Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sears

Even if we leave after we catch a fly ball at Wrigley in the first inning...

QUHZK — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:09:52 -0800

Travel-Filter: If my wife and I stay downtown in Chicago, how long would it take to see all the tourist-y sights we want to see? My wife and I want to go visit Chicago, but we can't do an extended stay any time soon. We were thinking that we'd take advantage of the Labor Day holiday to go and see our favorite museums.

We want to go to:

Shedd Aquarium
Adler Planetarium
Museum of Science and Industry
Field Museum (Don't need to see Real Pirates, already saw that)
Sears Tower

Could we do this all in a day or two? I have a feeling that the answer is "Ha ha, no.", but how long does each one take to go through if you're pretty aware of the time but still enjoying yourself? Have we Ferris Bueler'd ourselves just by virtue of distance between them?

Closed due to high winds

Morrigan — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:15:41 -0800

Some time ago, I was in Chicago and visited the Sears Tower. The observation deck was closed due to high winds. Why? Are they concerned with the hats or possessions of tourists blowing off or is it some sort of elevator issue? If the latter, does this affect office workers on high wind days as well? None of the above?

Help me with my "laser".

Telf — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:57:06 -0800

Is there an online source for digital, high resolution old catalogs? I'm thinking turn of the century Sears & Roebuck sorts of things. I have access to a laser engraver. It's has lot of potential for making very cool prints. It's attached to a computer and set to print from either corel draw or autocad. I don't have a problem converting jpgs to vector graphics. I'm not too handy with graphic design stuff, so I wanted to find some cool old prints/plates. Since the laser can only produce monochromatic works, I figured that old black and white catalog plates would work well as a source.

Does any one know of a good repository to find such pictures? Old copper engravings and etchings work well too.

So far I've had luck with visipix, but the material mostly limited to Japanese woodblock prints.

Bonus if you can find things with a turn of the century victorian feel. Penny farthings and that sort of thing.

Factory Testing of Dishwashers Leaves Water?

kajj — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:30:41 -0800

Is it normal to a brand new dishwasher (Kenmore), still in its box, to have water leak? Does Kenmore run some type of factory test that leaves water in the dishwasher before they send it out? We bought a dishwasher from Sears (Kenmore) a couple of days ago and I just brought it home myself. It fit into the back of our station wagon, but only when turned on its side. After unloading the dishwasher and getting it up some stairs to the kitchen, I noticed a small tear on one of the bottom corners from which there was a steady flow of water coming out.

I called and the lady said that that didn't sound normal. I loaded it back into the car and returned to Sears. Apparently the lady I spoke to was the only person unaware of the fact that it was normal. Multiple sales reps as well as the guys who do the loading/unloading told me it was due to testing at the factory before shipment. All the washers go through it and there's always some water left inside (two cups to be exact).

The problem is that nobody could show me this documented in any form. Is this something posted somewhere? Is there a Kenmore training manual here that states it? Is it in the actual appliance manual? No, no and no.

I did bring the dishwasher back home because I believe them, but am still a little bothered by it. Does anyone here know if what I was told is true? Does Kenmore perform factory testing that leaves water in the dishwashers before delivering them to Sears? If so, how do you know?

Replacement parts for an old Craftsman saw?

middleclasstool — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:54:37 -0800

Where can I get replacement parts for an old Craftsman radial arm saw? I just recently bought an old Sears Craftsman Accra-Arm 10" radial arm saw at an estate sale.

It.

Is.

Beautiful.

But I didn't realize until I got it home and took the saw off the arm that at least two parts have become brittle and broken up and need replacement, specifically the left-hand and right-hand ball retainers. Sears' parts ordering site gave me false hopes, as it not only had the saw and a list of parts, but even exploded diagrams of the saw so I could visually identify what I needed. Sweet!

Except not so sweet. When I added the ball retainers to my shopping cart, it informed me that they no longer carry these parts. So I may very well be stuck with a saw that I can't use now, which makes me sad. I had real need of one of these, and doof that I am, I even reorganized my garage completely to give the saw a place of prominence. Imagine my current state of disappointment.

I know sometimes there are shops that specialize in carrying old out-of-date parts, or at least forums where you can contact people and see if they've got old junkers that they'd be willing to sell you for parts. Do any of you know of any good resources for locating old Craftsman tool parts?

The model number is 113.29003, by the way.

Ad Nauseam

sjuhawk31 — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 12:44:27 -0800

SongFilter: There's a new Sears commercial circulating, and I love the song in it. It sounds like Regina Spektor's voice for part of the commercial, but then it doesn't in other parts. A Google search turned up a new ad with "Coming Home" by The 88, but that's not the song I'm looking for. That's really all the information I have, unfortunately. Any ideas?