wingless’ Craftsman 315.17381 Router, 315.17560 Router and Accessories

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winglessMember since Nov 2017Mar 8, 2019 12:08 AM CT

A long time ago I had a really nice Craftsman Professional 315.17380 router, 14701 case, 9-25444 router table, 9-25179 edge guide and bits that suffered from a long period of inactivity, so they were sold.

There are upcoming projects that require these tools, so replacements were sought and obtained.

It turned out that I ended up w/ two routers, because both were good deals, one with two nice bit sets, the other with the 9-25179 edge guide. I also got a 9-25173 edge guide. Both routers have the nice Craftsman 9-1472 black Permanex polyethylene plastic cases. A router table was purchased separately and is detailed in this topic.

One tool is the Craftsman 315.17381 router. This has the micrometer dial style depth adjustment. This also has a pair of base holes for a rod-style 9-25173 edge guide. When I obtained this router, the bare aluminum base casting had black marks, like large black greasy fingerprints, that could not be removed. I tried steel wool soap pads to polish the bare aluminum, but those marks remained. Those marks were removed and the castings restored to a new finish w/ fine grit random orbital motion sanding.

This tool has a nice setup adjustment mechanism. There is a block w/ set screws that eliminate the play / slop between the base and motor, once properly adjusted. The result is a nice up / down movement w/ little / no displacement when locking the setting.

The other tool is the Craftsman 315.17560 1¼ hp router. This has a large rotating ring, around the entire tool circumference to set the depth adjustment. Note that this adjustment style works best in normal orientation, w/ the base on the bottom, motor on top. If the tool is hung upside down, such as in a rotor table, this adjustment ring doesn’t work as-intended. This tool also has a bright integrated internal light to illuminate the cutting bit.

One bit set is the Craftsman 9-21297 18-piece Kromedge high speed steel router bit set. This has a nice case w/ plenty of room for additional bits of different styles and sizes. The flexing plastic hinge on my case failed, so I wrapped the back surface w/ 2″ wide heavy duty Velcro and that became my hinge.

The other bit set is the Mastergrip 480083 18-piece carbide tip router bit set. This has a nice metal-hinge / metal-latch birch wood case, w/ felt lining, foam padding and nylon shaft retention sleeves. The bits w/ guides all have nice ball bearing guides.

The Craftsman 9-25179 edge guide is a great accessory. The existing router base is removed / replaced with the one from this accessory. The tool can be used w/ this base installed, with or without using the detachable edge guide part. This accessory permits accurate: edge; contour; trim; bevel and full circle cuts.

The Craftsman 9-25173 edge guide is well-designed and integrates nicely with the Craftsman 315.17381 router. The two guide rods fit into existing casting holes in the router. The guide has a really nice fine-tune adjustment knob. This tool has both a straight edge guide and a contour finger guide.

The Craftsman 9-1472 black plastic cases provide great tool storage, have a location for the 9-25119 edge guide and hold 14 router bits w/ ¼” shanks.

Craftsman 315.17381 Router – Craftsman 9-1472 Permanex Polyethylene Case – Craftsman 9-25179 Edge Guide