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Jon Danniken[_7_]

On 04/17/2013 03:34 PM, wrote:
On Apr 17, 5:13 pm, Jon Danniken
wrote:
In my experience from using a half dozen different Craftsman routers,
from different eras and price-points, I have found that the common weak
link to all of them is in whatever mechanism each of them uses to lock
the shaft for changing the bit. Each of them experienced a failure in
that specific part, while the rest of the router was still in excellent
condition.

In fact, looking at the images from a GIS, with both of the two routers
you listed having the same shaft-locking mechanism, I have had it happen
to one of those, too.

Because of this, I would recommend keeping both of them, stashing one of
them up in the attic, until the inevitable time comes when the other one
breaks, which will occur at the end of a long operation, on a Sunday
night, when you really need/want to finish the job up so that you can
put your first coat of finish on the project before you clean up. If
nothing else, when the mechanism breaks, you can exchange parts between
the two units to have one functional router.

Jon

Having taken the inherited unit apart to check on the brushes and
clean it, it appears to be identical to my single-speed unit except
for the speed control which is in one of the handles. The height
adjustment appears identical for the two units, as does virtually
everything else. The only other difference besides the speed control
in the handle is the inherited router has a 4' longer power cord. I
gues it was more expensive for the "electronic" speed control and you
got a longer power cord as well.

My son has said he would like my old single-speed router, so I will
give it to him and keep the variable speed unit. Either way, I
probably will only use it a couple of times each year when I make some
special mouldings for picture frames, etc. Not much chance I'll wear
either one out.

Yeah, but that's the whole point I was making; these routers don't fail
from normal wear and tear, they fail because of a poorly designed shaft
locking mechanism.

The problem is that if you don't tighten the collet sufficiently, the
bit is not secure, but if you do tighten it sufficiently, the shaft
locking mechanism will break.

Maybe you'll get lucky and yours won't break; mine chose to break in the
middle of a job after a long and complicated setup. Like you, I only
used mine a couple times a year.

Good luck, though.

Jon