Craftsman Professional 10 inch Portable Table Saw item # 00921829000 Reviews

Craftsman Professional 10 inch Portable Table Saw item # 00921829000 — 

I lreally like the Craftsman Professional 10" Portable Table Saw!I've owned several different Table saws in my 35 years as a professional finish carpenter and general contractor. I started out with a standard Craftsman cast iron belt drive 10 inch I used for about 10 years, until a trainee bent its innards beyond repair. Next was a standard Rockwell cast iron 10 inch belt drive, to which I added extension tables, a beefed up motor, lots of accessories, and a really sweet 50" Beismeyer fence. It was set up stationary in rented shop space for several years, and I could do nearly everything with it, but rarely used it on jobsites because it was a real pain to move. I moved the shop to my home garage and it was just too big  and hard to move.  I sold it and stuck out my neck by going to Builders Square and buying a very unconventional, seemingly undersized Ryobi BT3000, the ancestor of this Craftsman Professional 10 in. Portable Table Saw.  It was a little underpowered and a pain to set up, but I liked the low weight, ribbed aluminum table, and overall precision.  After using only that saw for 10 years for all my work, it took a dive into concrete, off the side of my pickup as I was turning a corner. (I forgot to tie it down).  It was repairable, but I quickly discovered that no local stores were selling the saw or its parts any longer.  I searched the internet, and I found a few networks of Ryobi BT3000 enthusiasts, and some used parts I could buy. You should keep this in mind, because many BT3000 parts and accesories, such as dado throat plates, will fit this Craftsman, which is made by Ryobi, and is basically the same saw.But,  I needed a saw the very next day and couldn't wait for shipping, so once again I found myself shopping for a new saw.  I decided it needed to be more portable, but as capable and precise as a stationary shop saw.  A tall order, to be sure.Most portable saws have limited rip widths, even the most expensive ones. I worked my way through the big name brands at Home Depot, Lowes, and others, disappointed, and eventually went to Sears, not expecting much.I was blown away when I first saw the Craftsman Professional 10 inch Portable Table Saw, Sears item# 00921829000 Mfr. model# 21829.It had all the best features of my BT3000 and more, and the portable rig was actually more stable and sturdy than the shop saw.  Great rip capacity, and quick and easy mobility. The saw just looks awesome, with its balanced design, big wheels, aluminum parts, and Ferrari-Red cabinet.  It's like the sports car of table saws!It was on sale to boot, so 30 minutes later, a big box containing one was "parked" in my garage.I rather dreaded the set-up, remembering the BT3000, which even came with cryptic video-taped instructions, which I had to watch several times to understand. In the tape, which I should put on You-Tube, I even learned that the correct pronunciation of Ryobi is "Ree-obi", not "Ri (like sky")-obi", as I had used.I was surprised to see that the Craftsman saw was almost completely put together to begin with. I got out my squares, rulers and tape measure and was blown away to see that EVERY clearance and alignment was nearly perfect, within 1/64", straight out of the box.  Maybe I'm blessed, judging from others' comments, but this is the first piece of complex equipment I've ever purchased that NEEDED ABSOLUTELY NO ADJUSTMENTS, straight out of the box. Of course, I did have to set the fence rip guage and the zero stop on the mitre guage, but that was it.That was 2-1/2 years and many projects ago, and the saw has performed flawlessly in all that time, rarely needing any adjustments. I never need to use a tape for rips, because the saw's fence guage is so accurate.  I did glue on a quarter-inch wide tape I got from a little 3-foot Stanley tape measure, to the fence rail, just to make it easier to read.The Craftsman saw's motor seems to be a little stronger than the older Ryobi's. It has adequate power for any job, as long as I stay with a sharp, thin-kerf blade.  I keep a Freud 80-tooth Diablo on it nearly always, but sometimes go to a lesser-tooth combo for the really heavy-duty rips.I should mention that I never had to do any work or repairs to the Ryobi's motor or drive belt system, or anything else, in the 10 years I used it.I don't slam, force, or shove this saw or its parts around when moving it or making adjustments. Maybe that's why some others have had a few problems and I have not.  I find that a little gentle respect goes a long way towards extending the life and precision of most power tools like this. I've owned and used some of my power tools over 20 to 30 years, and if I ever have to replace one of them, I  do a lot of research and shopping before making a purchase. There are other saws that are heavier-duty, even more precise, more standardized, with more accessories available, but, to my knowledge, they will be heavier, less portable, and/or more costly than this Craftsman Professional 10 inch Portable Table Saw.