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Who makes what tool for who?


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It has come to light with a little digging that many tools you see are actually made by the very brands they are in competition with.

Panasonic look very similar to Hilti don't they

The Dewalt, Trend and Black and Decker routers of a few models look like twins as well

And Bosch and Milwaukee have some very very similar tools.

Without being too big bang theory ( thats the t.v series by the way lol) part numbers are a big give away and it reveals some cross breading between competing manufacturers.

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TTI makes Milwaukee, Ridgid, Ryobi, and many people don't realize they also make most of the Craftsman power tools. It's an entirely plausible notion. Hand tool manufacturers re-brand stuff all the time. Wilde makes about every retaining ring plier stamped made in USA and sold under a number of brand names. There are sets sold by Snap-On, Mac, Proto, SK, and Matco, that are actually the same set down to the last detail. Any examples?

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I had a very interesting conversation with a repair engineer who gave me an idea just how many of these tools are actually made by someone else.

And also why some tools just are not good over here in the U.K.

Like Milwaukee being great tools but try getting one fixed over here.

Panasonic and Hilti are as bad if not worse unless you are in the more money than brains club and have your Hilti on Fleet.

In which case you will be far too busy licking your windows to be reading our Forum.   LOL  :)

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I could give several examples with hand tools. Most of the time it's a manufacturer rebranding products of another brand that they own such as Proto/Mac/Blackhawk/Facom, Snap-On/Williams/Blue Point, etc, but there's lots of times manufacturers will actually contract items to a different manufacturer. A lot of manufacturers seem to contract their pliers.

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I will add that I have a Ryobi contractor saw. On account I paid 150 for it brand new. I was at Sears looking at the Craftsman contractor saw and there high end contractor type saw with the roll away table looked and had stats IDENTICAL to my Ryobi. Just red and yellow instead of blue and yellow. That blew me away. Then I heard the same thing that Conductor562 said and there you go! I will qualify my purchase of a Ryobi table saw as I am not a pro and the fact that ,my wife gave me a saw...wow! I didn't even have to suck my thumb and start screaming at the top of my lungs! That's how I got my Milwaukee router!

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Those Milwaukee routers are top of the line.

Skil is a Bosch product, Dewalt is a B&D brand as is Porter Cable and Bostich, etc. Just about every brand has a brand marketed at a different level of user. Well, except for Makita.

hand tools is where it get's really complicated. One manufacturer might make 10 or brands and even then they may contract certain items from another manufacturer. In some cases you might have the same tool selling for 2 significantly different prices.

Off the top of my head:

Stanley: Stanley, Proto, Mac, Blackhawk, Facom, Sidchrome, and Virax.

Danaher: Matco, Armstrong, Gearwrench, Fluke, and 50% of Apex tool (Cooper owns the other 50%). Danaher handled a lot of contract production for Craftsman and Kobalt over the last few years.

Apex: Allen, Cooper, Crescent, H.K. Porter, Weller, KD Tool, Nicholson, Lufkin, Wiss, and Plumb.

Snap-On: Snap-On, Blue Point, J.H. Williams, and Bahco

And all this is just the tip of the iceberg. Several of these companies contract stuff from others, such as Channellock making pliers for several of them, Stride makes retaining ring pliers for several of them, the list just goes on and on.

In the next day or 2 I'll post some pics for examples.

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What?!? Really? Bosch? I love Bosch, if that's true then I guess I actually have a Bosch router! I have that plus the Ridgid palm router which is sweet. So here is the question, who is actually an American manufacturer of tools? Obviously not cordless power because as far as I know there are no cordless tools made in the USA. I have a Craftsman circular and radial arm made in USA but unfortunately that is it!

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Chris: There aren't many power tools made here anymore period. Milwaukee has 2 plants in Mississippi, Dewalt has/had one in North Carolina, and if I remember right Makita has one out west somewhere. Not that long ago Milwaukee was still making a few 28 volts tools here, but I can't say for sure that's still the case. Most of the few power tools that are still made here are corded tools.

Wayne: I'm going to look into this, but I don't believe the Milwaukee routers are rebranded Bosch, at least not on our side of the pond anyway.

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The part numbers for replacement bits and pieces gives the game away apparently.

This information comes from a company who fixes tools over here so I just took it that they should know what they were talking about.

It is not all tools it applies to certain model, year combinations as to who made what and some are amazing.

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Yeah. It's really sad! Ends up the only American made power tools I own are those two Craftsman power tools. I don't think my Milwaukee router is, I will have to check. I noticed over at HD they have American made Milwaukee Sawzall's but it depends on which one. For instance my Milwaukee M18 Sawzall is proudly made in China! Sad sad sad. Which makes me think of the episode of Top Gear BBC where they go to China and find ALMOST EVERYTHING to be cheap copies!!! Rebranded etc! It's funny occasionally I will read a review about and American made m18 drill and I think NO! It may say Milwaukee, but it is actually made in Milwaukee China, an exact copy of Milwaukee! It's inhabited by Chinese people wearing blue LEVISE jeans and tan KARHARTT jackets!!! Oh God, but I am funny! Let's see...who can I insult next?!? Any metrosexuals out there that need a thrashing whilst you speed off in your silver Audi's to escape the mad Dodge Ram driving lunatic from NH?

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  • 8 months later...

Sorry this took so long! I went down and checked out my Milwaukee Router. USA BABY!It's a 5615-29 Router kit with two bases 1-3/4 HP. That just made my day!

I need to go check mine (5616-24) tomorrow to see where it is made. My wife bought it for me last week as a early birthday present...Well I told her this is what I want for my birthday, "Can I order it.?" :P 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I need to go check mine (5616-24) tomorrow to see where it is made. My wife bought it for me last week as a early birthday present...Well I told her this is what I want for my birthday, "Can I order it.?" :P

I usually email my family members links to what I want. It's better that way :lol:

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  • 11 months later...

I was in HD picking up a DeWalt pressure washer and the Ryobi & Milwaukee reps gave me a hard time. While waiting for the HD associate to pull the pressure washer from top stock, I noticed the Ryobi & Milwaukee reps working together on setting up new planograms. A few weeks later, a Ryobi rep was setting up Milwaukee tools.

Also, Stanley, Black & Decker and DeWalt are all owned by Stanley B&D. Most DeWalt hand tools can be purchased in the exact same setup as Stanley tools, ie: Saw horses, tool boxes, fastener boxes & other hand tools.

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Ryobi, Ridgid power tools, and Milwaukee tools are all Manufactured by TTI. Ryobi and Ridgid are different though. Ridgid is a weird one Home Depot licensed the name to use on their store brand power tools, but Emerson electric the owner of the Ridgid brand also makes plumbing tools and the vacuums. With Ryobi its just a license that TTI has with Ryobi of Japan. TTI can sell tools branded as Ryobi anywhere else except in Japan where Ryobi makes their own tools. The Stanley Black and Decker brands are much easier :) They are all owned by SBD and just denote differing levels of performance and quality Black and Decker at the bottom Porter Cable the Middle and Dewalt on top.

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I noticed Home Depot kicked Bosch out of the little mini store they had by the pro desk its Milwaukee now. I kinda don't like the fact the reps were saying comments. They don't even sell pressure washers. Well Ryobi does but they are far far from being pro grade.

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I think Dewalt uses Cat pumps which are one of the best pumps you can buy. So many of the other ones are cheap garbage. They don't offer a rebuild kit and a new pump will cost more than what you paid for the pressure washer. Whats the point in that? Just buy a new one and sell the old one for parts.

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DR I don't have a Dewalt pressure washer......yet;) but I have the ryobi the one the one Dan and Eric reviewed I bought it off Craigslist almost new from some girl who didn't know nothing about it I didn't ask who's it wasor where she got it ,she wanted $180 and I offered $120 and she took it which I thought was a steal. It's works pretty good starts on the first pull and hasn't let me down but it would be nicer if it was the Dewalt one

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...

Hey guys, I'm new here and I'm from the UK, I run a powertool repair shop and thought I'd share the odd few brand crossovers and oddities I've come across over the years.

You've got the obvious ones like dewalt/elu/trend with their dw625/mff96/t5 router also the larger dw625/mff177/t11 router
There's also lots of other identical machines in the ranges, you sometimes even see them labeled up as black and decker professional. On a different note Google "Chang type tools" to see where Dewalt get most of their kit made. They're also happy to make it in other colours it would seem.

There's Bosch that also have the Skill and Dremel brands but I have also seen Bosch-made tools sold under the Wurth brand with the plastics in black, mostly sanders and grinders . And in orange and marketed by ITW's Spit brand, mostly 24v sds drills.

Going back in time, a British firm, Wolf used to re-badge Makita tools and sell them as their own, I occasionally still see a 9401 belt sander come in for repair with a Wolf badge. Makita also have their own budget brand over here called Maktek although recently this has been scrapped and they've just coloured them red and stuck with makita but given them a Mt designation before the model number. Makita own Dolmar and many of their outdoor products are old Dolmar designs.

The Wurth group have re-badged Bosch, Hitachi and Milwaukee brands as their own.

The Tti group which make Milwaukee, Ryobi, Rigid also make some of their Milwaukee range in a navy blue colour, I can't remember what they called it but on holiday in Portugal recently it was everywhere. Tti also bought the Kango brand years ago, it's logo still remains on their demolition hammers.

Hitachi occasionally make bits for other company's, I've seen their old 4.5" grinder in blue as an Aico? Possibly...

Hilti And Flex share almost their entire range of rotary hammers as well as their dust extractors. (one of which festool also sell)

Festool once known as Festo bought the Protool brand and carried on making most of its products in green and blue rather than orange and grey. Festool also had Fein make their oscillating saw for them (it's just a supercut in a different colour)

Some Metabo tools are made by Flex, mostly high end grinders.

Electrolux group make Husqvarna, Partner, Jonsered and have strong ties with Mculloch and Poulan who make their domestic chainsaws.

I'm sure there are plenty I've forgotten to mention but these are all I can think of right now.

Regards

Matt




Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

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