Craftsman Cordless Blog

They are now selling the 19.2 volt lithium Ion battery and charger at sears.com. The cost is 119.00 for a battery and charger. While that is pretty steep, it’s not so bad once you consider, you can right now, well, as of last time I looked pick up 2 19.2 C3 impact drivers on ebay for 9.99 plus shipping. That’s insane, and those drivers, while they came originally with the Ni-Cad battery packs can use the new lithiums.

So, what do you do, well, first I’ve got a search set up for ebay below. Now, it might not be perfect, but you want to buy any of the tools that say they are 19.2 volt EX, or 19.2 volt C3, as these will work with your new 19.2 volt lithium battery. In order to save the most try to find someone selling a bunch of 19.2 volt Craftsman tools, as you’ll save the most on shipping that way. You should be able to pick up a whole set for around a 100.00 dollars total. That is a far cry from the 400.00+ you’d pay for a new set at sears.com.

The reason there are som many 19.2 craftsman tools on ebay is because the batteries die out, and people don’t know they can upgrade them to lithium ION batteries, which are lighter longer lasting, and better for the environment.  The tools are 99% of the time still good, it’s just the battery died! Good news for you.

So, now you plopped down your 100.00 dollars on ebay, and eagerly await there arrival. Giddy at the prospect of getting all this stuff for cheap. Well, you still have to go to sears,and buy a brand spanking new charger and battery. The square shaped black chargers on ebay won’t work because they are for Ni-Cads. Here’s a link to the appropriate search on sears.com

Buy the lithium Ion battery and charger deal for the 19.2 volts, you may be able to save even more money if you wait for a sale. They often have 10% to 20% of sales on tools. Which would be sweet as it would bring the total cost for the battery and charger under a 100.00 dollars.

So, now just wait for your stuff to get delivered and if you followed my instructions, and only bought C3 and EX tools, they will work with your new battery.

You’ll have a complete new set for around 200.00 bucks. I don’t care what anyone says that’s a hell of a deal.

Off to ebay with your cheap self.

One note first on sears site you’ll see a bunch of 19.2 stuff that is cheaper than the lithium stuff, those are the older ni-cad sets. So, don’t get fooled by that, the Lithium sets are like 400.00 dollars.

This is an article I found about the newer 20 volt Li-ION Sabre Saws…

Short Extract Link below…

The Craftsman 320.28127 20.0-Volt Lithium-Ion Cordless Sabre Saw is a powerful cordless sabre saw, powerful enough that one might forget it is a cordless saw. This cordless sabre saw has a few very useful features, including an LED worklight, a tool-less blade clamp and a lock-off button to prevent accidental starting.

Full Story

However, because of the sizeable battery, the unit is relatively heavy and seems to have substantial vibration. The battery and charger are sold separately, and when combined with the price of the saw, the total cost exceeds even the most expensive (and better performing) corded sabre or jigsaws.

Craftsman generally has a model number like. 315.11101 or 973.00000. Those first three numbers are basicly identifiers to who the actual maker of the tool is. I don’t know how many people will find the following useful or not, but it might help you track down some older part, or manual. This list isn’t definitive to say the least.

• American Machine & Tool Co., Inc. (model-number prefix 149)
• Atlas Press (model-number prefix 101)
• Belsaw Machinery Co. (model-number prefix 306)
• Brown-Brockmeyer Co. (model-number prefix 410)
• Clausing Industrial, Inc. (model-number prefix 534)
• DeWalt Products Co. (model-number prefix 901)
• Diehl Manufacturing Co. (model-number prefix 315)
• Double A Products Co. (model-number prefix 109)
• Emerson Electric Co. (model-number prefix 113)
• Herberts Machinery Co.
• King-Seeley Corp. (model-number prefix 103)
• Parks Woodworking Machine Co. (model-number prefix 112)
• Power King Tool Corp. (model-number prefix 534)
• Syncro Corp. (model-number prefix 110)
• Sypher Manufacturing Co.
• Walker-Turner Co., Inc. (model-number prefix 102).

I hunted this down off of a word working site. owwm.com But the manufacturer codes seem to be the same for the cordless tools as well were they apply.

This is pretty cool, a bike powered by an actual drill. LOL. It’s funny, but practical, And I want one. Unfortunately the maker of this one, chose to use a Dewalt drill, though, I’m not sure if it can use any drill, as it seems it wouldn’t matter to me what the drill was. It’s really cool. If I had one of these people would think I’m even crazier than they do already. Imagine, seeing a grown man tooling around town on a little bike with a drill stick out the butt of the bike. To funny, but I’d do it.

The craftsman people are the process of switching to Lithium-Ion, as well as it seems, the whole battery industry. Why should you care well, you should if you care about Tool Runtime, Battery LIfespan,  flexibility of charging and weight. Lithium Ion batteries excel in tool applications.

Lithium Ion advantages…

1 They have none of the old memory effect that plagued older ni-cads, which with Ni-Cads meant you needed to nearly fully discharge your battery before recharging for optimal battery performance and battery life. If you weren’t doing that then you weren’t getting the full power and life out of your Ni-Cad based batteries. Anyway, with Lithium-Ion that is no longer a concern, there is no memory effect to worry about. You can charge your battery when it is 80% full or 10%, it doesn’t matter.

2. The Lithium Ion batteries, also have a greater number of recharge cycles before the batteries effective life is over, so even if you used your Ni-Cad batteries in the optimal manner your new Lithium-Ion will still last longer in terms of charge cycles it can take which is awesome. Especially, as it looks like Lithium-Ion battery cost is dropping with time, and eventually there should be no difference.

3. Lithium Ion batteries, weigh less for the same power. So, if you have a 18 volt 3 AH older battery and replaced it with a 18 volt 3 AH Lithium-Ion it will weight less. Of course you could get a battery of the same physical dimensions but then it would weight the same as your old battery but run longer.

4. The Lithium-Ion batteries are environmentally friendly, which means your not endangering your areas ground water, or soil if your old battery somehow gets tossed in the garbage.  Whether your concerned about the environment or not, it still is good to know, you get the above advantages and to boot are getting a healthier product.

Now, Craftsmans 19.2 volt lithium batteries, will work with your older Ni-Cad based 19.2 Volt tools. The Lithium batteries do require a new charger, but sears does sell a charger and battery set. So, if you already have a Craftsman 19.2 volt set with the Diehard, C3, or EX branding. (Any of the 19.2 cordless tools sold in the last 3 or 4 years). Then upgrading to lithium Ion is as simple as buying a lithium Ion battery and charger. Sweeeeettt!

If you don’t already have a 19.2 volt set, well all is not lost, you can pick these up on Ebay pretty cheap compared to a new set, then buy a new 19.2 lithium battery and charger, and you have a complete lithium Ion based tool set for a couple hundred bucks. You should be able to snage a drill, reciprocating saw, light, Trim Saw set on ebay for less than a hundred, if you don’t mind losing a couple of times, before snagging the sweet deal. Or you can almost always win for about a 120.00 bucks, if you can find a single seller, selling the tools without the old battery and charger, those can go really cheap but you’ll have to watch for those. As with everything it’s time or money. But even if you bid 120.00 and won a set with the old batteries and charger, you can just sell those back on ebay, you should recover about 40.00 dollars+ on those depending on how nice they look. Thanks.

Of course I’d be lacking if I didn’t supply you with the appropriate ebay auctions laid out for you below. These are the live auctions from ebay.

Humurous video about a Craftsman Toolbox. This doesn’t really have anything to do with cordless tools I guess but it’s humorous.

This guy uses the same bit in two different drills one a Craftsman the other some generic model. I believe it’s a 19.2 volt craftsman drill, I don’t know what the other one is. It’s interesting though, how much quicker the Craftsman one drilled.

Craftsman needs to be given a little credit for making the new lithium 19.2 volt batteries fit the older 19.2 EX and C3 tools. I at present don’t have a lithium battery and charger, but it’s pretty nice to know, when my batteries die for my current 19.2 volt set I can instantly upgrade to the superior Lithium -Ion technology and only shell out for the battery and charger.

Here’s a Video with the Craftsman Rep talking to some reporter about it.

These are some videos about the the remote controlled truck Craftsman has, that runs off your 19.2 Volt tool batteries. It’s pretty cool, and a really good Idea, I think, as how often do you use your cordless drill, unless that’s your job, so why not make those batteries, power other stuff. As well. Here are a few videos showing it. Looks pretty nice.

He shows the RC car later in the video.

This is my first post in what will be my one stop shop for all the neat and interesting and informative stuff I run across in regards to Craftsman Cordless Tools.  I’ll be posting videos, money saving ideas, and any helpful information, I know of or have come across in my web surfing. This blog will probably not be updated daily (they don’t come out with new products that often), but it will be updated whenever I come across craftsman information, or curious craftsman cordless tool stuff.

Thanks. I hope you find this blog useful, or  entertaining or both. Bye.