# Rockwell Table Saw's



## CherryWoodWorker (Nov 11, 2012)

How good is Rockwell table saw? I have never heard of it and I am curious.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

New or old? There has been a Rockwell Unisaw in almost any shop I've worked in and they are great saws. Then I needed a saw for my business I didn't think anything about buying one. Now this was 15 years ago and the new saw didn't near measure up to the quality of the old Unisaws. The only exception is it was equipped with a Biesemeyer which was a better fence all round.


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

Rockwell is kind of the grandaddy of them all:

http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=698


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## notskot (Feb 22, 2015)

New ones are poor examples from what I've seen....pretty much just another me-too lightweight plastic portable. I'd buy a full size used before jumping on board with one of those. 

Some of the older ones were great.... a Rockwell Unisaw for instance. Some of the older Delta/Rockwell contractor saws were solid tools too, but they also had some that I wouldn't put much time or money into.


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## Adcolor (Apr 20, 2014)

"Rockwell" of Rockwell Manufacturing, etc , is NOT the same Rockwell.
Delta was owned for decades by Rockwell Manufacturing/International.

Not mentioned in this history, but it is mentioned in the Delta history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockwell_International

I wasn't sure of the naming details, but this mentions it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockwell_Tools

So, apples to oranges in this discussion.


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

Adcolor said:


> "Rockwell" of Rockwell Manufacturing, etc , is NOT the same Rockwell.
> Delta was owned for decades by Rockwell Manufacturing/International.
> 
> Not mentioned in this history, but it is mentioned in the Delta history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockwell_International
> ...


From Vintage Machinery link:
*"In 1973, Rockwell Manufacturing Company merged with North American Rockwell to become Rockwell International Corp. In 1981, the Porter-Cable line was sold to Pentair Inc. of St. Paul, MN. On April 12, 1984, the remaining machinery and tool operations were also sold to Pentair, which renamed it Delta International Machinery Corp."*

They have now revived the Rockwell brand onto a new line of tools, I guess hoping the name will sell them.


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

FrankC said:


> From Vintage Machinery link:
> *"In 1973, Rockwell Manufacturing Company merged with North American Rockwell to become Rockwell International Corp. In 1981, the Porter-Cable line was sold to Pentair Inc. of St. Paul, MN. On April 12, 1984, the remaining machinery and tool operations were also sold to Pentair, which renamed it Delta International Machinery Corp."*
> 
> They have now revived the Rockwell brand onto a new line of tools, I guess hoping the name will sell them.



Someone told me Delta had been bought and sold five times in the last few years.


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## notskot (Feb 22, 2015)

Toolman50 said:


> Someone told me Delta had been bought and sold five times in the last few years.


I can think of Pentair, B&D, Stanley Tools, now Cheng Type Ltd, in the past several years.


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## Adcolor (Apr 20, 2014)

You have to read both links all the way through.
Rockwell Manufacturing and North American Rockwell are just different subsidiary's and the 'merger' was nothing of importance in what Delta did. At one time Rockwell was a very large company. The power tools division was the rare consumer level product Rockwell sold. It probably helped the public know who they were.

Stanley did not own Delta. However, prior to the B&D/Stanley merger (oh boy, clever name spoiler alert) to become Stanley Black and Decker, they sold off the Delta pieces (minus a couple of things they rebranded or incorporated -- like the Porter Cable miter saw stand, and the Dewalt portable 4 post planers).

One may presume it was a pre-merger plan, but I think they didn't see Delta as big enough to play in the market for stationary equipment (read between the lines: they didn't want to spend the money to play). So, got rid of it while it still had legs.

I am a little surprised they did not get into the stationary equipment game via CNC type machines during the recession -- get it cheap (meaning that the stationary part would be incidental to the CNC machinery game). Pure speculation).


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## Hammer1 (Aug 1, 2010)

The Rockwell name was bought. It has absolutely nothing to do with the old Delta or Rockwell company. They make cheap DIY tools in China. There is no customer support, poor quality tools. Stay away from this company.


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