Porter-Cable Reviews

Usually ships within 24 hours (Oh yeah...) That's what amazon said when I purchased it. It's been over a month and they replied with this and that excuses. Come on! I'll go and pick it up if you allow me.

When I first bought my Bosch 3727DVS, I bought a box of the popular grades; 80, 100, 120, 150, 180, 220, and 320. The 100, 120, and 150 are the most frequently used.To tell you the truth, I rarely use the 320. Local home centers sell the 5" variety, so if you are enjoying the additional cutting surface of a 6 inch, this is one of the best places to stock up.
I just went through over 50 boards of 80+ inch cedar, in three grades, and I only used about 10 sheets all combined. That is about 3 for each grade. The advantage to quality paper, is that you can get in a groove with some consistency. Instead of having cheaper paper that gives you the new disc agressiveness, then quickly to the used paper smoothness, which may be a grade finer, and miss the deeper lines from the coarser grade of paper in the previous step. Additionally the backing paper is stiff enough to do the job. That way you don't wind up with a buggered edge on your sander. The 6 hole paper is nice for the dust free environment. I simply attach a 2 1/2" vac hose to the dust port on my Bosch, which is way smaller than that, so a lot of air escapes. The vacuum draw that leaks around the inlet, sucks up that last 1% of the dust coming off the paper. It is still recommended to wear a mask because the shop vacs only capture to a micron or so. So technically you have a vac system that is actually a mini-part of a micron, invisible dust manufacturing plant. Over time, even that is a consideration. A good respirator, not a paper mask is advisable. A fresh air system is even better.
I had a body shop for 20 years, and after using the cheaper paper on the random orbit sanders, and winding up with a floor full of used paper, I can attest to the savings of using quality, aluminum oxide paper. It is actually cheaper, in addition to doing a better job. Highly recommended.

Well if Porter Cable have discontinued this router it truly is a sad day. "Little Round Top" has been around for as long as I can remember and I have used mine for millions of tasks over the years with absolutely no problems, issues, or down-time. Original switch, cord and brushes still intact and no sign of wear or tear. Look up the word "reliable" in the dictionary and you will see a picture of this router.

Yes it is wonderful that there are high-powered, variable speed, multi-use routers on the market with a plethora of attachments. But many times you need a small, powerful router bigger than a laminate trimmer and smaller than a plunge router that you can easily handle with one hand. And the fact that the base was interchangeble with the 1 3/4 HP PC router (including the plunge base for it) was an added bonus that I have taken advantage of uncountable times over the years.

Fairwell old friend, hopefully PC won't "replace" you with some piece of junk made in China.

I came online here to pick up yet another plunge router ( I`ve gone through four in maybe 8 years) and happened across this old friend. 15 years of almost daily use building (professionally) over 750 guitars and other instruments - and, additionally, an almost house full of furniture to boot- and this little pal of mine just keeps going and going. Nary a repair, not a single moment of down time. To top it off, I`ve as yet not needed to change the brushes even. While most P/C tools are usually good this one has been just amazing! If only the plunge routers ( not one a P/C, I might add. Something that`s about to change) had been this good.
PS A home improvement enthusiast. LOL! Not a chance!

Fast cutting until I hit a nail then it became useless. I couldn't find it anywhere locally except at Amazon. It is the best blade for wood cutting.

These blades do well in my cordless PorterCable Tiger saw. They tear through wood in a hurry, even 1 inch plywood and treated timber. I always keep a pack of them in the carrying case. I discovered these blades are great for trimming trees, too. For branches and limbs up to 1 1/2 inches, I don't use my bow saw anymore. Thanks, Amazon!

The first saw I purchased was a Sear's Craftsman, at the time money was a real issue. I was speaking with a professional carpeter one day and asked hip why should I pay twice as much for a Milwaukee, Porter-Cable or the like when a Craftsman tool does the same thing? His one comment was; "use it all day and see which one makes the difference". He was right, my wife bought a Dewalt Radial Arm saw for me around 1973 for around $170 (she worked at the store). I used that saw for fifteen years before I sold it in order to buy a table saw. We put it in the paper for $350.00, the first guy that called came out and paid cash! I only buy top brand power tools, if I change my mind, I can sell them for what I paid for them, or at least pretty close. Regarding the Porter-Cable saws, I have a left and a right-hand version of this saw, it was the first 15-amp saw when everybody elses was 13-amp. A word of advice, while you are at the store, buy a Freud decking blade to go with it.
If you are at Lowe's (my favorite), you will probably have to go to a Home Depot, they usually carry the blade in bulk for $10.00. Take the new blade off your saw and install the decking blade, you will never go back.

This is the most accurate Circular Saw you can get. The inside cut line is right at 5 inches and you get about as good a straight 90 degree cut as an average table saw. It's light and has plenty power. The base has a perfect flat edge for aligning against guides. EZ blade change is a bonus.
I'm thinking about getting a second one for left blade. I wouldn't consider any thing else.

Comfort
The magnesium construction makes for great one hand control. Also, the rubberized handles are well postioned and feel solid. The blade visibility is also very good.

Brake
My first saw with a brake. Very quick shutoff, makes setting it down less questionable.

Dust Port
Dust port works extremely well, can aim it away from the work piece, attach a dust collector, or aim it back into the upper blade guard to shoot out the back/bottom.

Blade
Included Riptide blade rocks. Great general purpose blade. The tool-less blade change is very quick and easy. No more excuses not to switch over to the trim blade. :)

Case
The case is very rugged, I can sit on it @ 190 pounds with no problems. It has a cutout for the rip-guide (sold seperately) and blades.

Overall
The only thing I could fault would be the price. I feel that the rip-guide could have been included at this price. Otherwise, this is a great tool that should perform for years to come.

I was simply unprepared. Before this I had used a variety of orbital sanders to trim down edges and correct my measuring miscalculations. I assumed that this would be a variation on the theme...

I borrowed this from my landloard who had used it for the past half dozen years to annually strip down his 120 ft antique sailboat -- every sq inch of it. After wrestling with it for the first ten minutes, I managed to bring this amazingly powerful belt sander under control. Despite the resisance I was putting against it, the speed was consistant and in minutes I was able to smooth the edges from an homemade dining room table. A hand effort would have taken more than an hour. I used it for a few other projects and was astonished at how good it was, but the real testimony comes from its owner who lent it to me knowing there was no way for me to break it. This tool made me a Porter and Cable enthusiast.

I have used this belt sander for the last 10 years in my stair,railing ,and finish trim company.I prefer this model because it doesn't have a dust bag.I have used other porter cable sanders with the dust bag,but the bag just keeps getting in the way.It is also possible to turn the sander over and use it as a bench sander.The dust bag models won't allow this.GREAT SANDER!

Follow the manual, to a point. The box joints are cut with the board mounted in the front clamp but you have to mount a board under the back clamp. The manual says that this board should be at least 1/4" thicker than the board you are cutting box joints on. I didn't get why it had to be 1/4" thicker until I made my first cut and thank goodness that I followed the manual because the extra 1/4" is to keep you from running the router bit into the metal base of the jig.

I was using 3/4" stock and the only way I could get a 1" inch board (actually it was a 3/4" board and a 1/4" piece of plywood) clamped through the back clamp was to remove the bushings under the clamp knobs, otherwise I couldn't thread the clamp knobs. This worked great and the board was still clamped tightly.

To get the pins and tails offset correctly between two pieces, the manual shows you how to rotate the boards, basically the manual has you cutting a pin on the top left of a board and a tail on the bottom left of a board or vice versa. This way if you cut both ends of four boards you could flip the pieces around to get them all to fit and make a box. I wasn't making a box and the way the manual had me adjust the boards I was cutting pins on both edges of the boards so no matter which way I flipped the boards I was always going to have a 1/2" of a board sticking up and a 1/2" of another board hanging down. When I went to adjust the edge guides to realign the pins and tails I discovered that the edge guide moves exactly a 1/2". That allowed me to push the edge guide all the way to the left to get a tail on the left or push the edge guide all the way to the right to have a pin on the left. (This will make more sense when you use the temple, I promise.) Using this I marked each board as either pin or tail. I setup the template to have a pin on the left and cut all the boards marked as pins. Changed the template to cut a tail on the left and cut the rest. It was quick and easy and the alignment was dead on.

The bottom line is that it make take you a few minutes to figure this out but once you do it is easy to use and the box joints fit perfectly and look great.

If you think the dovetail template is easy, this is easier. There are only two things to set, and both are easy: 1) depth of cut, 2) left-to-right position of the board for finger layout.

The finger joints fit together great. I get much smoother cuts than with my table saw box joint jig.

This is the only 3/16" drywall cut-out tool on the market!I use it to do "ALL" my cutting.It speeds up the job and last for a VERY LONG time!Not too much worries about them breaking.Just remember to hold on tight and be careful not to miss a box or vent.I use it for everything:boxes,vents,doors,windows,ect.If you have not mastered cutting out bowes with the stanard 1/8" bitts then I would deffinitley NOT RECOMEND you using this 3/16" bitt on boxes or vents just yett.The finishers will thank you for waiting untill you gain more experience.Lots of luck.I NEVER PURCHASE another 1/8" bitt or use a saw again!!My job is completed faster and thus I make more money by the hour.

Portercable is the only manufactuer of the size 3/16" drywall router bit.It fits all drywall cut-out tools(rotozip,portecable,dewalt).It cuts out doors and windows faster than backcutting & using a hand saw.It also cuts out vents and boxes.It does the job faster than any 1/8" bit on the market.The 1/4" window/door bits are not usable with boxes & vents, where this 3/16" bit is.The bit has a very long and durable lifetime.The best router bit on the market.Only the real drywall profesionals are even aware of it's existence.Be one of the 1st.

I was completly satisfied with this product, I wish I could buy this in boxes to save some money, because I owned a fiberglass factory, If you used a lot sanding belts or sanding discs I recomend you this product, It really renew the grit GREAT PRODUCT
zorry for my english,
Orlando.

This Product is one of few that really works. I sand plastics, metals, wood, even painted material (you can imagine the mess). I have cleaned up belts discs, sheets, dremel sanding barrels, that I was going to throw out. The belts cleaned up to almost new. You just sand like you would a piece of wood and it cleans up your belt with little mess. You will be suprised with the results.

What more can I say?

I have been using the Porter-cable plate joiner for about 4 months. I ran out of the Porter-cable biscuits right in the middle of a project on a sunday afternoon. My regular shop was closed so I bought a "generic" brand of biscuits at the local mega home destruction center just to finish the day. What a mistake. Most of these things did not fit due major variations in thickness and poor quality. Most would split when tapped into place. I ended up throwing away 2/3 rds of these defective biscuits. I have never had any problems with the Porter-Cable biscuits. These are always high quality, consistent thickness and much stronger. My daughter says they taste better also !

Saved my husband and I lots of cash! We went from .16 cents at a local lumber yard, to .02 cents apiece. (He always said I made hard biscuits!) Sandy

Good value - You can go through a lot of biscuits and this is the way to buy them...in bulk.