[Rick Dennington]

I have a nearly brand new DeWalt DW788 with stand I'll let go REAL cheap. I hate it.(se related story to "Why did I buy that tool?"). It also has the light, blades,blower, all the bells and whistles. Any s.s-no matter which one-- you can have them.

 

[runngt]

Way back when I had "scroll saw fever" as well I looked at the craftsman professional and the Ryobi at my local orange box store.

Some people hate on craftsman tools quite a bit, I understand more now then when I first started building my garage full of tools as to why and where the complaints come from. Many moons ago I think they were (and I use this loosely) "great tools", but in years past they have slipped further and further down my list of "to buy" tools. They seem to get cheaper and cheaper as time goes on, but they still have a few good products and I would still buy a few of their tools. It just depends on the tool, how often I would use it and what my budget is for that tool.

I ended up with the ryobi only because it came with a free corner sander (which I never use and is mostly useless) but the price was $99. For the work I have done it has been a good tool. The table top is aluminum so rust is not a problem, the power has been good enough to get the job done. It will accept both pin and non pin blades. Blade changes can be a head ache, but not bad after you get used to them. I could change them in the dark now after a few uses.

If your going to spend many hours at this machine and this is the focus of your work spend the money and buy the biggest and baddest tool you can afford, if your going to play on this machine everynow and then craftsman will serve you well, plus at $150 for the tool and stand it's hard to beat the deal. I get the harbor freight tool mailing with the discount emails…..I have yet to buy a single tool from them, even after driving to the store and looking. These are disposable tools. In fact we have a saying at our shop, if the harbor freight tool is red it's a double use, if it's blue it's a single use tool.

 

[Jackie]

Rick, you want to sell the dewalt? How much????
Jackie

 

[HardWoodHead]

runngt: Excellent advice and make sense to me. I won't be using the saw a lot, I just don't want it to shake all to hell when I crank it up. What model Ryobi did you end up with? This one thing I have decided: I am definitely NOT buying the one from Harbor Freight. Just holding out for the best deal. I missed out on that "20 Craftsman and kind of wish I would have grabbed it but I would have had to drive so far so I am holding out again for a deal.

 

[runngt]

HardWood, I will look tonight. I know it's a 16" but I can get you all the info in a bit.

 

[scrollfreak]

I know I am a little late on this subject, but I recently purchased a craftsman model 137.216200. Seems to run smoothly except for a little unwanted rocking of the blade. But with a little playing with it I got it to run the way I wanted it to. Don't care for the blade guard. I started out with a saw from Harbor Freight. Did ok for a while. But a 16 inch throat is too small for some of the work I do. I purchased a Grizzly 22 inch scroll saw last year. It had some design flaws that I reworked. It turned out to be my best saw now. Runs straight and smooth. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles like other saws, but I have done probably over 200 scroll pieces with it. Grizzly has discontinued this perticular saw so I was able to purchase a couple more from them for future parts for 15 bucks apiece. Like I said, with a little finangling and redesigning of my own it has turned out to be a top grade saw.

 

[beachblu]

Boy, would I love to see a good photo of the Craftsman 18" scroll saw (113.207600). I picked one up at Goodwill, and then discovered that it's missing the two Blade Holders and associated blade clips. Of course, I'd like to just find a set of these, but if not, contemplating making a set of blade holders somehow. A good close-up photo of these (on the scroll saw) would be very helpful!!

(I see HardWoodHead has this saw…??)

 

[TheLorax]

Boy, would I love to see a good photo of the Craftsman 18" scroll saw (113.207600). I picked one up at Goodwill, and then discovered that it s missing the two Blade Holders and associated blade clips. Of course, I d like to just find a set of these, but if not, contemplating making a set of blade holders somehow. A good close-up photo of these (on the scroll saw) would be very helpful!!

(I see HardWoodHead has this saw…??)

- beachblu

I'm in the same situation. I picked one up for $20 on craigslist then realized it was missing the blade holders? did you manage to fin a source for them? I wonder if there was another machine that had the same size holders that would work. Sears doesn't stock the part anymore. You can download the manual for free off sears website.

 

[beachblu]

When my purchased copy of the owner's manual showed up from Sears, it proved to be the savior. It showed clearly (enough) how the blade holders function. Based on the graphics in the Manual, and taking dimensions from the Saw, I made two blade holders from stock aluminum for "pin-type" blades and they work just fine. A long way around, but worked!!

 

[HardWoodHead]

Boy, would I love to see a good photo of the Craftsman 18" scroll saw (113.207600). I picked one up at Goodwill, and then discovered that it s missing the two Blade Holders and associated blade clips. Of course, I d like to just find a set of these, but if not, contemplating making a set of blade holders somehow. A good close-up photo of these (on the scroll saw) would be very helpful!!

(I see HardWoodHead has this saw…??)

I ended up getting some other saw…....I think! It's been so long. I know it is an older Craftsman with variable speed dial on the front. I will post an image of it here as soon as possible.

 

[TheLorax]

When my purchased copy of the owner s manual showed up from Sears, it proved to be the savior. It showed clearly (enough) how the blade holders function. Based on the graphics in the Manual, and taking dimensions from the Saw, I made two blade holders from stock aluminum for "pin-type" blades and they work just fine. A long way around, but worked!!

- beachblu

Could you give some details on how you made them? I'm not very well versed in metalwork is it something anyone could accomplish?

 

[beachblu]

I just used a hacksaw with blade for aluminum and piece of 1" diameter aluminium bar. Pretty crude, but they work. I just studied the graphics in the manual. Took me a couple hours of fiddling.

 

[TheLorax]

Good idea thanks beachblu! I'll have to see what I can come up with.

 

[Finn]

I cut with a scroll saw every day of the year almost so I have Hegner saws. I started with that Harbor Freight saw and it was terrible. Broke after a very short time. If you want to do fretwork, cutting thin stock, a DeWalt is the saw to get but if you want to cut thicker stock (1/2" or more) on a regular basis a more durable saw is needed. That is why I have Hegners. I killed a new DeWalt in 20 months of use making toys.

 

[Jeremy206]

Its ok… But I'm done buying Craftsman products. Every time I have to fix it I find out who actually made it for them. That model is the one I have and the rubber bushings wore out. I did use it quite a bit. But I found out its the same as the Hitichi CW40 http://lumberjocks.com/reviews/594. And I just had to order parts from sears direct where they want an arm and both legs for shipping. One thing I do like is you can use both style of blades. Stright and pinned. and they are fairly easy to change.