsman, but after buying tools that are useful to more than just the hobbiest, I'd never buy another one, if only I'd know back then that for the same money as the craftsman I could have bought porter cable or delta maybe I'd still have tools that worked today. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

\LGM - Craftsman offers extended warrantees on all of their power tools, that are cheap cheap (15% of the overall price). If you're spending less than $100 on any non bench tool, you better buy it when it gets offered because your tool will break in the 2 year period that the warrantee covers (its a full replacement warrantee, so you get a new tool, this covers everything down to scratching the shell).

All the tools I have now for about the same price as the "high end" craftsman stuff came with a 2 or 3 year warranty as standard, most could be extended to 5 years for less than 15% of the cost of the tool :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just bought a new belt sander, a 6" x 89". It is made by General and weighs 250 pounds, it has a cast base, and is rock solid, 3hp motor on 220. I paid $1000Cdn for it. In sears, the craftsman belt sander was half the size, and the same price, and maybe weighed 60 pounds. Their bandsaws are priced so high I don't know why anybody would buy them, and their routers IMO are just dangerous.

I just got a Strike 6 X 99 Horizontal/Vertical Edge sander. Mine actually has an ostillating feature, does yours? The ostillating motion caused the idle drum to move in and out slightly, so I disconnected it - other than that it's a COOL sander...LOUD though! :D

sander1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey guys... right at this minute, I'm using a $100 (on sale) Mastercraft Router (Canadian tire brand... thought to be among the cheapest in Canada)

And it's Amazing... so simple to use, and it's making really clean cuts

Of course, I'm sure that has a lot to do with the Freud Router bit...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just got a Strike 6 X 99 Horizontal/Vertical Edge sander. Mine actually has an ostillating feature, does yours? The ostillating motion caused the idle drum to move in and out slightly, so I disconnected it - other than that it's a COOL sander...LOUD though! :D

sander1.jpg

Mine is very similar, I looked at the 99" version as well, it was actually less money (cheaper brand) but less power too. But finding 99" belts vs 89" belts is near impossible. I could get them but I would have had to order them by the 10's.

I didn't get the oscilating feature as it's one more moving part to screw up and it takes away rigidity of the belt which although not super important with a sander was still a concern. 99% of what I'll be doing will be with the sander flat so I can move the piece back and forth as well. Just looking at the 2 of them, I think the casting on mine is heavier. Mine also runs on 220V rather 110, not sure what your's is. They are awesome though B) Mines nice and quiet too actually, it's quieter than my dust collection system which I HAVE to use with the sander. The graphite pad under the belt makes a huge difference :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine is very similar, I looked at the 99" version as well, it was actually less money (cheaper brand) but less power too. But finding 99" belts vs 89" belts is near impossible. I could get them but I would have had to order them by the 10's.

I didn't get the oscilating feature as it's one more moving part to screw up and it takes away rigidity of the belt which although not super important with a sander was still a concern. 99% of what I'll be doing will be with the sander flat so I can move the piece back and forth as well. Just looking at the 2 of them, I think the casting on mine is heavier. Mine also runs on 220V rather 110, not sure what your's is. They are awesome though B) Mines nice and quiet too actually, it's quieter than my dust collection system which I HAVE to use with the sander. The graphite pad under the belt makes a huge difference :D

The place I got this stocks 99" belts, so I have no worries there. Yeah, yours being a General is a WAY better machine, but I don't do production work at all. Another reason I didn't get that one is it was switchable between 220/110V, but it's listed as using 18AMPS @ 110VAC, so I wasn't sure it would run off my household current.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The place I got this stocks 99" belts, so I have no worries there. Yeah, yours being a General is a WAY better machine, but I don't do production work at all. Another reason I didn't get that one is it was switchable between 220/110V, but it's listed as using 18AMPS @ 110VAC, so I wasn't sure it would run off my household current.

Yeah, I could switch mine to 110, but you're right, then it runs at 18 amps and that would require 12 guage wiring in the shop which there isn't, I had 220 in there already so that was no big deal, way easier to run a long 220 extension cord than cut into the wall to put in a heavier guage wire to run on 110 :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...