Let the factory installed smoke out

[Cecil]

Let the factory installed smoke out of my crapsman router.  I know many people do not like crapsman , but this one has served me well. I purchased it in the early 1980's and I have abused it a few times.
I would not buy another though.

I since have purchased a Bosch 1619, which I dedicate to a table, a Milwaukee 5615 with dual bases and a Dewalt trim router.  All of those are better routers. 

The router may simply need new brushes.  Letting the smoke out indicates something more serious though, I think. It likely is not even worth the trouble, even for something as simple as brushes.

[Bill Holt]

I have one from the mid '70s I guess.  Switch broke years ago in the on position, so I rarely use it.  Runs great when I have to use it!

[goaliedad]

I hate when that happens. I would say that you got your money's worth from it.

[fredhargis]

There was a time when I needed a tool I would pull out my Sears tool catalog, check the offerings and go get it. But that was the seventies, and things are really different now.....I won't buy any Craftsman power tools. Even so, I have fond memories of the routers, sabre saws, drills I had back in the day. Too bad they went way off course. sad about your router, but as someone said: you got your money's worth!

[EvilTwin]

The last time I had a craftsman router in my hands, it internally self destructed and it went straight to the trash.  That was many moons ago.  It's been replaced by a bosch and a makita and a big ole Ryobi RE600 in the router table.   They just built crap and nobody knew any better at the time.  This is what that jewel looked like (not mine, just a pic off the interweb).  And <snarf>, 1 and 1/2 hp, really? 

[Admiral]

I had one just like that many moons ago; about after 6 months it started throwing bits.  Sold it at a yard sale marked "parts" for $5, good riddance.  Went PC which, at the time, were and still are excellent routers, I have 2 690s.

[kurt18947]

Re Craftsman I handled a Craftsman router recently while killing time in a mall. I was pleasantly surprised at the plunge action. I have no idea about durability but it didn't feel half bad for Joe Homeowner who might use a router an hour per year or something like that.  I think it was this one:

https://www.craftsman.com/products/craft...on_id=2082


Whether you'd be able to get parts in a few years is a $64 question. Unfortunately that issue is not exclusive to Craftsman.

[daddo]

I'm still using the 1974 7-1/4" Craftsman circular saw given to me on my BD. 42 years and going strong.

I had the same router made about 1976. It finally quit about 6 years ago. It was a good router.

[arthropod98]

was using my little craftsman 12V lithium ion drill over the weekend, and that thing started smoking. of course, i pretty much beat the crap outta that thing, and use it to spin the wire brush to clean our woodstove connector pipe -- mighta been some creosote in there!

[Steve N]

As already stated they used to be the game in most towns, then people started noticing the Craftsman tools let the magic smoke out at a much faster rate than any of the other brands except the cheapest TaiChiwanese junk. Now even the cheapest TaiChiwanese junk keeps the smoke Genie inside better than a Crapsman. Of course there was a time they were Americas retail Giant too.