Jesse R Strawbridge wrote:

Some of the older Craftsman tools were pretty good. 38 years should put
the router in that range. Somewhere along the line, Sears decided to
change quality (make cheap junk), I assume for the same reason B&D
decided to do so. I have a 3/8 drill and a 7 1/4 saw that are about 30
years old and have had no problems (except brushes). An even older (50s
vintage) saw that I inherited needs a new power cord but worked fine the
last time I used it. OTOH, the router I bought about 25 years ago is a
piece of junk.

Jess.S

I had a Craftsman Commercial router that I bought in the early 70's.
Very good tool, performed well. When it was stolen, I replaced it with
another Craftsman, but the Craftsman Commercial product line was not
longer available in the mid 80's. This one was total crap--plastic
motor housing, self-dismantling fan, way too much vibration. And the
chuck had a way of losing its grip on bits.

I recently replaced that one with a Craftsman that was actually made by
Bosch. The kit that came with plunge and fixed bases. Excellent tool,
plenty of power, smooth, vibration-free operation. Hopefully
Sears/K-Mart has gotten the message recently that their power-tool
reputation had taken a nose-dive in recent years?

BTW, in the early 70's at least, the hand-held power tools were made by
Singer, and the stationary ones by Emerson Electric.

--Steve