Porter Cable's drywall sander

[Dan Mages]

Hi all.

I am getting close to completing the drywall in the basement, which is a major milestone for completing the house. When I rented the drywall lift, I noticed the porter cable drywall sander. It looks like a giant ROS with a really long handle and a vacuum hose. My first impression is that is going to be a bit awkward to use, but may save me a half a days work and will really cut down on the drywall dust. Does anyone here have any experience with this tool?


Thanks!

Dan

[Nancy Laird]

Dan,
We didn't have the P-C drywall sander, but a different brand. Hubby had to sand the kitchen ceiling and used it. When he finished, there wasn't even any dust on his glasses. They are great and work very well. Go for it!

Nancy

[Travis Porter]

I have used one. I am so poor at drywall and mudding it that I had to use it to clean up my "mess".

IMO, it worked well. Only negative is that you have to be careful not to "oversand" with it. Dust collection was good not great.

[Brian Elfert]

I used a vacuum sanding block with drywall sanding screens. (The cheapie at Home Depot.)

The problem I had was the vacuum pulled the sanding screen tightly against the drywall and I ended up with scratches in the surface. I tired the finest sanding screens I could find to no avail.

Brian Elfert

[Jason Roehl]

As near as I can tell from having watched drywallers use one, the P-C drywall sander is NOT random-orbit, but rather just orbital motion (like a grinder). However, I have used my 5" PC 333 ROS hooked to a ShopVac (with a drywall bag in it), and had only a very, very slight film of dust on the wood floor below after 6 hours of sanding (and no white boogers in my nose :D).

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Brian,

If your set up it like mine you can lessen the suction and it helps to hold the block at a 45 degree angleso that you are not sanding the same direction as the grid on the drywall screen. My set up runs through a 5 gallon bucket as a water filter.