# Rockford Machinery Drill Press



## Spike (Apr 2, 2016)

I picked this floor model drill press up twenty some years ago from some guy's junk pile. I derusted it some, replaced the wiring, and bought a new chuck for it. It's been fine ever since. The thing is I have seem many that seem to be exactly the same but with different brand names. What gives?
-Spike


----------



## xman_charl (Apr 3, 2016)

mine, is over 20 years old, did have 1/2 hp ac, now 1 1/2 hp dc.





Charl


----------



## Spike (Apr 3, 2016)

Other than the name they could be twins! I wonder just how many brands the same machine was sold under. Mine works well but is nowhere near a precision tool, but since it found it half buried in mud and then have gotten twenty years of use from it I'm not complaining.
Thanks!
-Spike


----------



## AR. Hillbilly (Apr 16, 2016)

Mine is  a Cal-Hawk. I've had it over 20 years and used it hard. I just recently replaced the belts.


----------



## mike1 (May 1, 2016)

I have and identical one that is branded Orbit. I purchased it back in 1978 and haven't had any issues with it .


----------



## 47convertible (May 1, 2016)

I think there were only two or three factories that made these drill presses. The best of them seem to have been from Taiwan.
Orbit was, I believe, the predecessor to Jet. I got an old Jet 17" floor model from a farm in Western Oregon a couple of years ago figuring just to fix it up a bit. Ha ha.
One thing led to another, spindle, spindle bearings, new rack to raise and lower bed, old column had a crack hidden by rust so new column and had to machine an adapter since I couldn't get the original dia. Then the icing on the cake was putting on a 1.5 hp DC motor and 60M controller.  I turned off as much of the 'donkey tracks' in the plate as I could and still maintain good spacing for T nuts. It did have a decent US made Jacobs 5/8 chuck but not the one with ball bearings.  My cheap fixer-upper turned into a major rebuild project. I actually like that old DP better than my much newer 20 inch Jet. DC motor with variable speed makes a big difference.
	

		
			
		

		
	





























































Jerry


----------



## 47convertible (May 1, 2016)

Mike, I think Orbit was rebranded to be Jet. I have an old Jet 17" with the blue label and it looks a lot like these others. I think there were only a couple of factories that made them in China/Taiwan is why they look so much alike and I bet lots of parts would interchange. I got mine from a farm as I wanted to convert a drill press to DC variable speed power and didn't want to do that to my very nice Jet 20MF that I bought new.  The 17 inch press was a real project but once I was in it I plunged ahead with new spindle, spindle bearings, a new column as I found the original was cracked, a new rack to raise/lower the table and on and on. But I really like that 1.5 hp DC motor and controller. It has a good Jacobs 5/8 chuck which runs true.
Jerry


----------



## The Liberal Arts Garage (May 2, 2016)

Good, got the message........BLJHB.


----------



## Billh50 (May 2, 2016)

There are many different machines that were made by the same companies but have different names on them. It is like that for many different products also.


----------



## 47convertible (May 2, 2016)

Geez, where did all those photos come from. I thought I fixed that post. Apologies to everyone. Mea culpa, mea culpa.
Jerry


----------



## projectnut (May 6, 2016)

I have 2 identical table models of the same drill press.  One is Badged Rockford Machinery like yours.  The other is badged Farm and Fleet.  Both cost $125.00 each when I bought them new in 1978.  At that time the manufacturer would put any name the wholesale customer wanted on the plate if they ordered a minimum of  500 machines.  Rockford Machinery was one of their house brands.  Blains Supply that owns the Farm and Fleet chain bought a couple hundred of the Rockford branded models to see how they would sell.  When they sold out in less than 2 months they made an order with their own nameplate.

I bought the first Rockford branded one early in 1978.  I liked it so well I went back for a second one.  I was told unfortunately there were none available, but more were on order.  When they came in I went to pick one up only to find it wasn't the same brand.  At that time I was told it was exactly the same drill press with their own private label.  Over the years I've made some changes to the wiring and lighting on both.  As far as I can tell they are exactly the same down to the castings, motors, pulleys, and even the switches and belts.

Both of mine are nearly 40 years old.  They get used nearly every day and are still going as strong as the day I bought them.


----------



## Spike440 (May 11, 2016)

One of the first things I did to mine after making sure it worked was to gut the wiring and put all new in, I was able to salvage the switches but I replaced the bulb socket. 

I agree, mine is a '78 model as well and I was serious when I said I got it from a guy's back yard where it had been laying on it's side half buried in mud for who knows how long. It is still running great. Put a new chuck on it and swapped to link belts and couldn't be happier.
-Spike


----------



## GarageGuy (Jun 7, 2016)

It's just like the ubiquitous Harbor Freight horizontal band saw.  They've been manufactured for at least 40 years in Taiwan, and sold under countless trade names.  

GG


----------



## Spike440 (Jun 9, 2016)

You nailed it there GG. I have one of those band saws that was branded Clarke. I bought it used from a craigslist ad, tore it down, cleaned and painted it along with a quality blade and it has been great. No idea where it was made though.
-Spike
Before:





After:


----------

