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This Montgomery Wards jigsaw was of the first jigsaws I ever picked up, along side a few of the ever-common aluminum Black and Decker clamshell body models.
However, the build quality on this is actually extremely impressive for a split die-cast housing and blows the Black and Decker homeowner models out of the water.
The bull gear shaft has two bearings for support instead of just one, with the bearing closer to the oscillating blade shaft being a ball bearing. Instead of an eccentric pin on the bull gear directly driving the blade shaft and rattling around in a horizontal slot on the shaft, the Powerkraft saw uses a double-counterweighted drive arm running in needle bearings, with one bearing pressed into the blade shaft. It's much smoother than the pin/slot drive style. All shaft/rotor bronze bushings have felt oil reservoirs. The blade shaft has a rectangular pin riding in a groove in a guiding sleeve to prevent shaft rotation. It's a lot of unique parts and attention to detail in design.
Variable speed dial under the slide switch. The base has a blade guide to keep it square to the table. I have never seen blade guiding on a vintage homeowner/department store jigsaw except for this saw. But, being a vintage saw, blade clamping is a slower process with two screws to tighten. Speed is 0-2000 spm, I did wish it could hit 3000 spm.
This was my main jigsaw until I picked up a Porter Cable 7549, which is orbital, has independent adjustable blade guides on the base, and is even smoother with less vibration than this.
However, the build quality on this is actually extremely impressive for a split die-cast housing and blows the Black and Decker homeowner models out of the water.
The bull gear shaft has two bearings for support instead of just one, with the bearing closer to the oscillating blade shaft being a ball bearing. Instead of an eccentric pin on the bull gear directly driving the blade shaft and rattling around in a horizontal slot on the shaft, the Powerkraft saw uses a double-counterweighted drive arm running in needle bearings, with one bearing pressed into the blade shaft. It's much smoother than the pin/slot drive style. All shaft/rotor bronze bushings have felt oil reservoirs. The blade shaft has a rectangular pin riding in a groove in a guiding sleeve to prevent shaft rotation. It's a lot of unique parts and attention to detail in design.
Variable speed dial under the slide switch. The base has a blade guide to keep it square to the table. I have never seen blade guiding on a vintage homeowner/department store jigsaw except for this saw. But, being a vintage saw, blade clamping is a slower process with two screws to tighten. Speed is 0-2000 spm, I did wish it could hit 3000 spm.
This was my main jigsaw until I picked up a Porter Cable 7549, which is orbital, has independent adjustable blade guides on the base, and is even smoother with less vibration than this.
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