Porter-Cable Reviews

The small face frame biscuits are a great item but in their intended purpose they are hard to work with. The inch and a half stock is better joined together with the old fashioned dowel method. You have to change blades on the joiner to use the smaller blade for this small biscuit and the time it takes isn't worth the trouble to do when you get a better result with the dowel.

There is not much to say about biscuits. The do work very well and I have gone through about 500 of them with no problems. They seem to be very uniformed and I have not had a joint go out on me yet. I have been building with biscuits for a few years and have always had good luck with Porter-Cable products.

These are the smallest biscuits available and are of limited use, but the excel for those uses. They are narrow enough to use for joining face frames on cabinets, but I prefer to do that with a Kreg jig and no biscuits.

I use these mainly for joining small picture frames and box corners. The only other method in these applications is a spline, which must be fitted with much more care and precision than a biscuit.

These are quality products - I have not had one fail. They fit the slots cut with the special blade that comes with the Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner kit. The fence on that tool makes it easy to do box corners. If you are doing alot of boxes and frames, I think you will like these biscuits.

This tool is good for a few doors. However, if you are in the business, this tool lacks as follows:
1. when performing latch plate routing the template is not extended enough to support the average base of a router.
2. the brad nails are very inexpensive and therefore loose their configuration very easily.
3. the tool does not easily center itself.

for the price, it is well worth it, however, a tool that clamps to the door would be a better design. This design is available on Amazon.

It works like it should. The only problem I have with mine is when I unpacked it, the wax used to protect the router bit reacted with the plastic of the jig and melted a hole right through the wall of the jig. Fortunately it was in a slot I don't plan to use.

This is a great product. Wish I had this template
years ago instead of trying to chisel by hand.

If you really are going to drill alot of 1/2 holes and larger get a drill with more amperage. This drill looks like the big ones, but it's a pussy cat.

This tool does everything right; it's relatively light and small, yet packs a serious punch! I've used it to accurately knock out cracked bathroom tile fixtures in the hammer-only mode to hammer-drilling holes for gas lines for gas fireplaces. It comes with a very nice carrying case that holds practically everything I need for most jobs; safety glasses, earplugs, a large assortment of drill bits and demo tools. Although I have an assortment of rotary hammers large and small, this one is my favorite for medium size holes and chipping. I highly recommend this tool for anyone in the market for a lightweight 3 mode rotary hammer.

I had a competitor's rotary hammer which I did not really care for. I was looking for a tool such as this from Porter-Cable for some time. It finally became available. The other tool was working, so no real good justification for buying a new Porter-Cable SDS. Well The 'other' tool ended up missing. I needed a tool right away.

This tool is balanced a lot better than the competitors, works fine, and all our power tools are being replaced with Porter-Cable as they are needed and become available.

i haved used at least 5 of these routers and they work great right out of the box but the base becomes warped very quickly making it difficult to router properly especialy with flush cuting bits i have 6 years of full time wood working experiance and the last time i used one i messed up flush cuting because the base was not flat i would by the Bosch 1618B if u plan on using the router more than a few times because of the superior base

This router is great for a first or only router because of its versatility. You can buy a plunge base if you need it, but i dont really care for it too much but it is cheaper than a new diecent router.The dhandle is a great feature it gives you alot more contol than just the two knobs found on most routers.1 1/2 hp is pleanty of power for most applications.The collet i dont mind but use real wrenches,the ones in the kit are cheap and tend to cut your fingers especially if the bit is in there really tight.The 690 series is the most popular router, many other accesories are avalible, which make it even more versitle.If this is your 1st router of your 50th, you have to have one.

This is a wonderful router. We have made blind, taporing, dovetail socket routs, and parts to match. With this router we wiz right through the ladder rails and rungs with no complaints from this router. I just wish that the bits would keep up with the router. The "D" handle is just the perfect size, and the locking trigger is perfect for all of the routing that we do. The only complaint that i would have with this, and this is with every router I have ever come to research, and use, is that you can not hook up a vacume source anywhere on the router. Luckily i work in a wood shop with my father, and he is definatly from the "old school" and we designed a great design for that. Thanks Porter Cable, Daniel Kroeker Juniata, Nebraska GO HUSKERS!!

Friends,
I bought this Porter-Cable product, along with the 180 grit roll adhesive sandpaper. These 2 products, though they have the same SKU as previously, are no longer made in the United States. The longevity of the abrasive is shorter than previously on both grits. The units made in the U.S. were made by 3M for P-C. If possible, I would like to order the U.S. produced product.
Thank you.
mike

Excellent sandpaper that holds up well.

adheasive on back holds paper tight to pad, sands faster, last longer, easy to change. GREAT

Tool Crip ships this in the Porter Cable box. The box is thin cardboard and so when it arrived the box was almost in pieces. UPS had also dropped the generator and the frame was bent, spark plug was completely broken off, generator mount was bent, they really did a number on this one. Tool Crib was not very responsive in giving me a specific time to pick it back up and could not assure me I would not have the same experience on a re-shipment. I'd buy this item locally and skip Tool Crib given my poor experience with them. No one seemed to care or was concerned about my problem with their poor performance.

Walmart.com sells this generator for $100 less.

For a small (but a little heavy) generator. This little guy powers a construction site of tools without loosing breath. A great addition to any no power area!

The unit came with the base and a hex key but no use instructions or laser target. This is a newer model than the one listed on the web site, older model discontinued and price lowered. A call to Robotoolz and discussion with them was very helpfull in answering my questions and sending me instructions that were missing. Service was excellent.

i think this is a decent laser personally. i`ve had mine for about six months and have used it a fair amount. the only flaw i see in it is that the pendulmn inside sticks in a fixed position after it has sat for awhile without use and needs to be freed up by shaking it, other than that it works great!...get rid of that old plumb bob and get yourself a laser, best hundred bucks i ever spent

The Laser-Bob is everything it is advertised to be. I used on one job and it paid for itself in the first 1/2 day!

I've been a professional woodworker in the past and I had high hopes for this product. I'm a big Porter-Cable fan, but not this time. The blade on the left does provide great visability, but the limited size of the base plate to the left of the blade and the overweighting of the motor housing toward the right makes it difficult to keep the saw from tilting when nearing the end of the cut. As the saw tilts to the right at the end of the cut, the lower portion of the blade digs into bottom edge of the board. If you care about having a vertically square end on your board, you're in for a challenge. With practice, one might learn to overcome this stability problem, but a careless moment and you'll have to cut again... and again... and -- well, you get the idea. Great saw for the left-handed, or for when someone else is around to hold the bulk of the board on the right side of the saw... but then there's no increase in visability since the "good" board is back on the opposite side of the blade. The directional dust spot is a great idea, however.

Excellent saw. Lots of power, and the 7.25 inch blade is definitely better than 6" ... that little bit makes a difference.

It's true that the saw takes some getting used to if you're right handed (because your cutting "off" the part of your material which is holding up the saw) but with a bit of practice it becomes easy.

This saw is light -- for a high quality saw. If you're comparing it to a $... departement store saw it will seem heavy... compare it to other professional saws and it's very very light.

Case is nice. Moveable ust port is excellent. The saw is well though out on the details (for example the platform to the left of the blade is exactly 1.5 inches, so setting up a straight-edge to guide the saw is a snap).

Very happy with it.

I do a lot of different things at work, from framing to finish, forming for concrete and all sorts of stuff. This saw handles it all. I have never liked worm-drive saws because of three things 1-excessive noise, 2- excessive maintenance, and 3-they kick when you fire them up. This saw is great, I have always had sidewinders, but was fed up with looking over the saw body to see my blade. The left blade on the Porter Cable solved my problem. Good power to get through all types of lumber and a light feel, and smooth start. Last week, my girlfriend and I built raised vegetable beds and she had a blast using it, she wasn't afraid at all, even when she put it in her left hand. How many saws can a beginner feel comfortable with in the left hand?

Good quality product and a always handy to extras on hand. Don't go for the faster shipping. My 2 day shipping came in 4 days.

Having extra sander pads are a must have. Once you finish a couple of projects you'll find that the your pads must be replaced.

Having extra sander pads are a must have. Once you finish a couple of projects you'll find that the your pads must be replaced.

These wood biscuits work really well while joining your frames together. They help to stablize and strenghten your wood frames without the awkwardness of doweling.

For years I have been using P-C biscuits in my woodworking projects. Since I work with alot of 3/4" - 5/4" wood, I use #20 biscuits more than the smaller #10 and #00, but I have found that these #10 biscuits excell at reinforcing mitered corners.

I have not had any significant amount of "bad" biscuits from Porter-Cable. There is an occasional thick one - meaning it either didn't get compressed as it should have or it swelled from moisture - but these are few and far between.

Basically, I have had nothing but good luck with these so I highly recommend them!

These little biscuits are great for every type of joint. 45 degree joints are so simple and you can rely on these little pieces of wood to guarantee that you will not have to worry about joints coming apart in the future. Just make sure that when you are using biscuits to make a solid board for a table top or anything like it, you place the biscuits so you do not cut into them when making that finish end cut.