Craftsman 22219 Wide Table Leg Kit for 22811.

Well they came! Sears item 22219 Wide Table Leg Kit for Craftsman model 22811 table saws. Now to refresh the memory of those that don’t recall, the 22811 was a Ryobi BT3000 table saw, with a Craftsman label on the front, and a different hand wheel. (and probably a few minor tweaks elsewhere, see Loring's FAQ for more detail!)

The leg kit is a functional match for the no longer available Ryobi accessory for my BT3100.

I do say functional as the leg kit is NOT a cosmetic match, as the BT3100 stand legs splay instead of take a trip straight down, and the paint is the more metallic gray of the BT3000 instead of the lighter gray, matte finish of the BT3100.

Assembly was a challenge as the package included NO INSTRUCTIONS WHATSOEVER. (Good job Sears!). A careful observation of where the holes are, the promo pic on the Sears website, and a healthy dose of mechanical aptitude allowed me to figure out how to assemble it, almost…

The adjuster foot bolts supplied did NOT thread smoothly (see definition of at all) into the threaded holes in the bottoms of the legs. Upon closer inspection, I found that the threaded holes in BOTH of the legs had LARGE burrs that should have been cleaned up by the quality control folks at either Sears or Ryobi before this got out the door. A tap, some threading oil and I was back in business.

With the threads chased, all went together, and adjusted up as expected. I attempted to test the fence for smooth operation, and found that it bound toward the end as it tended to do after my original legs started twisting on me. I took a closer look only to find that my housekeeping was the problem. It would appear that In sweeping up hand plane shavings to the floor, a good number of them ended up somehow finding their way into the rails of the fence. A quick pickup with the shop vac and it glides like new again…

The metal of the leg kit was no more stout than the stock stand for the BT3100, but no worse either.

All in all, after shipping and handling, this came up to about $56.00, which in my opinion is about double what they SHOULD be asking for this, but it is Sears after all.

Once everything was together as it should be, the legs were adjusted so that everything from one end of the rails to the other was nice, tight, and square. The extension wing table top was then adjusted to its proper height, and cleaned off.

Overall I gave this a 3 for quality due to the bad threads on both legs. This was a stupid error that cost me time and effort that should not have been expended. Likewise the spreader for the two legs came in two identical pieces, and I had to forcibly run the screws together while convincing everything to line up with a small dead blow hammer. It is a HOKEY setup, but it is also functional. Ryobi can do better than this for sure.

I gave this a 3 for value based on the quality (I am happier with my $30.00 Harbor Freight universal tool stands build quality) and overall professionalism of the packaging, fit, and finish. While this is a useful item and I am glad I added it, it really was overpriced for what it is.

I gave it a 1 for documentation because, well... THERE WAS NONE.

Like I said, I am glad I got it, I needed to do something about the legs, and this was a good, quick answer. However the substandard quality control, and the excessive price tag leave a bad taste in my mouth for this item.