Welcome to the forum.

 

Hi, Craftsman parts for older units are a hen's teeth deal. Check first with the company on their website to see if they have any for that model or know a substitute. Or, ereplacementparts.com occasionally comes through, but the old Craftsman tools were jobbed out the cheapest bidder, so they never made or stocked replacement parts. There seems to be no standard thread size or count for collet nuts. Some have found used ones in pawn shops, but even those may have jammed or damaged collet nuts, if they have one at all. No bargains there. Sorry to present this info, but we get requests for Craftsman routers all the time and so far, no one has reported back about a successful search. If you replace it, stick with Bosch. A lot of us use the trusty 1617, for which there are always parts and collets.

 

OOPS, forgot to say welcome @boersma5101. Sounds like a dutch name. My favorite European destination.

 

Yep, I'm as Dutch as can be!

 

Welcome to the forum @boersma5101.

Sorry to say, but it appears you have Model #5 Craftsman Paper Weight...

 

Just after the earth cooled, my first job after college was sales. One customer was a contract manufacturer for all Craftsman power tools. The purchasing agent said that Sears changed a few parts so they wouldn't interchange with OEM parts. Sears would stock some parts that would probably wear out and need replacement over a period of years. After the parts were gone, you were outta luck.

 

From the poor illustration in the manual it looks like a lock washer (star points inside) and a screw. Those should be relatively easy to find substitutes. The collet nut is the show stopper. You could replace it all with a Musclechuck and end up with a better router (easier to use). I mentioned it yesterday for another looking for collet/nut parts. You'll have to look through the Compatibility chart to see if there is a match or contact them and they can tell you if they have one that fits. You'll have to decide if it is worth upgrading the old router or better to buy a new tool still supported.

Pete

 

Musclechuck starts at $70 on Amazon, but you'll need to contact the company to find out which model fits, if they still make it.

 

To my mind, Tom, that $70+ would be better spent on a newer router. IMO.

 

Welcome to the forum. Boersma

 

Me again. Thank you for the warm greetings from my October 12 post. So my friend sent me what he called a "router reducer sleeve" after I told him on the phone (he lives 100 miles away) the problem I was having with trying to get his Craftsman router off the disabled list. Again, I'm very new to the "router world", so keep that in mind as you read this. I tried putting it in the router but it doesn't hold the shank of the few router bits I do have. Ideas?...Also, have thought of getting a new router - can I use the router table from this old Craftsman with a potentially brand spanking new Router?

 

See if you can post some pictures. I second getting a new router. Maybe the shanks are metric? Could the collet you have be 1/2" and you're trying to put 1/4:" bits in and vice versa?

If the router table was a Craftsman one, you'd probably have to drill new holes in it for a new, non-Craftsman router.

Welcome to the rabbet hole (see what I did there?). When I came to this forum, I had an older Craftsman router on a portable metal table and a few cits. I now have 3 routers, a dovetail jig, a circle cutter (I made this), a lot more bits and a table extension on my table saw! Save your money! Ha!