Shame on Delta!

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vtgaryw

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I have an older (not that old - maybe 20 yrs?) Delta 5" bench grinder. It had died a couple of years ago, finally got around to opening it up, saw the blown cap. Figured I could fix it and use it out on the bench in my garage. Of course, Delta no longer supplies that cap. Really? Caps and brushes are the two things most likely to die, and they don't supply a replacement cap?

I'm sure I can find a suitable cap, but what on earth ever happened to the old Delta?

-gary
 
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Sylvanite

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The "old Delta" was sold to a Taiwanese company (Chang Type Industrial) in 2011, which promptly replaced all the SBD (Stanley, Black, and Decker) designs with their own and ceased production of replacement parts for the old machines. If being able to repair your tools is important to you, don't buy Delta.
 

vtgaryw

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Seems pretty straight forward to me in these days of change,supply and demand etc.

Easy and cheap fix IMHO.

Peter.
Easy work around, but it shouldn't have to be. Companies like Delta used to provide spares and support for older products.
 

leehljp

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If they don't have one at the local place and you have to order one, I go to e-replacement for parts.
 

jttheclockman

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Delta is not dE
If they don't have one at the local place and you have to order one, I go to e-replacement for parts.


That company is not in business any more so those links do not work. I t is not only Delta but many of the tool companies today. They do not carry replacement parts. Try getting Craftsman parts.
 

leehljp

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Delta is not dE

That company is not in business any more so those links do not work. I t is not only Delta but many of the tool companies today. They do not carry replacement parts. Try getting Craftsman parts.


John T,
I just went to their Facebook page and they are current there; BOTH links above work for me. I ordered a pump for an 8 year old HF pressure washer last summer. (It was the correct pump too). They were very helpful and fast without having a high shipping fee.
 

jttheclockman

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John T,
I just went to their Facebook page and they are current there; BOTH links above work for me. I ordered a pump for an 8 year old HF pressure washer last summer. (It was the correct pump too). They were very helpful and fast without having a high shipping fee.

Do you have a clean link direct from FB
 

jttheclockman

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Here it is:

I do not believe that is the same company that sold tool parts. They went out of business. I saw some bad reviews on this link you gave me. When I see just one I get the runs. Run far away.
 

MDWine

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Yep, the Delta story is disappointing. I recently had trouble with the reeves drive in my drill press. (I love this DP)
You guessed it... no parts. I was fortunate in my repair, but disappointed in my discoveries.
Hopefully your challenge for the replacements you need will be minor.
 

leehljp

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I do not believe that is the same company that sold tool parts. They went out of business. I saw some bad reviews on this link you gave me. When I see just one I get the runs. Run far away.

I always put the name of a company + reviews into google and search. I got burned once about 10 years ago and that was enough. There is no company that doesn't get a negative review or two from people who seem to do that for a living trying to get something for nothing.

As to Ereplacement parts, the pump on my HF 3100PSI pressure washer went out and HF no longer supports it or offers parts, so I did several searches found nothing and then in a second call to HF support to complain, one fellow said, try ereplacement parts. I found the parts, did a search for the company+reviews, and instead of ordering online, called. The guy was very helpful and the parts were here in 4 days via USPS.

If you can't get the site to come up on your computer, you might have the cache or something else checked. I didn't copy/paste the link from a long-ago saved database. I copied it from my browser while being at the site. Curious as to why your computer says the link doesn't work. Both work for me and I can do searches for parts on the site.

You know, That site I mentioned above about 10 years ago had a similar name, it was in Kentucky or Ohio. They were scammers!
 
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jttheclockman

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Hank I got your facebook one to work. I had the other 2 saved and bookmarked many years. I use to use them for a few things but I had heard they went out of business because when you went to their site many items for different tools were not available any more. This maybe the same company under a new owner. I am not sure. But back to Delta and parts, I guess it is a matter of looking outside the box and making things work. Delta is not the Delta we all grew up with. My whole shop is full of Delta tools bought over 30 years ago and still going strong.
 

Texas Taco

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Looks like the same company that manufactures Delta products in China, also manufactures Grizzly, Jet, Powermatic, Laguna, Dewalt, and a few others. That may only be a few items per line though.
 

MRDucks2

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The strongest companies these days will only carry parts for 10 years after they stop using them in equipment/selling that specific model. The carrying costs for the OEMs are just too high to make any sense, especially with the availability of aftermarket parts.


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app
 

Woodchipper

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I have bought a few things from www.ereplacementparts.com in the past and have had good pricing plus got old parts. Example- it takes two wrenches to change the blade on my Ryobi BT3000 TS. Ryobi had one and out of the other. The place with the link is where I got both of them.
Edit- checked the link and it works for me.
 

PenPal

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I think if you apply theories about companies we would all be in T Model Fords,my first car was an A Model Ford,no resemblance to the T. Firms need to update mate.

Capacitors are outsourced and easily found to fit,trust you find one soon.

Peter.
 

Woodchipper

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Chiming in with Peter's post, the pump on my dishwasher went south a few years ago. My son is in the appliance industry; he said there are probably only a couple of compmanies that make the pumps so it shouldn't be hard to find to find a replacement. There should be a replacement part somewhere. Just takes a bit of time to find it.
 

monophoto

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Easy work around, but it shouldn't have to be. Companies like Delta used to provide spares and support for older products.

The parts problem at Delta has been discussed here for many years. When I was shopping for a new lathe four or five years ago, I created a spreadsheet listing of the 'candidates', and then ranked them based on my perception of how well they met various criteria. The specs on the Delta 46-460 midi-lathe looked pretty, but the thing that caused it to sink in the overall rankings was the renewal parts situation.

My recollection is that at the time, the word on the street (rumor or fact ???) was that when the new owners of Delta bought the Delta brand from Stanley Black and Decker, they chose to not buy the rights to supply replacement parts for the existing fleet of tools. I don't know whose decision was more eggregious - the new owners who chose to forgo a potential revenue stream, or Stanley Black and Decker who had so little respect for their existing customers that they allowed the replacement parts channel to dry up.
 

penicillin

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Just a few observations:

* Power tools evolve much faster than they used to. In the past, the same product (and similar, compatible variants) were produced for decades. Parts were available and often interchangeable.

* Power tools were all mechanical. The only electrical components were simple motors and switches. If something broke, you could fix it. If you could not find an exact part, you might find a similar replacement or possibly make the part or have it made. These days, even basic tools have smart electronics in them. Those electronics are delicate, and can fail due to power surges, a lightning storm, or whatever. Ten years from now, you won't find and won't be able to fabricate the needed replacement circuit boards and chips, let alone fifty years from now.

* In many established industries (not just power tools), famous brands are failing, and companies are buying them just to exploit the brands. The brand is the only value that they want. They have no interest in maintaining the tooling, parts, supply chains, support, or anything else from the former company. Just the brand. Examples include Westinghouse, Bell and Howell, and more. Now Delta.

Caveat emptor.
 

vtgaryw

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The parts problem at Delta has been discussed here for many years. When I was shopping for a new lathe four or five years ago, I created a spreadsheet listing of the 'candidates', and then ranked them based on my perception of how well they met various criteria. The specs on the Delta 46-460 midi-lathe looked pretty, but the thing that caused it to sink in the overall rankings was the renewal parts situation.

My recollection is that at the time, the word on the street (rumor or fact ???) was that when the new owners of Delta bought the Delta brand from Stanley Black and Decker, they chose to not buy the rights to supply replacement parts for the existing fleet of tools. I don't know whose decision was more eggregious - the new owners who chose to forgo a potential revenue stream, or Stanley Black and Decker who had so little respect for their existing customers that they allowed the replacement parts channel to dry up.

Up until a few years ago, I had worked for a number of years for a company that made high tech electronics products. We prided ourselves on our unlimited customer service. We would repair, or at least attempt to repair, any product we sold. Difficult sometimes, because we were a low volume, high mix manufacturer, and a lot of the components we needed for repairs were themselves obsolete. But damn! We tried hard. I am much more likely to buy a product from a company that I know will support me for as long as reasonably possible.

When our company was bought, one of the first things they did was have us purge our stock of any inventory over a year old. There went most of our repair stock. Shame.

-gary
 

vtgaryw

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Just a few observations:

* Power tools evolve much faster than they used to. In the past, the same product (and similar, compatible variants) were produced for decades. Parts were available and often interchangeable.

* Power tools were all mechanical. The only electrical components were simple motors and switches. If something broke, you could fix it. If you could not find an exact part, you might find a similar replacement or possibly make the part or have it made. These days, even basic tools have smart electronics in them. Those electronics are delicate, and can fail due to power surges, a lightning storm, or whatever. Ten years from now, you won't find and won't be able to fabricate the needed replacement circuit boards and chips, let alone fifty years from now.

* In many established industries (not just power tools), famous brands are failing, and companies are buying them just to exploit the brands. The brand is the only value that they want. They have no interest in maintaining the tooling, parts, supply chains, support, or anything else from the former company. Just the brand. Examples include Westinghouse, Bell and Howell, and more. Now Delta.

Caveat emptor.

I think another factor is the big box store effect. Stores like Home Depot and Lowes attracted manufacturers like Porter Cable to their folds. This made PC (and others) to cost reduce the heck out of their products to hit the price points expected in the big boxes. My older PC products? Solid as a rock. Any PC product I've bought in the last few years?Disposable crap.

-g
 

penicillin

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Up until a few years ago, I had worked for a number of years for a company that made high tech electronics products. We prided ourselves on our unlimited customer service. We would repair, or at least attempt to repair, any product we sold. Difficult sometimes, because we were a low volume, high mix manufacturer, and a lot of the components we needed for repairs were themselves obsolete. But damn! We tried hard. I am much more likely to buy a product from a company that I know will support me for as long as reasonably possible.

When our company was bought, one of the first things they did was have us purge our stock of any inventory over a year old. There went most of our repair stock. Shame.

-gary
I can name several agencies, large institutions, and companies who have at least one full time employee dedicated to finding old parts for internal use to maintain operations and production.

... and I know of one very large government agency that had an entire team of full-time employees whose only job was to scour the country (and eBay, of course) to acquire old, obsolete circuit boards and parts to keep old, obsolete, but vital systems running. The agency was working to replace the old systems, but that took time. A very long time.

The lessons learned from those experiences led to new and interesting contracts that created their own messy, unanticipated consequences.
 

vtgaryw

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I can name several agencies, large institutions, and companies who have at least one full time employee dedicated to finding old parts for internal use to maintain operations and production.

... and I know of one very large government agency that had an entire team of full-time employees whose only job was to scour the country (and eBay, of course) to acquire old, obsolete circuit boards and parts to keep old, obsolete, but vital systems running. The agency was working to replace the old systems, but that took time. A very long time.

The lessons learned from those experiences led to new and interesting contracts that created their own messy, unanticipated consequences.

So, getting slightly off topic, but made me think about a story I read a few years back. The government has warehouse upon warehouse of old data stored on various types of magnetic media. The odds that you could actually find working drives to read this data are pretty remote in many cases, other than a few you might find in collections.
 
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