# Anybody recognize this Craftsman router bit set?



## JohnnyB60 (Jun 15, 2009)

I bought this set at Sears many years ago on clearance because it was missing some parts. I don’t know what this set is called or even if how it’s used exactly. I don’t have the printed cardboard, but I’ve been using plastic to store the pieces in the drawer.

I don’t know what to do with it or what I’m missing.


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## del schisler (Feb 2, 2006)

JohnnyB60 said:


> I bought this set at Sears many years ago on clearance because it was missing some parts. I don’t know what this set is called or even if how it’s used exactly. I don’t have the printed cardboard, but I’ve been using plastic to store the pieces in the drawer.
> 
> I don’t know what to do with it or what I’m missing.


look's like one is complete. You just take off the nut and beiring and take off the bit and put onother one on with beiring of not. i guess you may be missing nut and beiring ? you can get those item's look's like 1/4" shank from the pic. I don't know what they call it but with out looking at pic again look's like 4 different bit's.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Johnny

Router bits are router bits they say,they are the better ones from Sears,you can pickup a 10-32 lock nut from the Hardware and one of the bearings below and still use them 

Ball Bearing Guides

#255 Std. 3/16" 0.188" 3/8" 0.375" 1/8" $4.00 
#256 Std. 3/16" 0.188" 1/2" 0.500" 3/16" $4.50 
#257 Std. 3/16" 0.188" 5/8" 0.625" 3/16" $5.50 
#258 Std. 3/16" 0.188" 3/4" 0.750" 3/16" $6.00

MLCS Woodworking Adaptor Bushings and Ball Bearing Guides

==



JohnnyB60 said:


> I bought this set at Sears many years ago on clearance because it was missing some parts. I don’t know what this set is called or even if how it’s used exactly. I don’t have the printed cardboard, but I’ve been using plastic to store the pieces in the drawer.
> 
> I don’t know what to do with it or what I’m missing.


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## JohnnyB60 (Jun 15, 2009)

del schisler said:


> look's like one is complete. You just take off the nut and beiring and take off the bit and put onother one on with beiring of not. i guess you may be missing nut and beiring ? you can get those item's look's like 1/4" shank from the pic. I don't know what they call it but with out looking at pic again look's like 4 different bit's.


Thanks Del, I think I might have put the one together when I first got it, but I can’t remember for sure. I actually thought it was from another cheap set I bought until I saw the Craftsman name on the cutters. My wife remembered me buying it on clearance which would be the only reason I would buy something like this. :happy:


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## JohnnyB60 (Jun 15, 2009)

bobj3 said:


> Hi Johnny
> 
> Router bits are router bits they say,they are the better ones from Sears,you can pickup a 10-32 lock nut from the Hardware and one of the bearings below and still use them
> 
> ...


Hi Bob, thanks for the info. I was hoping it would be a standard nut. 

Wow, there sure is a lot of bearings to chose from. How do I know which one to buy or do I need one for each cutter head,


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Hi Johnny,

Be very careful when assembling the bits that you do not put the cutters on up-side-down.

Very easy to do with these cutters......VBG.


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## JohnnyB60 (Jun 15, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> Hi Johnny,
> 
> Be very careful when assembling the bits that you do not put the cutters on up-side-down.
> 
> Very easy to do with these cutters......VBG.


Hi James, that’s not good. I guess I’m going to have to figure that out. I hope it’s something obvious.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi

"Bearing" ,The one you now have should be the same for the other arbor . I can't tell from the picture but it looks like a 3/4" OD one..but you can use any of them to get a diff.profile.

" obvious "= yes
==


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

JohnnyB60 said:


> Hi James, that’s not good. I guess I’m going to have to figure that out. I hope it’s something obvious.


As example, in your photo, the cutter attached to the arbor is on ok. The 3 loose cutters appear to be up-side-down.......The cutting edge should face the direction of cut.


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## JohnnyB60 (Jun 15, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> As example, in your photo, the cutter attached to the arbor is on ok. The 3 loose cutters appear to be up-side-down.......The cutting edge should face the direction of cut.


Ok I think I got it figured out.
Like this


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

JohnnyB60 said:


> Ok I think I got it figured out.
> Like this



Yes........


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## routafinger (Dec 30, 2009)

I have some of the same bits, and have had them for 30+ yrs. Long enough to have had a couple sharpened. There might be a smaller diameter bearing missing. As said earlier, to obtain a different profile; probably beading? In my opinion, they are very good bits. Well worth the full price I paid for them.


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## JohnnyB60 (Jun 15, 2009)

routafinger said:


> I have some of the same bits, and have had them for 30+ yrs. Long enough to have had a couple sharpened. There might be a smaller diameter bearing missing. As said earlier, to obtain a different profile; probably beading? In my opinion, they are very good bits. Well worth the full price I paid for them.


Hi Frank,
I did find a small bearing floating around in my drawer and didn’t know where it came from. I thought it might have come off another cheap set that I had. I just recently tried to use this bit which I believe is from the cheap set and the little bearing was too small for what I wanted. I found a spacer that fit and used the larger bearing, but the bearing came off right in the middle of my cut and the cutters went right through my piece, damaging it completely. 








There were two spacer looking things that fit, but one had a weird shape so I don’t know for sure what it is.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

"Anybody recognize this Craftsman router bit set?"
Oh yes. First router bits I ever bought. I think I picked mine up back in the mid '70s(?)...
There were actually two bearings with the set; different outer diameters. Mine also came with some bearing-less bits, dado bits If I remember.


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## routafinger (Dec 30, 2009)

JohnnyB60 said:


> Hi Frank,
> I did find a small bearing floating around in my drawer and didn’t know where it came from. I thought it might have come off another cheap set that I had. I just recently tried to use this bit which I believe is from the cheap set and the little bearing was too small for what I wanted. I found a spacer that fit and used the larger bearing, but the bearing came off right in the middle of my cut and the cutters went right through my piece, damaging it completely.
> 
> 
> ...


After you tighten the arbor in the router, it will be held tight, then tighten the nut. It's a nylock lock nut, and if it seems loose when attempting to tighten it, replace it. It's a standard hardware item. 
There is also a small, special washer that goes on between the top of the cutter and the bottom of the bearing, and it's slightly raised around the hole. That allows the middle of the bearing to tighten while letting the outside of the bearing spin freely. If that was missing during your "event", that might have caused the nut to loosen as the bearing wouldn't spin.
I'll try to get a picture of the washer, and post it. 
I also have some bits that hold the bearing on with an small screw using a hex wrench. That style probably replaced the older Craftsman version, but I prefer the system with the nut better, and have used them all these years without any problems.


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## JohnnyB60 (Jun 15, 2009)

routafinger said:


> After you tighten the arbor in the router, it will be held tight, then tighten the nut. It's a nylock lock nut, and if it seems loose when attempting to tighten it, replace it. It's a standard hardware item.
> There is also a small, special washer that goes on between the top of the cutter and the bottom of the bearing, and it's slightly raised around the hole. That allows the middle of the bearing to tighten while letting the outside of the bearing spin freely. If that was missing during your "event", that might have caused the nut to loosen as the bearing wouldn't spin.
> I'll try to get a picture of the washer, and post it.
> I also have some bits that hold the bearing on with an small screw using a hex wrench. That style probably replaced the older Craftsman version, but I prefer the system with the nut better, and have used them all these years without any problems.


Ok then I must be missing the washer, because the screw held the spacer, but the bearing slipped right over the screw head.


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## routafinger (Dec 30, 2009)

JohnnyB60 said:


> Ok then I must be missing the washer, because the screw held the spacer, but the bearing slipped right over the screw head.


Here's a couple of crummy pics of the washer.


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## routafinger (Dec 30, 2009)

I'm looking at the first pics in this thread. Are you mixing parts from a different set? My set goes together with the nut. It has 2 bearings, and the larger bearing has a spacer as the inner diameter is slightly larger. It can't come apart when the nut is tightened.
I could send pics of the complete set showing all of the individual parts if that would help.


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## JohnnyB60 (Jun 15, 2009)

routafinger said:


> I'm looking at the first pics in this thread. Are you mixing parts from a different set? My set goes together with the nut. It has 2 bearings, and the larger bearing has a spacer as the inner diameter is slightly larger. It can't come apart when the nut is tightened.
> I could send pics of the complete set showing all of the individual parts if that would help.


Hi Frank, if you a photo of the complete set , could you please post it, because I really don’t know what is supposed to be with what. 

I also have this set that is missing some items and I may very well have everything mixed up.










A photo is worth a thousand words.


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## JohnnyB60 (Jun 15, 2009)

routafinger said:


> Here's a couple of crummy pics of the washer.


Thanks Frank, Those are great photos, except I'm not sure if I have anything like that. I will look again.


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## routafinger (Dec 30, 2009)

JohnnyB60 said:


> Thanks Frank, Those are great photos, except I'm not sure if I have anything like that. I will look again.


Here are some pics from Sears Craftsman booklet dated 1873, 1976.
I think I remember buying the arbor separate from the bits.
I'll try to send actual pics of the set later this afternoon.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Johnny; the spacer transfers the 'squeeze' from the nut to the cutter, allowing the bearing to run freely, if I remember correctly...that's why it's stepped. The pressure is carried through the inner race, but not the outer. It's an important part of the setup.


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## JohnnyB60 (Jun 15, 2009)

routafinger said:


> Here are some pics from Sears Craftsman booklet dated 1873, 1976.
> I think I remember buying the arbor separate from the bits.
> I'll try to send actual pics of the set later this afternoon.


Hi Frank, thanks for the photos.
Your old Craftsman catalog reminded me that I still had some old catalogs. It took me awhile, but I found a 2000-2001 catalog showing a set that was real close to my set. I believe the one in the catalog has a few more pieces, but I’m not sure because I have everything in the photo only there doesn’t look like enough room in the plastic package it came in. I seem to remember that the set I bought was discontinued and not in the current catalog at the time.

Here is an online page showing exactly what I have in my old catalog.
http://www.commercial.sears.com/comsale/industrial/toolcat/ti.cgi/keyitem.ti/?tool=9-26378

Update: It turns out that the link is not of my set and I'm pretty sure that it was an older discontinued set that I bought and i don't have a catalog. In fact I believe this may have been the reason I started saving Catalogs.


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## JohnnyB60 (Jun 15, 2009)

DaninVan said:


> Johnny; the spacer transfers the 'squeeze' from the nut to the cutter, allowing the bearing to run freely, if I remember correctly...that's why it's stepped. The pressure is carried through the inner race, but not the outer. It's an important part of the setup.


Thanks Dan


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## routafinger (Dec 30, 2009)

That particular # arbor assembly (9-25895) was probably sold with a bunch of different sets, but likely it's the only one that would work with the winged carbide bits. I'll take some more pics showing what's included.


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## routafinger (Dec 30, 2009)

routafinger said:


> That particular # arbor assembly (9-25895) was probably sold with a bunch of different sets, but likely it's the only one that would work with the winged carbide bits. I'll take some more pics showing what's included.


Sorry for the delay in getting the pics posted, and it's early. I put the washer in the wrong place; it should be between the bottom of the bearing and the top of the cutter. As shown in the earlier post, the ball bearing arbor and pilot set (9-25895) consisted of the arbor, the washer, a 1/2" bearing, and a 5/8" bearing w/ spacer, and the nut. 
I think that I would try to fashion a washer with a couple more smaller diameter flat washers stacked with one a little bigger if I was missing that part. That stack would have to be pretty "short" so as not to have the bearing set too high. 
As everybody's risk factor is different, maybe suggesting that is not a good idea. Routers do run at extremely high RPM's, and small pieces can get airborne.


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## JohnnyB60 (Jun 15, 2009)

routafinger said:


> Sorry for the delay in getting the pics posted, and it's early. I put the washer in the wrong place; it should be between the bottom of the bearing and the top of the cutter. As shown in the earlier post, the ball bearing arbor and pilot set (9-25895) consisted of the arbor, the washer, a 1/2" bearing, and a 5/8" bearing w/ spacer, and the nut.
> I think that I would try to fashion a washer with a couple more smaller diameter flat washers stacked with one a little bigger if I was missing that part. That stack would have to be pretty "short" so as not to have the bearing set too high.
> As everybody's risk factor is different, maybe suggesting that is not a good idea. Routers do run at extremely high RPM's, and small pieces can get airborne.


Thanks Frank, that’s perfect. I saved a copy of your photo to keep with my router stuff so I don’t forget. Thanks again.


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## routafinger (Dec 30, 2009)

I'll retake the pic, and put the washer in the correct position, then edit the post. Did you find anything that looks like it? If not, hopefully it will turn up.


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## routafinger (Dec 30, 2009)

routafinger said:


> I'll retake the pic, and put the washer in the correct position, then edit the post. Did you find anything that looks like it? If not, hopefully it will turn up.


New picture


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