Porter-Cable 9444VS 1.8, There are better profile..

Overall Rating22222

There are better profile sanders available

Like many others I purchased the Porter Cable profile sander on the reputation of the company. I owned it about two hours before I returned it.The tool is powerful enough though rather bulky. The problems with the sander stem from the poorly designed profile material and the pressure sensitive adhesive used to hold the paper to the profile.The profiles are made of the same rubber your mother hated for putting black marks all over her kitchen floor.At least she could remove the marks. Ever try to get a rubber mark off bare wood in a tight place?With profile sanding it is a given that the sandpaper is going to be fit to a small contour or a point and therefore will wear out or clog very quickly.With this sander quickly literally means seconds!It is an enormous waste of time and sandpaper to change paper after every 30 seconds of use.Machines should be time savers,not trouble makers.Dremel makes a profile sander that is much easier to use. The profiles do not make black marks as the paper does not wear out so quickly.The paper is industrial quality cloth backed which helps greatly.The paper is in the form of a hollow sleeve attached only by the form of the profile.You simply pop the profile off the machine ,roll the sleeve a little and pop it back on. Ah fresh paper cuts so well!Like the other reviewers I own other Porter-Cable machines which I like very much. PC circular saw,the router/plunge router combo,4″ x 24″ belt sander and a biscuit joiner.Please save yourself the trouble and frustration of the Porter Cable profile sander.If someone gives you one as a gift,smile,thank them, and as soon as you can sell it!

Update (2/5/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen.

The featured review for this product, Porter-Cable 9444VS 1.8 Amp Variable Speed Profile Sander Kit Tools & Hardware, was written by Timothy J. Connolly.

The average rating for this item is 2 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.

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Reviews (3)

Jeffrey A. Smith

March 17th, 2010 at 11:45 am    


Overall Rating11111

Wow… No rating with Zero Stars? The Worst Tool Value!
I have a lot of Porter Cable tools, and I’m one of the company’s biggest fans. I love their routers, their circular saws, their biscuit joiner, and I have them all. But this is without a doubt the worst value in a tool ever.Here’s what’s good about the kit:1) The profiles are handy when not attached to the sanderHere are the problems:1) First of all, the profiles never REALLY fit what you’re sanding, so there’s always a point early-on during the sanding where the aggressive action of the sander wears right through the sandpaper and you start leaving black rubber streaks on your material (the profile is now rubbing the wood directly).2) The machine is not smooth.3) It’s noisy.4) The profiles won’t stay in the holder. They fall out.5) PSA paper (uses adhesive). Not much fun.So… there’s my opinion. I consistently rate this as the worst purchase I ever made as far as tools go. Save yourself some money and buy the profiles separately. All by themselves, they’re usable. Attached to the aggressive sander, they last about 3 minutes before you’re burning rubber.Sorry, PC… I would have loved to have said something more positive!


Anonymous

April 3rd, 2010 at 12:33 pm    


Overall Rating44444

Typical Porter Cable — a tool that excels in it’s job..
A while back following a major wallet-emptying experience buying new windows for my house I decided to save money by recycling the 60 year old case molding. Having admired from afar the Porter Cable 9444 I finally felt justified in purchasing one. It was the right thing to do. This machine with it’s 1.8 amp motor has the power to remove material surprisingly fast in small places while giving you excellent control. Despite the seemingly small footprint of the sanding pad and the accessories, this machine cut far faster than I had hoped for. Over 640′ of molding that had been badly re-painted several times came clean quickly. There was always a profile head that matched a particular nook or cranny. Originally, I had thought to use the 9444 only to do the grooves and tight places, but I found it fast enough to do the faces and edges of the molding as well - it was easier (and safer for the molding) than getting out the belt sander. When you use this machine your hand circles the entire motor. This is not a perfect feeling and I found myself having to stop at times to rest my hand. However there was far less vibration transferred to your hand that I expected. Porter Cable seems to think that you will never need a place to store extra sandpaper in the ubiquitous molded plastic case - there is a place for everything that comes with the purchase but nothing extra. When will toolmakers realize that they are missing a free marketing-moment by this sort of shortsighted design? I consider these gripes somewhat minor compared to the overall excellence of the machine. If you only have occasional tight-place sanding to do, there is probably a less expensive rodent-like solution out there. But if you have a seriously large project to do or are in the trades you can’t go wrong with this machine.


Timothy J. Connolly

April 18th, 2010 at 2:57 pm    


Overall Rating11111

There are better profile sanders available
Rated 1 stars.


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