Porter Cable Sander

jakester

Hey Guy's
I've been thinking of buying a porter cable power sander, I've seen and heard some good things about them, I have also been told that it leaves swirls in the finish, I find it hard to beleive if your using high grit and fast speed, if anyone can help me with this I would appreciate it.
Thanks
Jake

Tin Cup

I've had mine over 6 years, one of the best investments i've made. especially for small remodelings, restorations, you've got to be carefull with it though. still can't beat final hand sanding on joings, but great for nail/screw sanding. You can do joints if careful.

Great for repaints of walls that aren't smooth, have "paint tits" left from roller nap from the last paint job.

You can buy just the sander wand and use a plain shop vac, but I find their vaccum is worth it because it has a very fine filtering system. great for keeping dust down.

Also, you can sand high spots very quickly from the ground, i'm gonna guess it'll give you an extra 4-5' of reach.

Grainger sells them, but like most items they are expensive. Just buy it from your dyrwall supplier. I've a few different styles of sanding discs, some are two piece where the sanding disc is velvro'd on, i don't like those. the on piece are better for me.

some small repairs I can get away with only one coat of 5 or 20 minute mud, dry with hair dryer, sand with the Porter Cable, spot prime, repaint entire wall or room right away. Saves an extra trip in the right circumstance.

Alot of my customers are impressed when they see it in action since no one has to dust afterwards.

Bonus, I've also used it to sand large aluminum/steel surfaces prior to applying vinyl graphics. Also, conditioning walls after removing wallpaper. My guess is complete outfit should be about $750 with the larger vac.

P.S. For the first filter, I buy the drywall filter bags for larger shop vacs from Lowes because they are less expensive.

Buy it.

Tin Cup

dryrocker27

Jakester-We have two of them and love them. You are correct about the swirl marks. however, with a 150 grit or higher, the paint will fill them in and they will not be seen. You have to match the speed of the sanders rotation with the grit and also take into account how fast you move the machine over the seams. you have to consider how well you finished the seams. if you left much build up-you may have to move slower-if feathered tight. move quicker. You will get it after a couple walls.

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Robert

Capt-Sheetrock

I LOVE my porta cable-es. I have three of them (I don't want anyone to feel "left-out" on sand day, lol) The oldest one I have is 14 years old now, held together with duck tape. I have their vac, but a regular shop vac will do fine, IF you get the nylon filter(looks like a pizza) that goes over the sponge filter(over the motor) with a slide ring, and use a bag in the vac also. I don't care for the hook and loop (two piece) paper, I use the standard pads for fine work (remoldels and "lived in areas" ) and the screens for new construction.
It does give you alot of extra reach, I carry a wooden panit roller handle that has the black foam on the handle, and I insert it (impale) in the end of the sander. I can sand 14 ft garages and high work from the floor. Of course you still have to sponge the corners, boxes etc by hand.
About once a year, I have to repalce the cable and rubber tube on one of them(keep wondering why it happens to the ones my help uses, and not the one I use, fate I reckon,the one I use, is the 14 year old one, and it has broke one cable, after 10 or so years), cost right at 100 bucks, but I feel thats cheap for what they do.
BTW. If you ever burn out a motor, they sell for 150 bucks,, BUT you can buy a porta cable screw gun for about 80, take the handle and the nose off(unscrew them) and drop the motor into the sander, same motor, fits right in. Buy a few sets of brushes, you will go through them on a regular basis

jakester

Hi Guys
I rented one from home depot this morning and tried it out on one of my residential sites, you guys were right it does leave swirl marks I used a 150 grit paper they did not have a higher one so I sanded the concrete first to lighten up the paper, one thing I did notice is that you have to move the sander according to the speed of the machine and grit of the paper, but for the most part it worked well, I guess like anything there is a learning curve to all this, but I do thank all of you for your input. I will add one to my collection of taping tools.
Jake

Capt-Sheetrock

Aa you use it and get use to it, you'll love it, there is a direction to it, like go from left to right across the top of the flat and then come back right to left on the the bottom sibe of the flat, you will notice it "cuts" better going in the right direction (for what your sanding) and it will leave less swrils that way. Really swirls are not much of a prob after you get the hang of it. as for grit, I use 120 when I use the pads (my help uses 150 pads, cause they don't pay attention and will screw it up if they have 120's)like anything else, got to pay attenion

taper71

I tried one out a couple of months back and I really did not like it. It took way too much mud off even with me given her. I used a 220 grit radius 360 disc on it. I was going to buy it and was glad I rented first.

toothlesstaper

never used one but observed results, BAD BAD BAD or maybe it was him