Craftsman 12" 220 RAS Worth the Effort

[Tom Legate]

I recently acquired a 12" Craftsman RAS wired for 220. Doesn't appear to be in bad shape and the motor sounds strong. Two things I notice: 1) the sliding mechanism doesn't glide ultra-smooth - I'm assuming it needs new bearings; and 2) When I try to see if the blade is turning square, it does not make a full revolution before it goes off center of the line I made on the table. The shaft seems tight with no obvious play, yet the blade seems to rotate a bit out of square. I'm presuming this is bearings as well. Is this thing worth dealing with? I know that Dewalt made a good little RAS, and that would have been my first choice. I have a Dewalt chop saw already, so am I wasting my time dealing with this Craftsman RAS? Does it have any value? Any comments/opinions would be appreciated. Tom

[Mark Ashmeade]

It depends on what you can get a "better" RAS (ie Delta, DeWalt) for. If you can't get one, then sure it's worth the bearings, if they're available. If you can get into a Delta or DeWalt for little coin, then perhaps I'd go that route. Other factors would be how much time & money you have invested in the C-Man and how much time and money you have available to overhaul it, or replace it.

I don't know if the recall covered the 12" saws, but the C-Man RAS recall could net you $100 for the old one if you decide to move away from the C-Man.

[Brad Patch]

The quick answer as to if its worth the effort is no.

The rough carriage travel can perhaps be a matter of cleaning and adjustment, but my experience tells me that the bearings initially used were crap, I'm unsure if a better quality replacements are available.. Motor bearings most likely are a standard size and can be obtained from Accurate Bearing, While some may disagree, most feel that the basic construction of the saw miter index system is inadequate to allow accurate 90 degree and 45 degree repeatability. I owned two Craftsman radials and spend way too much time making adjustments. I now have a Dewalt MBC and once its set up it holds its adjustments. There are much nicer saw's out there.

[Curt Harms]

"When I try to see if the blade is turning square, it does not make a full revolution before it goes off center of the line I made on the table. The shaft seems tight with no obvious play, yet the blade seems to rotate a bit out of square. I'm presuming this is bearings as well."

A bent blade would do the same thing. Maybe try another blade if you have one that will fit?

As far as the carriage travel, do the bearings seem lubricated? I'm not sure what would be the proper lube, you don't want something that will hold sawdust. AFAIK the big shortcoming of "lesser" RASs is the inability to return to square if the arm is swung and not have play once the arm is locked. I have a DeWalt 7749 and the primary reason it's here is inertia. I don't think I've turned it on in a year. The one thing I do find RASs handy for is cutting slots for torsion box parts. They work great for that.

[Myk Rian]

I'm assuming it needs new bearings;
Why bearings?
Have you looked at the ways to see if they're clean? Have you cleaned the bearings? Try those first.


it does not make a full revolution before it goes off center of the line I made on the table. The shaft seems tight with no obvious play, yet the blade seems to rotate a bit out of square. I'm presuming this is bearings as well.
Again, why beairngs?
Have you checked to see if the blade isn't warped?
How about the arbor? Check it with a dial indicator.
It could also be as simple as the arbor washer being dirty.

If you find bearings are needed, many of us restorers go to Accurate bearing.
www.accuratebearing.com
M (http://www.accuratebearing.com)ake sure you have all the dimensions needed before calling.

[Tom Ewell]

Depends on what shape the saw is "really" in. I purchased my 10" saw new back in the mid 70's and have used it regularly since.

Can't speak to the bearings question but cleaning, tweaking and installing the safety recall upgrades is basically all I've done to it over the years.

It's now pretty much relegated to 90 degree only cuts, dados, tenoning and the like, I have a Kreg stop system on the fence making it really handy for cutting parts to length.
The "new" recall replacement blade guard shoots the dust straight back making for better dust collection.

As with any older equipment, particularly gear put out for non industrial use (in my case), it does have it's little quirks but I've use the dang thing for so long that I know what to expect out of it.
If it ever dies?..... I'll figure that one out later.

What the value is in fixing it up depends on the realistic intended use and what level of accuracy is tolerable. I never expected it to reproduce the mitering action of my Kapex but for production runs of cabinet frames, I much prefer set my stops, fire up the collector and ol' saw, make the run and shut it down.... no trigger pulling needed for each cut.