Sorry in advanced if this isn't an appropriate topic for this sub-forum (new here, first post!)
My dad has this old Craftsman router/table in his garage that he never uses and today I thought I'd try it out. I'm new to woodworking but acquired a tongue and grove router bit so figured I'd give it a shot.
While attempting to take the router bit out, a part broke on the router. As I mentioned I'm new to woodworking and the tools, but I believe this is called the lock nut? It's the piece that attaches to the "shaft" (as I'll call it) to lock the shaft in place so it can't rotate while you loosen the nuts (there are two of them, pictured below, that are still in perfect working order) that holds the bit. Here is a photo of it (sorry it's blurry!):
http://i.imgur.com/eWD7F2a.jpg
(and here: http://i.imgur.com/s3G9JJo.jpg is the model number as an FYI!)
Unfortunately, as far as I can tell I can't get a replacement part from Craftsman or Sears. Here is a link to the page that has replacement parts. I'm fairly certain it's part #26
http://www.searspartsdirect.com/cra...rect.com/craftsman-router-parts/model-31517480/0247/0740000/00024685/00001.html
What I'm wondering is, Assuming I can of course figure out some way of changing the bits without this piece, is it likely safe for me to use the router without this piece? If not (and even if so!), other then the sears site linked above, any ideas on how to go about replacing this part without spending a lot of money?
Thank you!!!
p.s. Just to note, the broken lock nut isn't actually threaded it's just "keyed" on the inside and slotted on the outside. It may act as a spacer to keep the second nut pictured below from creeping down too far, but from what I can tell it doesn't actually "hold" anything. Here is another picture of the router as you can sort of see there are still TWO nuts there, these are the actual nuts that are threaded and need to be adjusted to change bits.
http://i.imgur.com/es8JART.jpg
My dad has this old Craftsman router/table in his garage that he never uses and today I thought I'd try it out. I'm new to woodworking but acquired a tongue and grove router bit so figured I'd give it a shot.
While attempting to take the router bit out, a part broke on the router. As I mentioned I'm new to woodworking and the tools, but I believe this is called the lock nut? It's the piece that attaches to the "shaft" (as I'll call it) to lock the shaft in place so it can't rotate while you loosen the nuts (there are two of them, pictured below, that are still in perfect working order) that holds the bit. Here is a photo of it (sorry it's blurry!):
http://i.imgur.com/eWD7F2a.jpg
(and here: http://i.imgur.com/s3G9JJo.jpg is the model number as an FYI!)
Unfortunately, as far as I can tell I can't get a replacement part from Craftsman or Sears. Here is a link to the page that has replacement parts. I'm fairly certain it's part #26
http://www.searspartsdirect.com/cra...rect.com/craftsman-router-parts/model-31517480/0247/0740000/00024685/00001.html
What I'm wondering is, Assuming I can of course figure out some way of changing the bits without this piece, is it likely safe for me to use the router without this piece? If not (and even if so!), other then the sears site linked above, any ideas on how to go about replacing this part without spending a lot of money?
Thank you!!!
p.s. Just to note, the broken lock nut isn't actually threaded it's just "keyed" on the inside and slotted on the outside. It may act as a spacer to keep the second nut pictured below from creeping down too far, but from what I can tell it doesn't actually "hold" anything. Here is another picture of the router as you can sort of see there are still TWO nuts there, these are the actual nuts that are threaded and need to be adjusted to change bits.
http://i.imgur.com/es8JART.jpg
