Craftsman band saws

[Ken Weaver]

Has anyone sprung for the new Craftsman 10" or 14" bandsaws? If so, whats your experience and the pricing you got?

[ted van halen]

I aaaalllllmoooosssstttt sprung for the 14" model yesterday. I opted for the 12" instead for $279. Just couldn't justify the extra 2 bills. I'll get it next Wednesday. I'm leaving in a few minutes to return the Ridgid 14" I bought earlier this week. My reasoning was that the Craftsman already has some of the feature I'll need right away(rip fence). Plus, it frees up some $ for more goodies that I'll be getting while at the BORG today

[Stytooner]

Ken, I bought the Craftsman 10" for $139 I think it was. Disgustingly cheap pricewise. I feel I have out and out robbed Sears and them with their eyes open.
Fantastic little saw. Zero complaints. Its a big bandsaw in little bandsaw britches.

[drumpriest]

Hey Ken, I have the 14" Euro from craftsman. I like it a lot. I've played around with Jet and Delta 14s, and I honestly like this one better. I got my 14" for about 380$, during an overlap of 2 sales (overlap lasted 3 hours). The only think that I can complain about is the somewhat stupid way the lower dust port is setup. It is a 4" port, but it's severly necked down internally, after warrentee expires, I'll proabably muck with it.

[Cody.h]

Ken I have the 12" and really like it alot especially after I installed a herc-u-lift and some elevator bolts for level adjusters on it and blades from suffolk. Here's some more of my ramblings..

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=15847

My local sears just started carrying the 89 1/2" blades http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...id=00929868000 but doubt I'll ever buy them unless just gotta have them...too expensive.

I'm not in love with the guides and the lower I gotta modify cause it wont slide back far enough for the rollers to miss the teeth on a 1/4" blade. Well maybe I'll modify it one day ..seems to work ok with the 1/4" blade with just the thrust bearing adjusted right on the bottom and the top guides set correctly.

If I could change anything it would be for the table to tilt both ways but even thats just being picky. All told counting the Lift install and blades I might have $320.00 in it and haven't found anything I couldn't cut with it yet.

I wouldn't cut foam for seat cushions on it though....don't ask me how I know.

[sacherjj]

I picked up the 10" for the same as Lee, I believe. $139. It does the job well. The first time I have wanted more power is cutting up 4"x4" turning blanks out of wet cherry. It is struggling a little with that. It seems to beat others in the 9-10" range as far as price/performance. If I got the bandsaw when I knew more about what I would be doing with it, I would have gone for a strong 14" with riser capability.

[Flatlander]

I've had the 14" for a couple of weeks and love it. Large table, fence, smooth running. Had the HF one put together and cut one thing and returned it when I found out the Sears 14" was on sale for about $355 plus tax. I don't think you would regret the purchase.

[L. D. Jeffries]

Sears Bandsaw 12"

I have had a Sears 12" bandsaw for about 3 or 4 yrs and use it constantly. Only "fault" and it's really minor is the duct collection feature. Have it hooked up to my central DC adapted from 2+ opening to 4" system, but even then there are too many "openings" to really suck up all the sawdust. Aside from main post: I make a lot of bandsawn jewelery boxes. I built a special resaw fence just for boxes and use a 3/16" 14tpi raker blade to do the resaw as well as all the other cuts. Go slow and it works great.

[ErikS]

Ken, I bought the Craftsman 10" for $139 I think it was. Disgustingly cheap pricewise. I feel I have out and out robbed Sears and them with their eyes open.
Fantastic little saw. Zero complaints. Its a big bandsaw in little bandsaw britches.

Agree - very well summed up (unlike my verbous version here http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=18598 )

[ted van halen]

Finally got 12" BS today

My local Sears store is a joke. I ordered my 12" saw a week & a half ago. Should have arrived in store on the 15th. No show then & numerous calls were met w/ "I don't know why it hasn't arrived yet, give me your number & I'll find out, blah, blah, blah..". Finally yesterday I talked to someone w/ some sense & apparently it's on b/o indefinitely. Five minutes later I called a store in a larger area & got "oh yeah, computer shows we've got 2 in stock, but let me put my hands on one before you hang up". Go figure. I just got home w/ it in the truck. Assembly to begin later today. I'm stoked.

[ted van halen]

My local Sears store is a joke. I ordered my 12" saw a week & a half ago. Should have arrived in store on the 15th. No show then & numerous calls were met w/ "I don't know why it hasn't arrived yet, give me your number & I'll find out, blah, blah, blah..". Finally yesterday I talked to someone w/ some sense & apparently it's on b/o indefinitely. Five minutes later I called a store in a larger area & got "oh yeah, computer shows we've got 2 in stock, but let me put my hands on one before you hang up". Go figure. I just got home w/ it in the truck. Assembly to begin later today. I'm stoked.

Well it's assembled but not completely set up yet. Overall it went together really well & seems very well made. I made a couple of quick cuts in some 3/4 oak plywood just for funsies. It is a VERY quiet saw. I LITERALLY had to look at the blade to see if it was running. No vibration. Rubber feet on the stand are a nice touch IMO. I know practically nothing about band saws except the ancient one in the maintenance shop @ work. I can't wait to make dust!!!

Is it bad manners to quote yourself?

Ted

[warnercc]

My local Sears store is a joke. I ordered my 12" saw a week & a half ago. Should have arrived in store on the 15th. No show then & numerous calls were met w/ "I don't know why it hasn't arrived yet, give me your number & I'll find out, blah, blah, blah..". Finally yesterday I talked to someone w/ some sense & apparently it's on b/o indefinitely. Five minutes later I called a store in a larger area & got "oh yeah, computer shows we've got 2 in stock, but let me put my hands on one before you hang up". Go figure. I just got home w/ it in the truck. Assembly to begin later today. I'm stoked.

I bought the 12" saw on Feb. 21st and they quoted me delivery on March 31st. A week later I purchased the 22124 Hybred TS from a Sears closer to my home and noticed that they had no band saws in the store at all. Last Saturday I was in the same Sears again and noticed that they had a 12" saw on the floor. I ask if they had any in stock and they said that they had 3 in boxes. I was just a little upset so I called the Sears that I purchased the 12" from and asked for the department manager. I asked him what the deal was and of course he had no answer but told me to give him a chance to find out. He called me about an 90 minutes later and said he had no answer as what was going on with the 12" saws but said that he had the 14" model in a box that he would make me a good deal on. I asked how good a deal and said for $60.00 more he would let me have the 14" saw. I bought the 12" saw on sale for $279 less a $10 coupon which made in $269. I picked up the 14" saw on Monday for $329 plus tax. I think I got a good deal and the saw is great!

[ted van halen]

I bought the 12" saw on Feb. 21st and they quoted me delivery on March 31st. A week later I purchased the 22124 Hybred TS from a Sears closer to my home and noticed that they had no band saws in the store at all. Last Saturday I was in the same Sears again and noticed that they had a 12" saw on the floor. I ask if they had any in stock and they said that they had 3 in boxes. I was just a little upset so I called the Sears that I purchased the 12" from and asked for the department manager. I asked him what the deal was and of course he had no answer but told me to give him a chance to find out. He called me about an 90 minutes later and said he had no answer as what was going on with the 12" saws but said that he had the 14" model in a box that he would make me a good deal on. I asked how good a deal and said for $60.00 more he would let me have the 14" saw. I bought the 12" saw on sale for $279 less a $10 coupon which made in $269. I picked up the 14" saw on Monday for $329 plus tax. I think I got a good deal and the saw is great!

So you've got 2 BS now? Wh at on earth will you do w/ 2? Or will you return the 12"? I originally wanted the 14" but settled on the 12 as it has capacity for what I'll be doing. Hopefully I'll find out later today how well it cuts tenons on the 2 X 6 Heart Pine I'm building a king size bed(workbench ) from.

Ted

P.S I don't know any kings but apparently they're all the same size.

[warnercc]

So you've got 2 BS now? Wh at on earth will you do w/ 2? Or will you return the 12"? I originally wanted the 14" but settled on the 12 as it has capacity for what I'll be doing. Hopefully I'll find out later today how well it cuts tenons on the 2 X 6 Heart Pine I'm building a king size bed(workbench ) from.

Ted

P.S I don't know any kings but apparently they're all the same size.

No,I don't have two. I never received the 12". They credited what I had paid for the 12" toward the 14". They couldn't even tell me when the 12" would have been delivered except sometime around March 31st.....

[JackAZ]

Sears 12" band saw and the Herc-U-Lift

[QUOTE=Cody.h] I have the 12" and really like it alot especially after I installed a herc-u-lift and some elevator bolts for level adjusters on it...

I'm about to acquire the Sears 12" and will be putting a Herc-U-Lift under it (along with levelers) and would be grateful for any advice or time-saving tips for the process.

Thanx 4 your attention,