Craftsman 103 22170 Table Saw

by Rich
(Illinois)

When my uncle passed away about 20 years ago I inherited his old Craftsman table saw. It has a 1/2 horse power motor and a cast iron top. I am guessing it was manufactured in the 1960's. It served me well for a few years until I decided to "upgrade" to a brand new Craftsman Model 137.248830 which I purchased in 2005. I was initially concerned about the number of plastic parts in the new saw, but I figured "hey that's how they make things these days". It wasn't the most expensive saw Sears sold at the time, but it was far from the cheapest. Based on my experience with the old saw and the minimal amount I would use it, I figured I would probably have it for the rest of my life. But even though I had a new saw, I just couldn't part with the old one. It worked fine and actually looked better than the new one I bought. So I ended up leaving it parked in my basement.

My new saw worked great for me for the past 5 years, but last fall I was ripping some stock and all of a sudden it blew it's breaker. After that it quickly started to loose power and then quit completely.

A quick search of the internet on the new saw's model number revealed a multitude of people having problems with this particular saw. Apparently the plastic cased motors (I am not kidding, the motor is mostly plastic) are not too reliable. I took my motor apart and found that a couple of the commutator bars separated from the armature. I just can't see spending $140 (Sears cost) for a new plastic motor, so the beast is now headed for landfill.

So now I am back to using my old standby. Does anyone know how old the 10322170 is? Also, do these saws ever have problems? It it has made it 40+ years. How much longer could it go?