Re: Porter Cable ROS

[immewhoru]

Nope. Not trolling. I first tried sanding some pine that I had edge glued

>for a rack and there was very little action. I have used the PC's before >(not sure if it was a 333 or not) at a friends shop and it worked great. I >however never took notice of the pad motion. Perhaps mine was working fine >or as I said simply required a breaking in for a bit. I have used other PC >tools and thought they were great, so it is in no way a slam on PC. The >Dewalt I exchanged it for seems to be working a lot better. It does not >spin as in the way a buffer or grinder head would, and I would not expect it >to. As I noted before though the PC had NO rotation. To me this is simply >a round orbital sander. In the long run, the Dewalt is making sawdust >quicker for me than the PC so I am happy. I did use a PC plate joiner today >though. Very nice and on my list of tools to get. > >Thanks all > >Paul in MN > >> [assuming that you are not trolling] >> >> That would be both the "random" and the "orbiting" features. >> >> Why would you think that it was not supposed to work that way? Did it not >> perform well? Or did you arbitrarily decide that "You know what, I don't >> like the way that this sander works. I think that it should spin around in >a >> uniform, predictable circular pattern. I mean, it is round, so it should >> spin." >> >> Was that it? >> >> >> >> >> > I had a PC 333 random orbital sander that I picked up at the Borg a >while >> > back. I went to use it the other day (for the first time) and found >that >> it >> > wasn't rotating. The pad would spin about a quarter turn every 10 >seconds >> > or so. I took it back and had them open up another to try out. It was >> not >> > a whole lot better. Once you touch the surface down it quit rotating >> > altogether. It basically became a round orbital sander. Anyone else >run >> > into this? Does that clear band need to break in and loosen up around >the >> > motor and pulley? Mostly an interest point now as I got the Dewalt >> instead. >> > Too bad the 5 hole sanding pads don't work on it that I had for the PC. >> > Ended up rebuying all new 8 hole pads for the Dewalt. >> > >> > Cheers, >> > >> > Paul >> > >> > >> >> >

[Tom Kohlman]

PC was my first round ROS (I bought it to complement the PC 1/4 sheet which served me well for a number of years). It takes alot of practice to make it work...rule #1 is to start it only when in full contact with the wood (otherwise you leave the Circle K brand that is impossible to remove). rule #2 is once it is going, do not apply downward pressure...they don't like it and will simply sit there and make noise (kinda like my SWMBO when I make an insensitive remark...fortunately I've matured and that only happens a few times a day now). I guess it's a design flaw where the shape of the thing seems to invite grabbing the top and pushing down. Don't. I now leave the top alone all together and guide it around by holding the mid-section with as little pressure as possible. It dances at it's supposed to.

[Paul in MN]

As i noted before, I ended up getting the DeWalt ROS after deciding that (possibly incorrectly) that the PC was not working as I thought it should be. As it turns out, the floor model that was the only one left at the Borg has a small tear along the seam of the dust bag that streams out dust. As well as that, the whole dust bag assembly tends to vibrate and pop off at the oval/round connector piece, which of course spews a cloud of dust everywhere. Aside from that I am very happy with it. When the cloud of dust settles in the shop I am going to go back out and try to find the piece I was working on. By feeling around through the cloud, it felt very smooth. Maybe I'm not meant to be a random orbital kind of guy.

Cheers,

Paul