Official Luthiers Forum!

I am looking at the following Craftsman tools for sale. I am trying to get more information such as model number, but wanted to check to see if there was any general consensus on craftsman. I was planning to get a new drill press this year and a new delta or jet 17 " would be $500+ or close to $600 with tax. These two could be about a 1/3 of that, but I don't want to end up with tools I hate. I currently have a small benchtop craftsman drill press and I would hope the larger one would be higher quality.

I would hope the Band saw could be good for cutting templates or tops and backs to shape. Possibly helpful for shaping necks. I realize that I would probably not be able to resaw on this saw.

Craftsman 17” Drill press – 16 speed – 1.5 hp - $100

Craftsman 12” Band Saw 1 HP 2 speed - $75

Thanks for any feedback. If someone wants to suggest other brands for me to look for on the used market that would be great to know.

Greg

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Greg Hatcher
North Carolina

The joy of cheap used tools is that they are cheap and you can generally resell them for almost what you paid for them.

If that's what your budget allows start with them and the rest will follow.

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

Also it may differ in the US but the customer service/warranty on Craftsman stuff (through Sears) up here is outstanding. Not that it would help you with used stuff, but it must be decent quality if they can back their products the way they do up here.

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

I have several craftsman tools. Belt/disk sander-junk. The disk lost its drive. It seems to disengage somehow, every time I put ANY pressure against it. I haven't had a chance/don't know if it is worth the time to open it up and have a look. The belt portion works, but bogs down really easy, and the platen is not flat. Bench top drill press(not sure of size) seems OK. Have not used it for any precision work yet. It drives a safety planer with enough power, but the chuck is not quite level with the inadequet table. What else.... Jig saw is OK, but I have a Rigid I like better. Cordless Drill that leaves much to be desired. Um...Hand tools..Best value I have found. They return them no questions asked. I have used ratchets as hammers, screw drivers as chisels and pry bars, and they replace them. Power tools they won't take back without their protection agreement, which is the biggest scam in the industry. I would rather buy delta in the low price range(or grizzly, which I don't own yet, but most everybody seems to like). Proceed with caution, unless they are older craftsman. sears roebuck had a pretty loyal following.
Robert Dunn
side note: most valuable handgun in existence was manufactured by/for Sears Roebuck(at least several years I am pretty certain).

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It is better to try and fail, than never try at all

I have a Craftsman floor drill press and it has worked for me for over 10 years. I also have a Craftsman 12" band saw. The band saw that I have from them is the type where the head tilts like a ship saw. The table remains level. I have used this saw heavily for over 10 years as well. When my band saw dies eventually I will get one with better re-saw capacity but I have no serious complaints with either of these tools. I would recommend that you test the tools if you can and make sure that they work but at those prices I would seriously consider the investment. This goes double if you are under-capitalized.

For the drill press I would check how easy it is to maneuver the table up and down as well as how well it locks into place. Is the mechanism free and easy to adjust?

For the band saw I would check the tires for wear. There is a good chance they will need replacement. I would also check the blade guides and bearings for wear and how easy it is to get at the adjustments. Every time you need to change the blade you will have to adjust these things and that is one area that my band saw could be better. There just is not much room. Sears is good about having parts available for older models so you should be able to recondition if needed. My band saw also takes an 80 inch blade which is unusual and I must mail order them. No local seller carries 80 inch blades-not even Sears.

Overall my opinion is that Craftsman is not great but not junk either. Specifically I have had tools that were very good from them and some that were not good at all. In your case my bet is that you would be ok.

Good luck and remember that there is no implied warranty here and if you don't like the tools after all it is not my fault!

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

hey Stephen, I almost forgot about the proprietary sizes. Absurd. Everything on every craftsman product is just slightly off size enough that you can't get anything that fits, without spending a little extra on their parts. good idea for them. Anger and frustration on my part.

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It is better to try and fail, than never try at all

Greg, you ought to check out your options for blades. I had a 9" band saw (different manufacturer) that no one made blades for except them, and those were crap. Having custom blades made wasn't an option. If I had realized that they were my only source for blades, I would have saved up for a 14" saw. Just food for thought.

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Aoibeann

Custom blades are not prohibitively expensive, and you probably end up with a nicer blade anyway than what you could buy off the shelf. I use Timberwolf blades from http://www.suffolkmachinery.com for my 10" Craftsman (Rikon) band saw, and I used them on my little 9" Ryobi before that and they worked great. I cut through 3" thick mahogany the other day with the little Craftsman and I went real slow but it did just fine. Timberwolf blades require less tension than most stock blades anyway so they're great for small saws.

Craftsman power tools are hit and miss, it all depends on who they hired to make a particular model. My Rikon-made Craftsman band saw was a little over $100 as an open-box or clearance model and it's been great, especially since I can't put a heavy 14" band saw in the upstairs of my old house where my shop is. I won't be doing any big resawing jobs with it but it works well for nearly everything else I need to do.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Thanks for the responses. I was not quick enough and missed out on these, but will keep looking

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Greg Hatcher
North Carolina

Which one of you guys works for sears? Since I posted my negative feelings for their tools, Sears has shown up on my caller ID 6x. I haven't ever gotten a call from them before. Cut it out.

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It is better to try and fail, than never try at all

If it shows up another 660 times .. well ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Even though I'm not fascinated by most Craftsman tools since the '80s, most of the vintage stuff is very good. Cast iron, tight tolerances. I used the Reagan era 12" bandsaw for a few years, it was given to me. It's an OK machine, mine had an aluminum frame, definitely not the best, but why complain for a free tool or even $75? 80" blades are available pretty much everywhere, even at (my local) Lowe's under the Vermont Casting brand. Check those sites for more info, but most of the '50s, '60s and before stuff is indeed excellent and inexpensive now.
http://www.owwm.com/
http://www.old-woodworking-tools.net/

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

sears had a great reputation for years ... things are changing now, remember they were bought out by K mart! I have a craftsman 16' chain saw, worked great for a few years then the plastic handle broke,i cannot run the saw as the handle is attached to an automatic shutoff ( for safety reasons) , I ordered a new handle , $14.00 what a bargain ( so I thought ), got it in the spring , and since i was busy i set it aside, this fall i went to mount the handle , it was incorrect, holes did not line up, handle was the wrong shape for the saw.so i call the parts distributor, he assures me that it is the " new" replacement handle for my model saw, and I cannot return it because it has been longer than 2 months since i bought it. he says " take it to a repair shop" they will know what to do with the handle " so I ask " where is the shop?" lets see one 20 minutes away . oops wait they closed, another 45 minutes away, oh wait they have closed also . he says 'there is a repair shop open in connecticut", 1 1/2 hours drive from me. I call them, they tell me they do not do repairs , they ship them out . is it realy worth two 3 hour drives ( one to take and one to fetch ) plus the cost of gas and tolls,( if they can use the improper handle )for the repair of a saw that cost $125.00 new? service is a word rapidly dissapearing from the american corporate scheme . Jody