# Porter cable sanders



## machinemud (Jul 21, 2010)

Should i jump on that deal ? A 100$ for the sander, i never use one ? Is it good to sand with it behing auto tools ? ( very skim coat )


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## 2buckcanuck (Jul 9, 2010)

Sure, if you find you don't like it, I will buy it from you.

But properly check it out 1st, make sure it's not junk.

Think the captain said, you can replace the motor with a PC screw gun. 

Maybe try talking him down a bit:thumbup:


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## saskataper (Mar 6, 2011)

I bought one last year and have tried it on a couple jobs and haven't really been happy with it. To hard to be consistent with it and unless you have great long walls to sand it's pretty awkward I find. Ceilings are a pain unless you can somehow break it in to flex more then it would be great. 
That said for $100 you can't go wrong I've used mine more for ceiling repair taking down old texture and it's paid for itself there


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## JustMe (Apr 17, 2009)

machinemud said:


> Should i jump on that deal ? A 100$ for the sander, i never use one ? Is it good to sand with it behing auto tools ? ( very skim coat )


How healthy are things like the motor? Drive cable? ......? $100 could be a good deal, or too much.

If it's a tight skim coat you'll be sanding, you could still be best staying with a pole sander. Jmo.

As for sanding behind auto tools, I've used mine to help knock back any crown a bit when I've had to leave enough of one when boxing on a final coat, before I go over it with a pole sander. I've found it saves time and body wear and tear for me, especially for ceilings. But I do the power sanding without a vac. If I had to hook up a vac to do it, I'd likely just stay with a pole sander. I also unhook the vacuum tube attached to the head, to help the head's flexing ability.

I've also used it to rough sand 1st coats, and much of the final coat, when dust is a concern. Then a vac gets used.

However, I never got to be a pro with running a PC. If I worked with it more, I might use it for sanding more things at times, and with better results.
But with pretty tight coats, I don't know how much more I'd really use it.


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## silverstilts (Oct 15, 2008)

JustMe said:


> How healthy are things like the motor? Drive cable? ......? $100 could be a good deal, or too much.
> 
> If it's a tight skim coat you'll be sanding, you could still be best staying with a pole sander. Jmo.
> 
> ...


For a hundred if it works it is a good deal , but if you need to replace the drive cable bearing or brushes you would double that price. The cost of a new one isn't much more.. I would not be without one that much I know.... Just finished a remodel at another bank which it was a life saver... It would not have been possible to mask off the lobby as people were coming and going, as far as the noise by running it I really didn't care so much neither did all the bank customers.. really liked the comments such as so that's how you do it.. I really still haven't understood those that still badmouth them, they run nice and do a great job if you know how to use it as with any tool..and never use without the vac unless you really want to see dust everywhere which defeats the whole purpose of using one.


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## gazman (Apr 29, 2011)

silverstilts said:


> For a hundred if it works it is a good deal , but if you need to replace the drive cable bearing or brushes you would double that price. The cost of a new one isn't much more.. I would not be without one that much I know.... Just finished a remodel at another bank which it was a life saver... It would not have been possible to mask off the lobby as people were coming and going, as far as the noise by running it I really didn't care so much neither did all the bank customers.. really liked the comments such as so that's how you do it.. I really still haven't understood those that still badmouth them, they run nice and do a great job if you know how to use it as with any tool..and never use without the vac unless you really want to see dust everywhere which defeats the whole purpose of using one.



This from someone that knows what he his talking about.:yes::yes::yes:


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## gazman (Apr 29, 2011)

I have been using one for alot of years. My advice.
#1: Buy new or at the very least one that you can touch and run. 
#2: Maintenance is critical. The bearing in the head, and the cable are the week points. Check out this thread, I posted a few pics while doing some maintenance.

http://www.drywalltalk.com/f9/porta-cable-maintenance-3020/


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## 2buckcanuck (Jul 9, 2010)

gazman said:


> I have been using one for alot of years. My advice.
> #1: Buy new or at the very least one that you can touch and run.
> #2: Maintenance is critical. The bearing in the head, and the cable are the week points. Check out this thread, I posted a few pics while doing some maintenance.


Put the beer down, and put the proper link in Gazzy:whistling2:


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## gazman (Apr 29, 2011)

2buckcanuck said:


> Put the beer down, and put the proper link in Gazzy:whistling2:


Sorry about that 2Buck, someone sent me a PM while I was posting and I got distracted.:whistling2:


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## JustMe (Apr 17, 2009)

silverstilts said:


> For a hundred if it works it is a good deal , but if you need to replace the drive cable bearing or brushes you would double that price. The cost of a new one isn't much more.. I would not be without one that much I know.... Just finished a remodel at another bank which it was a life saver... It would not have been possible to mask off the lobby as people were coming and going, as far as the noise by running it I really didn't care so much neither did all the bank customers.. really liked the comments such as so that's how you do it.. I really still haven't understood those that still badmouth them, they run nice and do a great job if you know how to use it as with any tool..and never use without the vac unless you really want to see dust everywhere which defeats the whole purpose of using one.


Yeah, I've gotten an amount of "I've never seen anything like that" and "That makes so much more sense" from the general public, when I'm running with a vac.

A trained eye might have at times wondered a bit, though, about the wisdom of what I was doing, especially if pollying off was an acceptable alternative, if the GC wasn't made aware of my PC and its sanding/vacuuming ability. Ie. Skills not well developed through lots of use, and my taking time to make sure enough I didn't chew up the work too much to fix without recoating.

1st place I ran mine was in an operating bank, done after hours - concave walls, 10' high tear away fast mask and free standing bulkheads all over the place, ...... . The GC was anal about dust - at least tried to be. It got me/us through. The dust created by the other 2 tapers was acceptable - didn't give the GC much choice on that, if he wanted it done on time. The other work was pollied off as best they could. I finished with a hand vac sander what I couldn't get at well enough with the PC.

As for not running it with a vac, maybe the last place of any consequence was a new house, where all I really wanted from it then was to knock the final coat's crown back on the flats fast, to save on body and time. It worked for that, and dust wasn't much concern there. If I'd had to haul a vac around as well, it would've slowed me up more than I'd liked.

If I move to doing more new houses and renos, I could see me using it more. How much more, though, I don't know.


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## 2buckcanuck (Jul 9, 2010)

if you don't get the sander machine, get your so called smart phone fixed, it's spelling all your words wrong:jester:

So did you buy it ???


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## VANMAN (Jan 14, 2011)

machinemud said:


> Should i jump on that deal ? A 100$ for the sander, i never use one ? Is it good to sand with it behing auto tools ? ( very skim coat )


 Just buy the sander! For $100 its cheap and the parts are not that expensive if it needs some!I have 2 flex sanders and i have changed the drive cable in 1 and its about 6 years old!


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## VANMAN (Jan 14, 2011)

gazman said:


> I have been using one for alot of years. My advice.
> #1: Buy new or at the very least one that you can touch and run.
> #2: Maintenance is critical. The bearing in the head, and the cable are the week points. Check out this thread, I posted a few pics while doing some maintenance.
> 
> http://www.drywalltalk.com/f9/porta-cable-maintenance-3020/


 Gaz ur the man i have never been inside any of my sanders!
Except 2 replace a drive cable!


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## Drywall_King (Dec 18, 2010)

VANMAN said:


> Gaz ur the man i have never been inside any of my sanders!
> Except 2 replace a drive cable!


Yes thats a good sander, remember to allways remember when putting the sander to the wall start on the board and then move it to the mudd, use the variable speed to control the speed, probley slower to start till you get better, buy a chinease one with a vac for $230 till you can afford a good one...


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## A smooth finish (Mar 19, 2012)

Have you guys ever tried using a Hand Orbital sander with a vaccum attachment for patches or small little jobs. I had a buddy that said he used one but never got to see how well it worked.


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## Drywall_King (Dec 18, 2010)

A smooth finish said:


> Have you guys ever tried using a Hand Orbital sander with a vaccum attachment for patches or small little jobs. I had a buddy that said he used one but never got to see how well it worked.


yes i seen some guys use it in Brisbane, Queensland seemed to work for a hand device, was quite cheap too


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