Craftsman Professional 10 in. Contractor Saw (Sears#21833) Reviews

My husband being a contractor he was on the job site and called me to go to Sears and buy him "exactly" what he told me to buy. He was in Sears the week before to buy blades for another saw and told me he saw the Craftsman 10" Professional Contractor Saw and for me to go and purchase this he needed it asap.

When I went into the tool dept. as always someone greeted me and asked if I needed help, yes, I replyed and told him what my husband wanted. Within 15 minutes, honestly I was in and out and on my way to the job site.

What I loved was immediatly someone was there to help me, also he asked me...

The saw is quality built in every way with exception to the rip fence design. It is flawed; in that it doesn't want to grip as the guide rails very tightly. When trying to run a wide sheet of plywood trough, if you don't keep the sheet perfectly perpendicular to the rip fence, it will walk it over. Even with the fence tweaked to it's max, it still didn't grip tight enough. I was able to counter this issue by increasing the frictional coefficient between the rip fence and the guide rails by roughing up the aluminum guide rails with a piece of coarse sand paper. It helped, but it is still not...

Truely the biggest waste of money I have ever spent on tools. this saw surely looks awesome at the store, too bad you can't do a test cut at the store. Saw took me months to get it assembled. Instructions are for experts who have assembled this unit before, just look at steps 10 till finish "use straight edge to level". if you use a straight edge to level, good luck. don't even bother wasting your time calling Craftsman customer care, they either transfer you constantly or tell you to call the store or give you a number that goes straight to voicemail. I have had this saw for 6 months and still...

I decided on this saw based on features and price.  I liked the motor in the cabinet, and the riving knife.  Not so keen on the trunnions mounted to the top, the fence, and the steel wings, but for the price you can't beat it.

Easy pickup.  Got it home, unloaded, and assembled (in spite of terrible instructions).  Then I went to level the insert with the top.  Found the table was out of flat (Hump in the middle of almost 0.020).  There is just no excuse for this. 

Called repair.  They wanted to send someone to fix it.  I asked if they have a portable surface grinder in the truck.  They...

I read the reviews on this saw which intimidated me. I am no expert at building things. I have few tools and very little experience. I did not think I would be able to calibrate the saw and I was not looking forward to a 6 hour set up. I got the saw home and within 2 1/2 hours it was complete, calibrated perfectly and cutting wood. Most the calibrating was done out of the box. There was some simple tweaking to the levels of the wings and the adjustment of the fence with built in tape measure. One tip, download and print the assembly instructions from this site. The ones in the box are ****. Great...

This is my third Craftsman saw, so I guess the much touted assembly problems were not a problem for me. I used the on-line assembly instructions, not the abbreviated ones that come with the saw. I would have completed it in about 3 hours - working slow and easy - if I hadn't screwed up and switched the two sides of the base assembly and had to go back and fix my error. I found the setup - blade alignment - to be spot on and only had to make a minor adjustment to the rip fence alignment. Compared to the little portable saw I have been using this puppy is soooo quiet.

As usual I am please with my...

My dad bought the tab le saw I no own probably 20 years ago.  The direct drive motor is sturdy and resilient.  He sawed through hundreds of board feet one month making wood slats to go in a chain link fence.  This was before they made them out of cedar and he had a lot of cedar siding that he couldn't stand to see go to waste.

The saw is old now, and dad has passed away, but the saw is still in excellent shape.

From pictures found online I expected the 21833 to be a little smaller than it is, but it's a rather large saw when assembled. Actual dimensions from front to back rails is 32" ( with the on/off power box sticking out an additional 2" from the front rail ), and the overall rail width is 57". The work surface itself sits ~3' off the ground.

Many reviews online stated the instructions were terrible, but I didn't have any issues with them. I found the instructions rather easy to follow and understand ( maybe I had a newer printing edition ). Take your time when assembling, and re-read the instrucitons...

I purchased my saw about two months ago and have been pleased with its service. The saw went together easily and needed no adjustments. The fence and miter needed alinement's, which took about thirty minutes. The saw is very heavy and needs two people to lift it. The saw has made straight and true cuts with the miter and the fence. The instructions were a little short and could have used more pictures of assembly. The cord holders should be install before turning the saw up right. The assembly took about 4 hours and that with me taking my time. I would recommend the saw to anyone needing a great...

This saw requires two people and possibly an extra person to assemble. This will be your first project, but it is good because it gets you familiar with the machine. Take your time and enjoy it. Invite a few buddies and make it a day.

A few recommendations:

1. All of the holes are pre drilled and threaded prior to paint/powder coating, so it is a good idea to screw the bolts in just a little ways to chase and clean the threads before assembly. This will make putting the bolts in a lot easier while you are trying to hold two pieces together. Yes, everything lined up nicely.

2. Assembly tools are...

The problems discussed in all the other reviews in regards to assembly and such, none of those happened to me. Took me 2 hours to build, and 2 hours to fine tune. 4 hours total. 4-cut test is a pass. Nickel test is a pass. Minor tolerance issues in the stamped steel and screws, but no biggie. This saw (aside from the blade) would get a solid 8 out of 10 from me when bang for the buck is taken in as well. If the miter gauge was better, well, I'd go higher.

The blade that came with it though... EEK!

The arbor hole had burrs all around it. Lots of pits throughout the blade, especially at the arbor...

My experience with this saw is similar to many others already posted.  Assembly is a nightmare and significant blade alignment adjustments were required.  Parallel alignment with the miter groove was almost 1/8th inch off and adjustment was very difficult.  But once assembled and blade aligned, the saw worked nicely.  I have a Craftsman Escalibur dado from my last saw and have not been able to fit this onto the arbor of this one as their is insufficient room for the center of the dado to slip into position.  I contacted the Sears service folks regarding this and got this reply. "Thank you...

Inspect all parts before taking this saw home since it will take numerous weeks for any new part to come in the mail. The assembly instructions are horrible and there is no finished picture of this saw anywhere in the booklet. When you do finally get it together it's a powerful and sturdy saw.