New to me Craftsman VS-20 and an upgrade

[arbarnhart]

It has been a long time since I posted here. I got rid of my old saw and didn't have a good one for some time. I had been considering a DeWalt or Delta P20 as my next saw but it wasn't in the budget.

The a Craftsman VS-20 Contractor series saw came up for sale locally at a very good price and I jumped on it:



Rock solid saw with zero vibration, 2 way tilt, true VS and good capacity. About the only thing that separates it from the ones on my wish list was the blade clamp, which requires tools:



to be continued...

[arbarnhart]

I looked around and there appears to be an after market solution than seemed a little pricey for just a clamp, their web site only showed a drawing and I got no response to emails asking questions so I was nervous about ordering it. I looked around at parts and this Ryobi part looked really close:



Only $13 delivered. It looked about right with an attachemnt on the top I didn't need:




after sawing it off, it fits and works perfectly:



NOTE - A warning about thicker stock. You can still cut the same height without the foot, but the knob limits the max with the foot in. A little careful positioning of the blower hose will let you go over an inch with the foot in.

[lucky788scroller]

Good fix! It looks like your old rusty scrollsaw blade has seen better days though, you might want to order yourself some new ones. In fact, it almost looks like your blade is in upside down too Happy sawing!

[jerrog]

I have a similar saw not sure if it is the same model but looks identical. Bought it in the early '90's. Not one minute of trouble with it. You're right it is slow on blade changes, but since I don' do production work, it doesn't bother me. I just make sure to change the blade holder bolts regularly--8mm 1/2 socket head. Recently checked the brushes on the motor, showed very little wear. I did buy a foot switch, which is very useful with other tools also--especially the Dremel hand tool.
jerrog

[arbarnhart]

It came with a bunch of blades, some of which were old and rusty even though still in the package. That is one of them. It has some reverse teeth so I may have it upside down by mistake, but it was cutting fine. I was shoving scrap through it pretty hard making sure the blade was tight. I was kinda hoping to break the blade, but was content with pushing it as hard as I did.

I really like this saw. I was slicing a scrap of basswood that was about 1/2" thick and 2" wide into strips about 1/8" wide to test. They weren't falling over as I continued to cut. I stood one on end and it didn't fall over (passing the nickel test and givin' change ).

Mine is a '93. I put the old part aside; it is unharned and the saw is unmodified, so this is totally reversible should there be some reason to back it out.

[Ramjet]

Andy . I have the 20" craftsman too . Did you replace the lower blade holder also ? I have been considering the conversion .
Roger

[Haggard3230]

I have one of those too. I bought it used for $200.00. Very agressive but I like it.

[arbarnhart]

Roger,

Someone PM'ed me about the lower to let me know they replaced both and it worked fine. I only did the top for a few reasons - it was an experiment, I am cheap and I don't change blades near as often as I need to feed one through a hole. One other minor issue is that you do have to pay attention to alignment when tightening the tool less clamp. In other words, make sure the clamp and blade are very close to vertical when tightening to keep it from flexing the blade while sawing. With the factory clamp, one of the tools holds the alignment while you tighten with the other. With the tool less clamp, this is no big deal with the top one and probably isn't much if any harder on the bottom, but it is something I had slight concern about; it's hard to see what you are doing under there.

Merle,

Mine was at the "could not resist" price of $120 in perfect condition with manual, lots of blades and wheeled stand. They are excellent saws. I had resisted the temptation to get one of the ubiquitous economy 16" saws, but had not put aside the money for a DeWalt or P20 when this came avaialable.

[arbarnhart]

One more post. I am going to edit my original post to add a warning about thicker stock. You can still cut the same height without the foot, but the knob limits the max with the foot in. A little careful positioning of the blower hose will let you go over an inch with the foot in.

[Ramjet]

Andy ,I was wondering about the clearance and the lower clamp replacement .

Thanks for the info .
Roger