This Old House broke the news yesterday about an upcoming Craftsman Nextec cordless tool kit which will include two brand new tools – a palm sander, and a cordless circular trim saw.
Craftsman’s Nextec series is their line of compact lithium ion powered tools which includes conventional tool designs such as a 3/8″ drill and an impact driver, and innovative ones such as the Auto Hammer, and an oscillating multi-tool.
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The tools featured in Craftsman’s new 4pc Nextec set include a 3/8″ reversible drill/driver, an LED worklight, a new palm sander, and a new 3-3/8″ cordless trim saw.
According to This Old House, the new sander is said to be well-balanced and weighs a mere 2 pounds. The sander also features dust extraction through a 1-1/4″ attachment, an LED light, and a velcro-backed triangular sanding pad with 6 holes to facilitate dust extraction. We notice that thus far the sander is said to have dust extraction, with no mention of dust collection. From the pics, there doesn’t seem to be any variable speed controls.
The circular trim saw accepts 3-3/8″ saw blades, and also appears to have an integrated dust extraction attachment. Since the saw is to be powered by Craftsman’s 12V Nextec battery, it should be far lighter and more compact than other brands’ 18V offerings. From the pics and product specs alone, we can tell that this is definitely a tool we will be interested in.
Is it just us, or does Craftsman’s new cordless trim saw bear some resemblance to Ryobi’s 12V One+ trim saw (CS120L) that was included in their now-unavailable Power Pack set?
These two new Nextec tools and the 4pc kit are slated for release in June with a list price of $170. With a June release, we think that it’s fair to expect to see a few TV commercials featuring these tools ahead of Fathers Day.
We will of course post updates and new details about these tools as they’re made available.
Craftsman Nextec 4pc Drill/Driver, Saw, Sander Combo
Craftsman’s Nextec Tool Lineup, via Sears
News via the Hardware Aisle at TOH
Peter
How man 2×4’s can the saw cut before it runs out of power?
Tom
Ryobi, Rigid & Milwaukee are owned by Techtronic Industries. My understanding is that TTI manufactures both of the Craftsman C3 line and Nextec line. As a result, there will probably be some design similarities between the brands.
Stuart
I’ve done some digging, but cannot find any info about how many 2x4s the saw can cut on a single charge. I’ll try to find this out, but you should also know that this is a trim saw. With a 3-3/8″ saw blade, it doesn’t even have the capacity to cut a 2×4.
Tom, you’re absolutely right. I just found it to be surprising that the resemblance would be so close between a new tool and a discontinued one.
keri
I want to order the Craftsman Cordless Nextec Kit with Saw & Palm Sander set how do I do that or were can I thank u
Stuart
Sorry, you can’t. Sears discontinued a lot of the Nextec tools.