# Craftsman Contractor TS



## Tedstor (Mar 12, 2011)

Nice review. Nice xmas present. If I were in the market for a new saw, it would be on my short list. 
I've read that these saws used to have issues maintaining trunion settings when the blade is raised/lowered/beveled. Supposedly, this is a production issue that was resolved a while back. Anyway, if you haven't checked your saw for said problem, you might want to before the return period expires.


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## MarkDavisson (Apr 26, 2009)

Congratulations!

It looks to me as though this is the same saw as the Ridgid R4512, the Masterforce (Menards) 10" table saw and the Steel City contractor saw (cast iron top). There may be others. If someone has other information, please correct me.

Ridgid has theirs priced the lowest, as far as I can tell, and they provide the lifetime service agreement. Are there any other factors that might tilt the scales toward or away from any of these brands?


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## Marty5965 (Jan 27, 2013)

Tedstor - I had read this about this particular model (wearing various manufacturers labels) but I believe it was on earlier variants. That said, it is no cabinet saw costing thousands of dollars and, like any tool, it is only as good as it is maintained, but I get accurate cuts that are glue up ready with my Freud blades (CMT are also very good IMO). I find that if I adjust blade height high and come down to final height I get good registration, whereas if I rise to height and stop, under tension as it were, I sometimes get about .002 difference front to rear on the blade at, or near, max height. At heights up to about 2" there is no difference. For 500 clams, I can live with that.

Mark - You are correct about the Ridgid is the same saw, can't comment on the others. When I looked at the Ridgid lifetime warranty deal, I wasn't that impressed, it's a RTB setup, I won't be sending this bad boy anywhere at 275 lbs. Instead, I sprang for the Sears on site extended service plan, which wasn't that expensive, and it means they fix it right in my basement and, if they can't, I get a replacement.


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## MarkDavisson (Apr 26, 2009)

You make an excellent point, Marty. Thank you.

On site service would be better, that's for sure. Though I'm in a fairly small city (50,000 population) there are a couple of Ridgid authorized service facilities within 15 miles. Loading a 275 pound saw back onto my truck and schlepping it to either of those facilities, though, would definitely be a pain.


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## dczward (May 23, 2011)

Congrats on the saw, Marty. I have the same one, and have been getting good results with mine for the past two + years. I did replace the fence with an Incra system, but the included fence wasn't bad. Enjoy!


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## NormG (Mar 5, 2010)

I have the same saw since February 2010.  Once I got it all set up it has done a wonder job. If you find you are having issues getting it to set up, check here www.tablesawalignment.com for information on how set it up one time and be done with it.

Congrats on the saw


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## Gopher (Jan 26, 2013)

Been using the same Craftsman contractor saw for 26 years.
Regular maint. and care, it will last you for a long time.
Good choice.


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## MarkDavisson (Apr 26, 2009)

Gopher, your saw was manufactured by Emerson Electric, I believe. Marty's new saw was made by Colovos (Sears made the change in 1997).

This is not to take away from Sears' oversight of and responsibility for the continuity of the specs and quality of the saws being sold under the Craftsman name, but it is an important difference that should be noted, in my opinion.

Edit: A correction - Marty's new saw is being distributed by Colovos, not made by Colovos. The name of the actual manufacturer of this saw is hard to determine, but it is almost certainly Chinese, Taiwanese or Indian.


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## Carl_Spangler (Feb 14, 2013)

Thanks for your review….............. helped me make my decision. I was vacillating between the R4512/21833 saw and the usual suspects in the $1200+ plus range and decided to go 'cheap' and try the 21833 Craftsman.

Anyway, I JUST setup this Craftsman TS today. Blade-Miter_slot alignment is good-excellent right out of the box when indexing with a dowel off of the miter. If there's any blade-slot shift when raising/lowering the blade it's small. I'll check the alignment with better tools soon.

FWIW, I think the split fence rails are the weakest part of this saw design. It's disappointing that they "cheaped out" on packaging by cutting the rails. It's a real shame as the rest of the fence system appears to be well designed. This split rail design is ugly enough that I'm considering an after-maket fence/rail system. I also had a minor assembly issue due to one of the welded nuts not being centered enough in the frame rail hole. I had to slot the opening and run a thread chaser through the nut to get the assembly done. Also, one of the miter slots has a slightly sticky 'hot spot' that will probably need some attention. All that said, it appears to be a solid 'entry level' table saw.

Oh, I did the "standing penny" test and all is well when I turn ON/OFF the saw. I'll post some more detailed comments after I put a fair bit of wood through the saw.

thanks again
JohnG


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## Marty5965 (Jan 27, 2013)

Glad it was useful John. Still enjoying my Craftsman. I made a crosscut sled and am well into my workbench build. Next up I would like to add a drop down out feed table and, probably, a router table on the right side.


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## Jokker78 (Oct 2, 2013)

I have the same saw, the fence is junk, I bought a saw stop fence for mine.


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## Banjo40 (Mar 17, 2015)

Hello I'm needing help on this saw. I got it all put together the thing I'm having real problems with is the rails. I'm doing this by myself and the two piece rails just butted together does not help at all. Cause when I butt them together and where there is nothing to fasten them to each other you have to use both hands to try to keep them straight with each other. So you can't hold them with one hand and tightn with the other. If anyone has any anything to say on this it would be much appreciated. Thanks


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