Greetings All, I was wondering about the quality of Rockwell tools. As most of us have seen, the Rockwell name has been around for a long time. I have never bought a Rockwell tool till now (just received their version of the Fein Multimaster from Amazon) and it seems to be OK. Are Rockwell tools actually made by the Rockwell corp, or did they just sell the Rockwell name to some schlock tool manufacturer??? Thanks, Mark
It is in no way shape or form the same quality of the older Rockwell. The new Rockwell has a different logo etc. IIRC Delta acquired Rockwell many years ago.
First of all, Rockwell bought Delta about 40 years ago. I understand that the heirs of the originators of Delta had to sell the business to be able to pay the inheritance tax.
Then, when Rockwell decided to leave the power tool business, they sold the power tool business to Pentair. Rockwell left because an aerospace company has no idea about running a business with the general public as purchasers.
Pentair split the business into Porter-Cable and Delta.
When Pentair had to sell both of them, Black & Decker stepped up. Now, Delta is the fixed power tool division but Porter-Cable is a portable power tool division. Hence DeWalt and P-C compete with each other, but both are moving their manufacturing as far away from the US as possible.
Jim
"A tool maker called Positec Group conducted some market research and, not surprisingly, found that the name Rockwell had a strong positive association among tradesmen and woodworkers. Positec bought the name, and has recently released a new full line of tools that includes drills, sanders, saws, grinders, routers?even a little oscillating saw meant to compete with the Fein Multimaster. "
I am reading the article at that link but it seems to have things a bit mixed up. I know that Delta and Porter Cable got together long before B&D purchased them.
If I remember correctly, Rockwell was a respected manufacturer of small power tools (50 or more years ago). It has bought Porter Cable along the way somewhere.
Then North American Aviation purchased Rockwell for some reason (becoming North American - Rockwell). As time went by, the Rockwell part failed to meet the bean counters expections and became surplus to their needs.
Hence, North American - Rockwell sold the tools division to Pentair.
Pentair moved the portable power tools into the resurected Porter-Cable division. The remaining power tools moved into the resurrected Delta division.
Pentair still could not make money with this arrangement, and they sold both to Black & Decker.
Sometime recently, somebody bought the name "Rockwell" to be used on imported power tools. These tools have no relationship to the Rockwell from days gone by.
At least, this is what I remember about this saga.
Jim
Jim
Jim wrote: ...
I think there's an actual corporate time line at the P-C web site.
The above was more or less as I recall it altho I think there are some details a little different from what I remember but given the number of changes and time span involved, that's to be expected... :)
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Got my first look at them at McCoy's in Bastrop, TX the other day ... was not impressed. Unfortunately for Chinese companies such as this who look to capitalize on old respected names (AKA, playing cheap psychological tricks on gullible consumers), some of us have been around long enough to remember why they were originally respected.
I have some older Porter Cable, B&D and a Delta Unisaw that were manufactured here and will outlive me. The only tool I will still buy is Milwaukee..Please don't tell me they have sold. The Chineee like to use old names like Ridgid etc etc... I will admit to buying cases of Makita drills and screw guns for business use simply because the brushes were so accessable without opening the tool plus they are a quality tool. Grinders etc didn't conform to standard shaft sizes. Kenneth
The big points were--
Rockwell bought Delta in 1945 Delta bought out Walker-Turner in 1956 Porter-Cable was also acquired by Rockwell in 1961
Pentair acquired both in 1981
The prose at the two links casts all the warts in the fairest possible light, of course, but the chronology is there... :)
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Milwaukee has been sold. Jim
He's right, Digger. I think the company that bought them is a new company called Who Flung Poo. They'll be changing the case color from red to brown.
G.S.
That sounds more like it.
Go here for much more accurate info....
Le>
Thanks Pat. I had forgotten about this writeup. One can never forget Keith however. mahalo, jo4hn
Rockwell only makes industrial process controllers and such. They bought Allen Bradly and jettisoned just about everything "Rockwell" except the name.
This is a great article and explains a lot about my tools, which I bought from the original owner. His wife bought them for his birthday in the very early 50's, 1954 is my guess. My lathe is a Rockwell Homecraft, Drill press is a Craftsman King Seeley, and the rest are Rockwell Delta. I'm pretty certain all these were purchased from the same place on the same day, and it had to be a Rockwell/Delta Machinery place. I can say this about all of the tools, they are pushing 60 years old, are still in near perfect shape, are a pleasure to use. They even have all the original motors and only the table saw had motor work so far.
When I bought these in 1975 I recall going to Rockwell machinery, which was located in Pgh Pa, and getting some accessories. After the clerk found out what I had, he advised the tools had changed greatly, and for the worse. He pointed out the 14" band saw which was on display was a piece of shit. I said it looked similar... he showed me all sorts of things that were NOT the same. For example, the old ones had large heavy duty handles to adjust the table, the support post for the blade guide was an octagon instead of a round bar so you could adjust the height even when running, no problem and it always stays in line. Stuff like that which makes you wonder why anyone would change stuff like this for the worse? Save a few pennies here and there, and eventually go out of business, the American dream...
Stuff
I can imagine the rising cost of union labor played a large role.
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