Who Remembers Enco?

[DaveAndStuff]

How many of you miss Enco? I thought it was great, and I do not think anyone has filled that space.

It was like Harbor Freight for machinists, but unlike HF, they also sold a lot of top-brand stuff at low prices.

Has anyone replaced them?

 

[OccupantRJ]

MSC absorbed Enco.

 

[LXCam]

I sure do. I’ve got a **** load of stuff purchased from them that have worked just fine for my needs and abilities.

 

[tool_scrounge]

MSC absorbed Enco.

And prices raised to the moon

 

[jkeyser14]

Yes, they used to be my go to for tooling. MSC bought them and tripled the prices overnight. I refuse to use MSC now.

 

[rsanter]

Enco was great,I bought a bunch of stuff from them back in the day.
they had a location in LA I could go look at the stuff and pick it up

 

[Smilodon]

I was thinking the thread was referring to the gas station. Of course, all the regional varieties merged into one of the first "committee generated" brand names, Exxon...

 

[Steve_P]

Yes, I also miss Enco- they had a ton of stuff: sandpaper, hand tools, taps, dies, micrometers, lathes, mills.... had good prices, great sales, fast shipping. I don't think I've ever purchased anything from MSC. Looks like my last Enco order was in late June 2016.

Google says MSC owned Enco since 1997, but killed it off in August 2016.

 

[PopcornSutton]

Used them a lot. Also Wholesale Tools, they are still in biz. Bought my first lathe from MSC, they have about everything, but prices are crazy. Last time I use them, I ordered something fairly small, and shipping was 9.95. I called them and was told they only use UPS and that's their bottom shipping charge. That's when I learned, shipping charges must be included when shopping for something, it could tip the purchase one way or another.

 

[rmack898]

I bought my granite surface plate from Enco during one of their free shipping on anything promos.

I sure do miss Enco.

 

[tripplejl]

I have quite a bit of enco stuff around the shop. Prices were awesome. MSc offered some type of discount for previous enco customers for a while but it was still a lot more for similar items if I remember correctly.

 

[Rockable]

I have a pair of dial calipers I bought from Enco at least 40 years ago and they are still the ones I reach for on a regular basis while my Mitutoyo digital calipers sit in a drawer in my toolbox.

 

[woody 73]

Sigh... Oh, how I miss those days, I bought many a tool from them, those were the best times.

 

[NUTTSGT]

When I started at GE, I had to buy some tools...I bought a bunch from ENCO.. It seems that went away before the Internet got really popular. I remember ordering online from a paper catalog.

 

[drokihazan]

Grizzly is basically filling Enco's spot in the market. Moderately priced machine tools that are appropriately moderate quality, and they do carry some better stuff too (Their brakes are supposedly really nice)
Mostly mid-level machines, nicer than HF but on par with a lot of the more affordable stuff from JET or Bayleigh.

 

[tripplejl]

When they were closing they had a free shipping deal and some smoking deals on some metals. I should have bought more! I purchased some six foot brass round and hex stock. When it arrived my wife said I saw that order on the credit card, at least it’s the right color for how much you spent (gold)! Of course looking at today’s prices I should have purchased more.

 

[LopezBart]

Yup; used to order from them regularly. There was a local distributor in the SF Bay Area; handy. MSC used to have some ok sales....

 

[kabinenroller]

I’m another guy who saw Enco and thought it was ENCO. (Energy Company)
I collect ENCO petrolinia.

 

[Davefr]

How many of you miss Enco? I thought it was great, and I do not think anyone has filled that space.

It was like Harbor Freight for machinists, but unlike HF, they also sold a lot of top-brand stuff at low prices.

Has anyone replaced them?

I thought when MSC absorbed Enco they gave all the previous Enco customers MSC's lowest discount pricing structure. I don't know if they still do that since I haven't bought from MSC in years.

 

[AEAdam]

I feel like SHARS is moving into this space. Yes, I too miss ENCO.

 

[LXCam]

I thought when MSC absorbed Enco they gave all the previous Enco customers MSC's lowest discount pricing structure. I don't know if they still do that since I haven't bought from MSC in years.

I might be wrong but it was my understanding Enco was MSC’s budget (dare I say clearing house) subsidiary. No different than Zoro is to Grainger.

 

[darkzero]

I thought when MSC absorbed Enco they gave all the previous Enco customers MSC's lowest discount pricing structure. I don't know if they still do that since I haven't bought from MSC in years.

They did. I remember an email or something with instructions on how to "merge" your Enco account. It didn't actually merge anything & it wasn't really anything special that you had to do, I already had a MSC account also. Was mainly just acknowledging that you were a prev Enco customer.

I don't know what the actual pricing structure was but after doing so my MSC account did get a reasonable discount from the "normal" prices posted online & I got free shipping for any order over $50. And not like I purchased weekly or gave them a lot of money, I'm just a hobbyist.

But for a while I was spending a lot of money with MSC locally as I did with Enco (for my budget). MSC had bought out the local Rutland then opened up a larger location nearby as MSC. As much as I miss Enco I miss my local MSC & my salesman. Got a lot of great deals from him.

Years go by & eventually MSC closed that location for walk-ins & eventually pulled out of CA completely. I still have a local Travers but I don't buy much machining related anymore. I have most of what I need now.

 

[Steve_P]

Grizzly is basically filling Enco's spot in the market. Moderately priced machine tools that are appropriately moderate quality, and they do carry some better stuff too (Their brakes are supposedly really nice)
Mostly mid-level machines, nicer than HF but on par with a lot of the more affordable stuff from JET or Bayleigh.

Yes, "basically". But Enco had stuff like individual taps and dies, including in odd sizes, with import and USA choices for most; Wilton vises; roloc discs..... that Grizzly doesn't. Enco was basically a budget McMaster Carr, and HF, combined with the Grizzly/Jet level of power/machining tools and tooling.

Effing MSC.

 

[txvwnut]

Dad got me into shopping at Enco and I’ve bought a fair amount of my machine tools from them. My combination square set I got from them way back when and it wasn’t until recently I realized it’s made in USA, I never even paid attention to COO of the tool listings just needed to get what I could afford on my tight budget.

 

[DaveAndStuff]

I loved getting the "Hot Deals" once a month.

What I liked, was that they'd have their brand and an industry standard side by side, and you could order either. They generally had the best prices around for named brand stuff too.

 

[WildBill]

It sucked when they were bought out. I had to explain to our VP why my budget, which encompassed the machine shop and equipment repair group, needed raised by $50k and that no, there was not another vendor that would give us those prices. Also no, I was not "shitting" him.

 

[DaveAndStuff]

It sucked when they were bought out. I had to explain to our VP why my budget, which encompassed the machine shop and equipment repair group, needed raised by $50k and that no, there was not another vendor that would give us those prices. Also no, I was not "shitting" him.

Yeah, going from Enco to Grainger was a bit of sticker shock...

 

[Tim in Indiana]

I used to go to the Chicago location every month or two. I loved shopping the discount or clearance area. You could buy returns for pennies on the dollar.

When MSC finally shut them down they moved truckloads of old Enco warehouse stock to the Mishawaka location and had a big "garage sale". I bought a ton of stuff for cheap.

 

[mikegt4]

Yes, they used to be my go to for tooling. MSC bought them and tripled the prices overnight. I refuse to use MSC now.

That was my experience as well, the "former Enco customer" special pricing didn't last long before it disappeared and the stratospheric MSC normal pricing began. It's called buying out the competition. Shars is probably the heir apparent for Enco although there are several others as well.

 

[DaveAndStuff]

I was thinking the thread was referring to the gas station. Of course, all the regional varieties merged into one of the first "committee generated" brand names, Exxon...

We still have Esso stations here:

 

[INSP380]

Still have the big catalog in my shop for reference

Steve

 

[JuncleJohn]

I bought an Enco drill press 30+ years ago that has served me well.

John

 

[drokihazan]

Yes, "basically". But Enco had stuff like individual taps and dies, including in odd sizes, with import and USA choices for most; Wilton vises; roloc discs..... that Grizzly doesn't. Enco was basically a budget McMaster Carr, and HF, combined with the Grizzly/Jet level of power/machining tools and tooling.

Effing MSC.

So, I don't know if you've checked them out, but there's actually a few pretty legit brands on Amazon that sell things like specific taps and dies + machining tools. Shars and HHIP are actually pretty nice tools, at affordable prices, usually with next day shipping as an option. Like, yeah, you gotta spread out your shopping to a few more places, but the Enco-level stuff is definitely available if you look a bit. Shars in particular sells nice measurement tools at low prices. I'd say WEN has stepped into this role a bit too. Some of their stuff is more on par with Harbor Freight, but some of it is definitely mid-level.

 

[BTL-A4]

But for a while I was spending a lot of money with MSC locally as I did with Enco (for my budget). MSC had bought out the local Rutland then opened up a larger location nearby as MSC. As much as I miss Enco I miss my local MSC & my salesman. Got a lot of great deals from him.

Years go by & eventually MSC closed that location for walk-ins & eventually pulled out of CA completely. I still have a local Travers but I don't buy much machining related anymore. I have most of what I need now.

I remember Rutland Tool in SoCal. I think they were in the City of Industry. Which one did you go to? My Rong-Fu clone mill is a Rutland. I wish I could find the right color rattle-can paint that matches the turquoise blue of the mill.

 

[DaveAndStuff]

Still have the big catalog in my shop for reference

Steve

I have a drive with a few years of "Hot Deal" PDFs

In ~1980, we hired a great millwright (RIP Ed Moss) that set up an entire mobile shop in a 45' trailer out of the Enco catalog, with living quarters in the front.

 

[RTM]

I just realized one of my mag indicator base is an old yellow Enco, bought at a garage sale in 2015

 

[LXCam]

I have a drive with a few years of "Hot Deal" PDFs

In ~1980, we hired a great millwright (RIP Ed Moss) that set up an entire mobile shop in a 45' trailer out of the Enco catalog, with living quarters in the front.

In the late 90’s I was on site at China lake naval weapons center and this millwright had a set up like this. The trailer and the guy were very impressive.

 

[LS1-IROC]

Loved Enco, I was just getting into the trade in the mid 90's and bought just about all my tooling from them.

 

[darkzero]

I remember Rutland Tool in SoCal. I think they were in the City of Industry. Which one did you go to? My Rong-Fu clone mill is a Rutland. I wish I could find the right color rattle-can paint that matches the turquoise blue of the mill.

The one in Chatsworth.

 

[Houe]

I feel like SHARS is moving into this space. Yes, I too miss ENCO.

Yup this. I have ordered a few times from shars.com. It has the same vibes as Enco had. I also frequent zoro, but that is less machining focused.