The Craftsman 10" Contractor's Saw Model 21833 - Part 1

The Unboxing
I got a new toy! The Craftsman 10" Contractor's Table Saw, model 21833. It was on sale for $409.99. Sweet...

The delivery guys manhandled it into my garage. The box was WAY bigger than I expected. Though I've never bought a saw new before.

There is damage on the corner of the box. I was leery, but as you can see, once I opened everything up there was no damage. The styro did its job.

There are LOTS of parts to this. I can see why reviews of this saw talk about the difficulty of assembly. If you aren't careful, and follow the steps EXACTLY as shown in the manual, you're going to have trouble.

The instructions are really quite good. There is one bit I wish they suggested... After the saw is right side up, you're told to check the blade to miter slot alignment. Mine was off by 1/64th. To adjust, you need to remove the back panel of the cabinet. 6 screws. I made the adjustment and then put the panel back. A few steps later, the instructions said to remove the back panel to install the rear fence rail. Grrr... If they had said, "And leave this panel off as you will need to remove it later..." I would have been happy.

The other annoyance is that rear fence. You need a 4 year old's fingers to get the nuts on those bolts. With my fat 40 year old fingers, it was a real PITA. Adding a half inch to the table depth would have made this MUCH easier. 


Otherwise, it went together well. 2 hours to assemble, 2 hours to dial it in. Not as bad as I had expected based on the reviews on the net.

Enjoy the pics. In Part 2 I will talk about the dangerous saw blade, and cleaning up some burrs.

Part 2: http://blog.woodscrub.info/2010/06/craftsman-10-contractors-saw-model_27.html