I was just in Sears and saw a cheap planer that looks like it would work for shaping. The depth adjustment goes from 0 to full cut (3/32") in something like 30 degrees of rotation. The depth adjustment is stiff but could probably be modified. The exhaust on it looks like the Bosch. They sell for $69.95. Its worth looking at for someone who needs a planer. Sears has some awesome sales from time to time so might pick it up even cheaper.
Howzit Dave, Sears doesn’t manufacture any of their products themselves. They do research to figure out which products best fit their needs and so you are actually buying another brand that Sears has paid to put their Craftsman brand name on. The planer may be a ryobi or anothe mid-range product.Aloha,Kokua
I originally got a craftsman planer from Sears cause it was on sale. after burning the brushes out 3 times pretty quickly (Sears has excellent warranties) I just gave up and got a bosch and have never had a problem with it.
Hey Dave - you can find planers at any pawn shop, garage sale or flea market in town. Plus, Sears sucks anyway. I bought a top of the line washing machine from them and after 11 months the agitator came off when we took out a load of clothese. We called and they said just to put it back (implying that it was ok, what, a removable agitator? Whatever…it seemed to work when we slid it back into place). Then, at 13 months old (one month after the warranty expired) it exploded (literally the agitator came apart in 12 pieces inside the machine at speed and punched holes in the drum). They charged $55 for a guy to come out and look at it, say “yup, it’s broken” and then wanted over $550 to fix it. We called, got the runaround, talked to every Sears customer service group in the country and told them we reported the defect prior to the warranty expiring and basically they said “too bad, so sad”.
So, screw Sears. I will never buy anything from them again. With that kind of customer service, I hope they go bankrupt. Why deal with any business that treats people like that?
Especially to buy a cheap planer - you can buy something like that in 100 places. In fact, I have a Sears planer that you can have for free if you pay the shipping. I not only won’t buy from Sears, I’m not going to use anything that says Sears on it anymore.
Sears doesn’t manufacture any of their products themselves. They do research to figure out which products best fit their needs and so you are actually buying another brand that Sears has paid to put their Craftsman brand name on. The planer may be a ryobi or anothe mid-range product.Aloha,Kokua
The trick with their power tools and appliances is to find out who makes what, and then find out about what that is. All that should be available on the internet these days. Sometimes the Sears best power tool may be a big manufacturers low range product. Not everything is a bargain. This has changed a bit once they started carrying manufacturer brands but…
Warranty situations are same at Sears as anywhere else. Keep an eye on the clock, push them if and when you need to. Where I live we have really high mineral content in water, destroys dishwashers…the contract repair people Sears sends out are the most educational people you can find. They’ve seen everything and have all kinds of knowledge. They get their work from Sears so don’t need to create more themselves. Whenever I have to make a call about warranty work with anybody I try to be super patient and commiserate with whoever I talk to, since so many seem to think jobs are an imposition on their personal life…they seem to appreciate the sympathy. But warranties only make money for The Man when they aren’t used…
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