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Read more Porter-Cable 7403 8 Amp Abrasive Paint Remover
We use our Porter-Cable paint remover for leveling a horses foot before putting on the shoe. We have a hydraulic tilt table for shoeing horses. We found the paint remover with 24 grit disk works better than an angle grinder for leveling the foot. Not the traditional use for it but it works for us.
Bill Hooker
Blackfoot Horseshoeing
I used this product to remove the finish coat of plaster on the walls of a bathroom I'm remodeling. With the 24 grit abrasive disk, it worked amazingly well, despite the fact that it is not rated for this task. The power paint remover is expensive, but well worth its price considering what it would cost to pay someone to scrape paint (or plaster), and it leaves the surface in good shape and ready to prime.
A brief background: We own a 100+ year old house in desperate need of repainting. Scraping was particulary ineffective since the previous owners painted over much of the loose and alligatored paint without throughly scaping or sanding it. Heat was not an option for paint removal since the fire risk was high because of the blown in cellulose under the clapboard. Finally, we are not fans of chemical removal.
The pros of this device: Does exactly what is says. It stripped the paint completely off of our clapboard siding, trim, and window frames with little effort (other than holding the heavy machine). With a bit of additional sanding the house was ready to prime and paint again. Discs do clog quickly on latex paint, but hardly clog at all on old, brittle oil based paint. 24 grit discs clogged less frequently than the 36 grit ones and worked well on the house. Discs can be used on a standard 6" grinder as well as this machine. Much faster than any kind of sander we tried and better removal of paint. Less expensive than comperable products. Made by a great company and resale is generally at least 50-75% of the original purchase price.
The cons of this device: Very heavy and takes a while to build up your muscles (if not already well developed). Took a few clapboards to get the hang of it -- Had to sand out the disc marks on those. Does create quite a bit of dust (not able to attach to shop vac like some other devices), but with use of respirators, googles, dropcloths, and a HEPA filter shopvac for clean-up these concerns were minimized. Awkward to use on a ladder, much better if you have scaffolding. Not able to remove paint from the ends of clapboard, bottom claps over the sill plate, and the underside of the claps. Follow up with a hand sander was required. Backup pad (necessary rubber disc behind the metal grinding disc) wears out quickly and is expensive to replace. Discs gum up quickly on latex paint and I found it to be quite a bit of work (even with chemicals) to remove the built-up paint.
Despite the numerous cons, we have found this to be the only product that could produce the results we needed to have a quailty paint job on our house given its poor painting history.
The product is simply poorly engineered for some types of paint. This is not to say thats its not well made. The P-C 7403 Power paint remover motor and base is built like a battleship and I'm sure would last for decades if it actually solved the problem for which it was designed. Unfortunately it has some pretty fundamental design and engineering flaws. It will work on thin paints layers that are not as likely to melt at low temperatures and subsequently gum the disks. That being said, if that was the type of paint people had, they probably wouldn't need to strip the paint off would they?
The metal disks get hot in seconds and exceed the melting temperature of thick layers of latex paints(and oils) in about 3 minutes of use and clog the disks so badly that the disks become useless. This is the case no matter how fast you move the device or what depth you set the device to. I went through 25 disks in 2 hour and was only able to strip a 6 foot square area even while the device was set to barely scratch the surface and while I moved it as quickly as I could.
If you happen to be removing the right type of paint, of the right thickness, it works ok after a little practice. If you happen to be trying to remove the wrong type(the type that actually needs to be removed), then you will have wasted your money.
Here a suggestion to porter cable to correct the design flaw. Loose the metal disks and the paint remover attachment on the bottom of the device. Instead use a rotating steel wire brush (the kind you can get for angle grinders for about $12.00) and add a depth gauge which prevent the brush from digging in too deep simliar to the kind you have for the disks setup but with a taller profile for the height of the brush, and make sure it is adjustable since brushes wear along their length as they are used. Rotating metal brushes have better thermal qualities in that they tend not to get as hot, and subsequently wont melt the paint and clog the brushes.
Angle grinders do a great job with wire brushes attached. The wire brushes don't clog and last a very long time. The unfortunate problem is that they tend to dig out the surface because of operator control issues when used free hand. With angle grinders this is solved by adding a Cup wheel guard that is depth adjustable. If porter cable comes up with a wire brush version with an attachment that adjusts depth to prevent gouging then they will have a hit that will beat out every other product on the market. I played around in my home shop with a version of what I describe and the darn thing worked great. Cost me about 40.00 in parts to retro fit Porter Cables device. It was pain to do it but it did work terrific after the changes I made. I figure better fix a faulty design for some short money than throw it out and waste a few hundred.
To everyone else go buy an angle grinder with a wire brush and a cup guard and save yourself the trouble until Porter Cable modifies their design.
This machine is a great idea, but really lacks in results. The pads that they require are great, but get all full of paint in a very short time. If you use these pads with a grinder, it works fantastic! One main Problem with this machine is that it only goes around 5,000 rpm, where a grinder goes 10,000 rpm. This way the pads last for hours.
ONLY PROBLEM is the weight!<br>I have been removing the paint from my 2 story, cedar shingled house with a 3 inch belt sander, part time since May (now August), with time off for an injury and the heat. Chemicals were too costly, ineffective and I did not want bad residue. I got 1 side done, some of another side, but the edge about 1 inch below each course was still left. Turning the sander sideways to get that area, killed belts FAST! The dust kicked up by the belt sander was terrible, going everywhere!!!!<p>I rented the 7403 for 4 hours. My results: tired arms, more paint removed and less wood eaten than the belt sander. This thing WORKS VERY WELL!!! It takes getting used to. So did the belt sander. It works MUCH FASTER (2 to 3 times) The rollers prevent gouging. It works better on flatter, harder surfaces. (My warped shingles are not as warped anymore) The areas where paint was sticking well to the wood went almost as fast with this as the areas with the paint flaking off.<p>I also found that it created MUCH LESS dust, that settled more directly to the ground. Belt sanding dust included wood that made it drift much further. Dust from the 7403, in a light breeze, was found to fly straight about 5 feet at ground level, drifting very little. The dust is denser. The particles fly faster off the work, ABSOLUTELY necessitating mask and goggles! Glasses were not enough at all. <p>Some paint buildup on the middle of the metal grinding pad, was easily removed when hot by fingers(with sander unplugged). The metal grinding pad distributes the heat evenly. It is cooler than belt sanding.<p>The belt sander will help to quickly touch up the light circular marks, once my skills are improved. There appear to be ways to adjust it to reduce the marks and/or making them go with the grain while maximizing the paint removal.<p>I am looking forward to impressing my friends and family with my new set of muscles! Big arm builder at 9+ pounds. I have to put this into my budget to finish by winter.
This machine works but is heavy, like other reviewers said. Myself and my coworker are each 6 foot tall men in good condition. We can barely put in 6 hours a day with the tool and that includes two half hour breaks to allow for muscles to stop spasming.
BUT--if used correctly, this tool does remove paint. It is slow, paint dust goes everywhere, and you must wear a respirator mask and a face shield.
Contrary to the instructions included with the tool--I found that the "cutting" side (leading edge) of the grinder needs to be set to about 1/16 inch lower than the grinding disc and the back side (trailing edge) needs to be about 1/16 of an inch TALLER than the total depth of the paint you are removing. In my case I am removing approximately 1/8 inch of paint (typical for an 80 year old house). Therefore the trailing edge of the grinder needs to be set at about 3/16 higher than the disc surface. The measurements are made by laying a straight edge (I use a square) across the disc and raising and lowering the black rails to the appropiate height.
Plan on using an inconspicious place on your house and practicing for about 2 or 3 hours until you get it right. Don't give up. My first day was very frustrating. Lots of clogging. At first I could only use the tool for about 10 seconds before it totally gummed up. Uggh. But with practice, clogging (gumming) is actually quite minimal when you find the right "angle of attack" for your application. Gumming usually occurs when you hold the grinder in one place too long or try to cut too deeply in one pass. You can't expect to realistically remove more than about 1/64 of an inch per pass, maybe even as little as 1/128 of an inch per pass. This equates to about 4-6 passes, sometimes up to 10 passes for severly cupped and warped wood. But this type of use allows for almost constant grinding with very little gumming. When the tool does gum up use a small, wooden-handled ice-pick to "pop" the gum chunks off of the grinding disc. A cleaning session takes about 1-2 minutes or even less. An occaissonal brushing with a wire brush helps prevent re-gumming on paint covered, problem spots on the disc. This techinique works so well that I only change the disc when the teeth wear down and stop cutting effectively (4-8 hours of use, depending). I have only soaked the discs in mineral spirits one time and generally find it unneccessary.
Beware--this tool pulvarizes the paint into a fine powder that goes everywhere. You will need ridiculous amounts of plastic drop cloths and bricks to hold them in place. Then you must sweep the powder at the end of each day. The amount that you collect is astounding. You can expect to collect about 10-20 gallons of paint powder from an average, 3BR/2Bath, one level home. This must be done for both legal and ethical reasons. Would you actually dump 10-20 gallons of lead and enamel paint into your yard?
In closing--this tool works great. It is a bear to use. You must use scaffolding. It is slow. Expect about three weeks of all day work to get your old house scraped and ready to prime. Buy lots of discs, about 10 for an average size house. Use only the 24 grit as the discs wear out and you need all the cutting power you can get. But beware as a new 24 grit disc cuts viciously and leaves severe swirl marks. But after about 10 minutes of use it wears down to a managable level.
If you can afford it--replace your siding. New poplar siding is about 15 cents a foot in the US. Materials for an average home would cost about $4,000. Plus lots of labor. Vinyl siding is usually a poor choice. It costs $5,000, looks fake, and causes wierd moisture issues between the vinyl and the old siding.
But if you, like me, have little money and lots of time--this is the tool for you.
(note: I post my reviews because I take them seriously and I take other people's seriously as well. Please take the time to rate my review so I can do a better job in the future. Thanks :) ).
Folks, this tool does the job. However, I did have to buy a cannister style breathing mask and have gone through two tyvek paint full body coveralls including paint hat. Dust goes everywhere my friends. And you shouldn't use it outside on a windy day. The disc does get clogged so I will try the torch recommendation to remove the paint that someone else mentioned. After purchasing the unit, mask and coveralls that make me look like a space alien to my nieghbors, I would definitely recommend renting scaffolding if you have any spare change left over. It is heavy to use and my biceps are definitely getting a workout. I can only use it for an hour or two before I have to quit for the day. Don't push yourself or the machine since it is unforgiving by gouging and leaving swirl marks. Plus since the machine is heavy, it can become dangerous to use when you get tired. But the device does work. I haven't found anything else out there that makes it easier except for chemical paint removers. But that'll cost you a million bucks to put chemicals all over your house. So the Porter Cable device will have to suffice for now unless someone else comes out with a better idea. For some reason I am starting to think more and more about vinyl siding. But then I realize that there isn't anymore money in the tree.
this tool did work pretty well on the siding of my house but I had the same problems everyone else mentioned here. The tool can get heavy after awhile and would work much better with a dust collection system. A dust mask is mandatory. This tool should NOT be used on a ladder which definitly limits it usefullness since not everyone will go out and rent scaffolding like I did. The tool does a good job of removing most paint but you have to make sure to keep the tool moving to avoid scarring and you really need to go over your work with a sander afterwards to smooth out any swirl marks. Overall I think it is a good tool but it's weight is it's most limiting factor.
Sanding, grinding are agony on heavy paint build-up. The discs clog almost immediately. I saw an old copy of Old House Journal with an ad for Peel Away, tried that, and I'm pretty pleased.
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