Upset with Porter Cable/Delta !!

[evodawg]

I went to my local Porter Cable/Delta parts and recondition outlet in Southern California and the name has been changed to Black & Decker. I was PISSED!!!!!!!! I was looking for a reconditioned circular saw, my old 25 year old Craftsman finally took a shit and I needed to replace it. For the last 10 years I have only bought Porter Cable, Milwaukee, Bosch and Delta. I went in and all I saw basically was orange and black, I got sick to my stomach. I asked the customer service guy what happened. He didn't look happy and said that B&D had taken them over. My next question was how long will it take B&D to implement it's cheap ass engineering into Porter Cable and Delta? He had that stupid look on his face. I told him, "guess you're forcing me to buy Milwaukee and Bosch". He did say that I wasn't the only customer that had the same reaction.

The worst power tool builder now makes one of the best power tools. How long will it take for Delta/Porter Cable to become second to the worst?

I'm so pissed off Rich

[Jim]

Gee, the big switch took place over a year ago. Where have you been? Jim

[evodawg]

Well lets see, guess when you only buy great tools you aren't buying them every week and I don't spend my spare time shooting the shit on newsgroups and in retail stores, I'm to busy with my remodel business.

Rich

[Never Enough Money]

I would jump to the conclusion that just because B&D owns PC, that PC qulaity will go down. It might even go up if they get more R&D funding....

Examples: Ford bought Volvo and as far as I know, Volvo hasn't become worse. GM has bought many foreighn auto makers and the purchased auto makers seem to have not changed much.

Am I wrong?

evodawg wrote:

[evodawg]

Hmmmmm, what are you saying about Ford? I would not compare Ford to Black and Decker. Besides I drive a Ford F-250 and have 4 more F-350 Flatbeds. I'm kinda partial to Ford and Porter Cable. :P

Don't know much about Volvo except that it's a safe car.

Rich

[no(SPAM)vasys]

IIRC, Black & Decker has owned DeWalt since 1960. DeWalt still has some decent tools.

[David]

I've considered Delta to be a brand I buy only when there's no good alternative. I love my Unisaw of a few years ago, and my DP is ok, but their bandsaws suck big time in my opinion, and I've had lousy luck with their technical assistance. I'm not too crazy with my 2 Delta belt sanders. I bought them more for the price than quality. All my Porter Cable stuff has been rock solid with the exception of a few times where my 7518 would run at random speeds when set to the lowest RPM setting.

So I don't know why you are upset because of B&D's involvement. Can Delta really get much worse? :) Porter Cable brand is the one I'd worry about...

Dave

[wayne mak]

[Edwin Pawlowski]

ooooookay, so go back to work and don't bother us by shooting the shit here.

[David]

ok...so go back to work and stop wasting time here! I'm so happy for you and your remodel business.

Dave

[evodawg]

Well at least I put my tools to work, instead you two talk about them and I'm sure all they do for you is collect DUST. PINHEADS

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Yep, I don't want to wear them out

[VL]

B&D bought Elu and renamed it deWalt. Don't remember the quality there going anywhere other than DOWN....

[Charlie Self]

Really? Not all DW tools were Elu, which, in the states, was a rebadging for most tools at first. The B&D Professional line turned yellow and black, as did two Elu tools, a router and a slide compound miter saw. No change of color on the saw, for which B&D can be grateful, because the one I had was a POS from an operational standpoint, as was the Elu biscuit joiner.

I don't know what happened to Elu in Europe, from whence it originally came, but from the ads I see for most European power tools, if quality went down after B&D bought them, it had plenty of company in the other companies putting tools on the market. With some exceptionally expensive exceptions--think Mafell--European tools appear to me to be underdesigned and overgimmicked, with very high prices.

[George]

Delta/Rockwell/Delta bought out a number of brands on the way up, too.

Remember when there were thirty or so snowmobile brands?

[Greg O]

Probably closer to 100 different brands in the early 70's. I still have a magazine around here somewhere that lightly covers each brand from the era. Just about anyone with some manufacturing ability was building sleds. Greg

[Leon]

Umm the quality of PC and Delta started down that slippery slope long before B&D bought them.

[none]

Pentair was selling off all the tool line from there company. The Pentair Tool Group includes Delta, Porter-Cable, DeVilbiss Air Power, Oldham Saws, and Flex Tools Black and Decker already owns Dewalt line. B&D also owns Emhart fasteners, Price Pfister, and Kwikset.

The news release of July 2004: The Corporation also announced that it has signed an agreement to purchase the Tools Group from Pentair, Inc. (NYSE: PNR) for approximately $775 million in cash. The Tools Group, with 2003 sales of $1.08 billion and operating profit of $82 million, includes the Porter-Cable, Delta, DeVilbiss Air Power, Oldham Saw, and FLEX businesses.

Under the first contract with B&D, Dewalts engineering division would be retained to continue providing the quality Dewalt had engineered in their products. We can only hope that the same would go for the Pentair Tool Group.

[Jim]

You will buy more tools in a week than I do in a year (even if you don't buy any). Go back to your remodel business and stay there. Jim

[none]

Dewalt has been around since 1922. Started in Leola, Pennsylvania and later moved to Lancaster Pennsylvania. Originally call Dewalt Products they changed there name to Dewalt Inc in 1947 The original radial arm saw was named the Wonder worker.

ELU was a Swiss company purchased in 1980 by B&D.