Prices?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:07 pm

GEE I am glad I am away from home while all the previous posts were made! I would have added fuel to the fi-uh-conversation!:rolleyes:

BTW Sears IS starting to NOT replace all 'Craftsman' tools. The former 'guarantee' is not across the board any more.

cincinnati · Post by **cincinnati** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 4:32 pm

boozeclues wrote:and found this on http://www.classaction.law.pro/current_cases/index.html

Sears Craftsman “Made in the USA” Claims

The Law Office of Aron D. Robinson is part of a group of lawyers prosecuting cases alleging that certain Sears Craftsman brand tools are not “Made in the USA” or “Made in America” as claimed by Sears. Federal regulations as well as State deceptive practice statutes limit when a manufacturer may make a “Made in the USA” claim for their products. If you have products which are claimed to be of USA origin but have substantial component parts made in foreign countries you may have a claim against the Manufacturer and distributor of those products.

I did read the whole article, but having sold them in the past and about 10 yrs restuarant experience i stand by my statement. good for the house but not good enough for a real kitchen.

Thanks for all the idea on keepin costs down and ill have to look into the linked belt.

and besides serpentine belts themselves are only 12 bucks shipped (for my truck) add about 20 for a half hour of labor from a independent shop and yes i stand by that statement.... or put away 2 hrs and do it yourself, if you dont have the tools go to a parts store and get some free loner tools.

as for your lawn mower belt the belt for deck on my john deere was about 30 bucks online and the other are less. ill bet you can find them online for your toro at simular prices.

I would love to know your source for the mower belts. I once tried a standard belt from an auto parts store and it was trashed in one or two mowing's. Did not hold up at all.

Now one Shopsmith part I will say is priced way out of control is the Pro Planer feed motor. $448.93:eek:
I would buy a grizzly planer than replace the feed motor. There has to be a cheaper way.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:23 pm

JPG40504 wrote:GEE I am glad I am away from home while all the previous posts were made! I would have added fuel to the fi-uh-conversation!:rolleyes:

BTW Sears IS starting to NOT replace all 'Craftsman' tools. The former 'guarantee' is not across the board any more.

Sears backed away from the "Satisfaction Guaranteed" promise on many of their hand tools and I think all of their power tools a long time ago. There now is a time limit on the better power tools, a requirement to show a receipt on everything and exclusion from the guarantee on tools not carrying the Craftsman name. Sears does not equal Craftsman.

I understand the requirement for showing a receipt. I know too many people who bought tools at the flea market or from garage sales and took them straight to Sears for a replacement.

mickyd · Post by **mickyd** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:31 pm

dusty wrote:Sears backed away from the "Satisfaction Guaranteed" promise on ..........
...........I know too many people who bought tools at the flea market or from garage sales and took them straight to Sears for a replacement.

Off with thier hea.. OOPS. Sorry, I forgot my manners

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:35 pm

cincinnati wrote:I would love to know your source for the mower belts. I once tried a standard belt from an auto parts store and it was trashed in one or two mowing's. Did not hold up at all.

Now one Shopsmith part I will say is priced way out of control is the Pro Planer feed motor. $448.93:eek:
I would buy a grizzly planer than replace the feed motor. There has to be a cheaper way.

Another outrageously priced part (assembly) is the speed control box (514736) which lists at $343.53.

Then there is the Cutter Head Assembly (516075) at $385.56. This does include a new set of blades.

horologist · Post by **horologist** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:46 pm

Ed in Tampa wrote:
There are things that Shopsmith sell that I would love to have but there is not way I can justify the price for what you get. To me the Sandflee is an excellent example. The price is total nonsense. Instead of pricing them so every Shopsmither in the world has one they priced them so that if they sell one they paid their R&D, production and design costs.

Think about it, the thing has two bearings, and a spindle and piece of metal for bed. Total cost of manufacture has to be in the $50 dollar range.
If is isn't they need to find a new suppliers and fabricator.

I really believe if Shopsmith would rethink their priceing they could turn the business around over night. They have been existing far too long selling products to people that had more money than brains. In this economy those people are quickly becoming extinct. For Shopsmith to survive they need to get their prices to a point that the average Joe can justify the cost. My opinion

Ed,

The high price of the Sand Flee is controlled by the inventor/manufacturer of this tool. Not Shopsmith. Take a look at these:

http://www.rjrstudios.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RJR&Category_Code=SF

http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2061030/SAND-FLEE-Portable-Drum-Sander.aspx?keyword=sand_flee&refcode=06INGOOG&gclid=COvB9468lZ0CFQ0aswodAB9s3g

Both are more expensive than Shopsmith. I agree that the tool seems awfully expensive for what you get and after trying one out at the owners weekend I have decided that my money would be better spent elsewhere.

Troy

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:07 pm

keakap wrote:But did I miss something? I didn't see in the report where the Craftsman Lifetime Guarantee no longer exists for "Made in the U.S.A." Craftsman products, which was my only point re Sears.

the lifetime warranty on Craftsman power tools was gone by winter of 1983.

the warranty went from lifetime to 1 or 2 years UNLESS you bought it through the catalog. I bought a Craftsman belt sander through the catalog store in the regular store and took delivery there. it turned out that the replacement warranty was until you carried it out of the store. after that, you got the warranty period coverage for repair only. repair took 6 weeks and the repaired sander could only sand items up to 3" wide. when I originally took the 1 month old Craftsman belt sander in for exchange to the store, the store manager took one look at my receipt and told me that it was not a Craftsman tool as far as Sears (the retail store) was concerned.

I did not buy another Sears power tool for over 20 years.

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:20 pm

dusty wrote:Is there a reason why you can not just register as a new user (username and password) maybe even (telephone number and address).

Dusty,

thanks to your urging, I tried the Jointech bulletin board from yet another computer at work with a fresh version of firefox and I could finally see the bulletin board. I still cannot access it from home. I guess I need to do some troubleshooting now in hopes of helping their tech figure out the problem.

FWIW, you did the one thing that the Jointech tech never did: you told me that other people were accessing the site without having this problem.

thanks,
Ivan

tryinhard · Post by **tryinhard** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:40 pm

Ed in Tampa wrote: . . . To me the Sandflee is an excellent example. . . . Think about it, the thing has two bearings, and a spindle and piece of metal for bed. Total cost of manufacture has to be in the $50 dollar range. If is isn't they need to find a new suppliers and fabricator.

So why have some who have built their own thickness sanders, shown to us step-by-step by posts in one of the Forums, paid $300 for essentially just the drum and bearings? I am not at all questioning their judgement, but just saying that this might give the SandFlee price a different perspective.