The Porter Cable Restorer is on sale at Lowes for $79, making it a very good buy right now. I’ve had a test sample around here for some time, and although I haven’t had the chance to use it for any big projects, I’ve learned a few things worth sharing.
The Restorer is a licensed Porter Cable product, meaning it’s designed and managed by an outside company, Wellington Tool, run by the inventor Robert Kundel.
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I spoke with Robert earlier this month, and he is very passionate about the Restorer. I am convinced that the Restorer is not some gimmick – it was developed as a solution.
1. It Can Do Anything!
Well, not anything, but the Restorer is definitely a very versatile tool. Equipped with the right attachment, whether sanding drum, paint and rust remover roller wheel, or one of the accessories currently in development, it can sand, polish, and clean.
2. More Accessories Are on the Way
When I spoke to Robert, he indicating that the initial launch of sanding drums and a coarse paint and rust removal wheel is just the tip of the iceberg, and that they’re working on more accessories.
He seemed very committed to the platform, which gives me confidence as a user or potential buyer.
With the Restorer requiring its own accessories, a manufacturer’s committment to the product is very important. Who wants to be stuck with a tool that they can’t buy accessories for?
There’s always a risk of being unable to find accessories 5 or 10 years down the road, but I don’t think I would be deterred by this. I got the feeling that the inventor and manufacturer is in it for the long haul.
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3. It’s Well-Built and Smooth Running
My short experience with the Restorer has been positive. It seems like a very solid tool, which surprised me a little. I expected the experience to be a little more shaky.
It runs smoothly, and doesn’t seem to bog down.
Accessory changes are easy and tool-free. There are 2 metal latches keeping the wheel cover in place, with one of them captivated so as to act like a hinge.
The design is fairly well-polished, except perhaps the speed selection dial, which is perfectly functional and clear to read, but could stand to be a little better.
4. It Works Superbly with Dust Collection
The inventor described a demonstration where they were sanding or removing rust from something, and how a dust extractor pulled out nearly every bit of dust and debris.
I hadn’t had the opportunity to test this to its limits, but a quick test showed that it does work well with a dust extractor or similar vacuum.
This is still more of a “do your work outside” kind of tool, but I supposed it could be used indoors too, in situations that might alternatively call for a belt sander or random orbit sander.
5. It’s a Surface Restoration and Renewal Tool
Keep in mind that this is not a surface smoother, it’s a surface restoration and prep tool. It’s meant for removing paint, weathered surfaces, and surface rust. Things like that. It’s not a final sanding tool.
It was originally designed for removing rust and scale from beams and pipe prior to painting.
This means it’s a good complement for your existing sanders, and not a replacement.
Price: $79 (Holiday Sale at Lowes)
Buy Now(via Lowes)
Buy Now(via Amazon, Tool & Accessories)
More Info(via Wellington Tool)
Also, our friends at Tool-Rank put some time in with the tool, here are a few things they said in their review.
In testing, I found the Restorer to do an excellent job at removing surface rust on metal, and paint or stain on wood. It would remove rust in a matter of seconds, leaving the surface clean and smooth. I had similar results when testing the restorer on wood, and the tool is easy enough to control that you shouldn’t have a problem keeping it moving to prevent gouging.
The yeti
Wonder if this isn’t the answer . For restoring old hardwood floors . Hard to do the edges . Been using a mouse sander and hate it . Would try this
Matt
Give this a try, I’ll probably give it a go as well, if not, consider one of the festool sanders with an edge guard, they let you get right up to the edge while protecting both the sander and the wall/trim! I know the new pro ltd 5 was on sale initially at $99, I picked one up then, not an incredible sander, but has that feature!
Tim
Use an edger.
It’s what it’s made for.
The yeti
Any that I have use are very heavy and cumbersome . A Dremel and a mouse has been the best I have found so far . I will keep looking tho . Only got 2 rooms left to do now anyways
Tim
They’re heavy and cumbersome to do the job they’re made for.
Sanding floors with a palm sander is ludicrous.
I’ve been running an edger since I was 10.
Tim
My girlfriend is also quite good with an edger. You get used to it.
Get a rotex too if you’re no good at edging. Can be used on stairs and in places where the edger won’t fit.
You get used to the physicality of edging after your first few times. It’s the only tool to use for that kind of work to be honest.
Tim
Per the original post though I’ve been debating buying one of these for the back side of vents and stuff like that.
Also USsander makes a 5″ mini edger for stairs that’s based off a makita disc sander.
They also make an extension version of it for under toe kicks and radiators. They’re very light and would be a good in between from the rotex to a real edger.
fred
All the floor edgers I’ve ever seen (Clarke, Roberts, Alto, Silver-Line to name some) work using a round sanding disk. These are generally high priced heavy duty workhorse tools that usually sell for something like 20 or more times the price of this Porter Cable tool. Most use 7 inch disks – but even a 5 inch (mini-edger) disk cannot sand all the way into a corner. That usually leaves some hand sanding, scraping or pad sanding left to do. As you say, ones like the Clarke CE7, Makita DRE10, Silver-Line U-2 and some others offset the motor from the disk with gears, pulleys and belts to let you sand under toekicks and radiators. Considering their cost – most homeowners look to rent these or take a lot more of their time (but less of their cash) using sanders that they already own – designed for other tasks.
It’s hard to know – without trying it out – how a $79 Porter Cable tool will work or last for flooring or compare to tools that use similar principles that are used for other tasks – like the Makita 9741 Wheel Sander , the Fein WPO 14-25 Polisher, or the Metabo SE12-115. But its much lower (almost insignificant by comparison) price tag that any of these will make it appealing to the DIY user.
Jon
I have a 12×12 deck that I need to strip, would this be preferable to a random orbital sander?
BonPacific
Anything would be better than a ROS for that, but a belt sander or floor-sander would be better options still.
Clarence Hartmann
Regular floor or deck Sanders work very well on the high spots. As older decks, and I guess if you are refinishing you deck it’s an older one, because the decking boards are no longer flat. I use the deck Sanders first followed with the Porter Cable restore 80 grit. Worked great.
fred
Your use of the word “strip” implies that the wood (I also assume not plastic composite) had been coated with something other than clear stain – and you perhaps want to strip a solid-color stain, paint or varnish. Sanding is sometimes not the best first step in removing surface coatings on large surfaces. That’s because the sanding medium (sleeves, belts, disks etc.) – even if open-coat style – will tend to load up with the coating residue you are trying to strip off. In one of our commercial shops we had both sandblasting and CO2 grit blasting equipment that worked well on many solid (e.g. metal surfaces) to get built-up coatings off. If desired, we might then follow-up with polishing using tools like a Fein polisher that we had. For wood – in remodeling work we’d get cabinetry that clients wanted to reuse – that we’d send out to be dipped or chemically stripped at a shop that did this in an environmentally sound way. We’d then bring it into our shop for sanding and refinishing.
More to your point about decks, our painting subcontractor or flooring subcontractor more often did this work for us. Chemical dipping or peeling was out of the question – but the work often started with broom cleaning, pressure washing (with or without deck-wash detergents) and scraping (scrapers or wire scrub brushes on the end of a pole) to get off anything that was peeling. Sometimes that was enough – just letting things dry before re-staining. For our Sagaponack crowd – with exotic wood decks and patterns – the flooring guys would refinish just like they would an interior floor – big drum or pad sanding machines doing most of the work – with edgers for the stairs. My thought on a 12 x 12 deck would be to try the washing/scraping/brushing routine first. Then if you have some rough spots – look to sanding – and this PC tool might work out OK. I agree with BonPacific that a ROS would only be my choice for some spot sanding.
Randy
You are reading my mind. Going to use it in conjunction with a belt sander to clean up some outdoor steps and furniture. I wonder how it will do taking paint off of concrete? I’m going to try that too.
fred
We used to use a Bosch 1773AK concrete grinder.
I think that there is a new model :
https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-CSG15-Concrete-Surfacing-Grinder/dp/B00UVXYX6I
But for $300 less – you probably should give the PC a try – particularly since all you want to do is get the surface paint off.
The yeti
Fred u hit the nail on the head again . The rented edger was awkward didn’t do a thing in the tighter spots . Had better luck with the big walk behind one . Just ended up using what I could get cheap . To do the corners . Turned out really nice actually
Koko the Talking Ape
” There are 2 metal latches keeping the wheel cover in place, with one of them captivated so as to act like a hinge.”
It is nice to hear a hinge is captivated, but by what? The beauty of the wheel cover? Or maybe it is “captured,” which is a much less happy situation. 😉
fred
“held captive” ?
I’m of an age that when I think of captivating Hedy Lamar, and Greta Garbo come to mind.
Stuart
I don’t see much of a problem with the wording.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_fastener
Maybe captive instead of captivated would have been more appropriate?
A regular latch is captured with every operation. Captivation suggests a more permanently fixed lock.
Hmmm… right?
John
How does this differ from the Eastwood SCT for example:
http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-contour-sct.html
Ironically while waiting for this PC tool, I came across the SCT. I would love to have either for metal surface prepping but just trying to gather if the PC will do just as much as the other at less than half the price.
fred
Other than by the $120 more that it costs – the Eastwood tool looks to be more aligned for use with auto body work. I don’t see dust collection on the Eastwood and its “spatter shield” looks like it might be metallic – perhaps better (than the PC’s plastic shroud) to deflect any sparks that might result from prepping ferrous metals. The Fein WPO 14-25 kit that we had and the Metabo SE12-115 that I mentioned above – seem to be more expensive versions of the Eastwood tool. One issue with metal prep is the duty rating of the tool – and perhaps the Eastwood might be capable of more continuous duty than the PC. I know that we ran our Fein tool hard and we also had their RS 12-70 specific for pipe polishing that was operated for long stretches. The Fein and Metabo tools command a much higher price than the Eastwood.
fred
I forgot to say – that is you are creating sparks when grinding or abrading metals – you never want to use a wood dust collection system, regular vacuum or dust extractor. We had a special downdraft table, an enclosed 3-sided hood and a special portable dust extraction system for grinding debris collection. None of this cheap or practical for home use.
Steve
Nah it makes it exciting! nothing like a random explosion to make your day fun!
David
If you know the size of your job beforehand and can estimate the roller life per sq ft, you can estimate the consumable cost upfront to see which tool is most cost effective. The limited selection of rollers for the PC Restorer are much lower in cost per each compared to the heavier duty Eastwood SCT.
The PC Restorer is much lower cost AND much lower weight and has a much smaller motor. The Eastwood SCT uses the same form factor 4 x4 rollers with the 5/8-11 UNC spindle lock that it shares with the original pneumatic versions from Dynabrade (shop use big air hog compressor required) and the electric driven models from Fein, Metabo Flex and other expensive tool makers. That means you can use the expensive consumable rollers from most any of these makers on the Eastwood SCT. The Eastwood SCT is made in China and so are the consumables they sell. Funny thing is that Eastwood roller consumables are about the same price as the pricey German tool makers (Metabo, Flex and Fein come to mind) at this time although they may drop the price to increase sales.
The PC Restorer has fewer choices in non-wovens (like a 3M Scotch-Brite band) although the non woven bands they offer are much less expensive than the competition. They are also much smaller in outside diameter so they have much less material to be consumed before replacement of the roller is required (2-3/4″ O.D. vs. 4″ O.D. for Eastwood and others).
Eastwood and the PC Restorer are both focused on the stripping of old coatings business although with wire brush wheels they can also be used for graining wood for log homes and wooden accents with artificial age and patina grain effects. The Makita wheel sander addresses this market but at a 600 dollar price point and the rollers cost 100 bucks each. Timber Frame tools are always expensive.
The original market for these German electric tools was to produce a shadowless linear graining pattern on exposed stainless steel after fabrication. Think Hotel and Restaurant handrails and kitchen backsplashes. There is no other way to get a nice linear graining on exposed copper, zinc and stainless metal surfaces as flap wheels and discs all leave a conspicuous semi-circle pattern when applied to flat surfaces.
chris parker
i just bought one yesterday to restore an old, rusty exterior door to put on my shop..for what it is made for, it works beautifully…i’m wondering if i can do a cast iron table saw top now.
fred
I was over at my local Lowes today and had a chance to look at the tool a bit more.
While $79 is not dirt cheap – I commented about how it a small fraction of the cost of tools like the Makita wheel sander and polishers from Fein and Metabo. While I didn’t have the Makita and Fein with me for comparison (they are back with my former business partners) – the PC seems much lighter and uses more plastic than those tools.
Stuart’s made the comment “There’s always a risk of being unable to find accessories 5 or 10 years down the road, but I don’t think I would be deterred by this.” My take on this is that at $79 this tool should pay for itself quickly.
I did notice that the sleeves are 4 inch long x 2-13/16 inch diameter. That spec for the machine and sleeves – may have been chosen for less than altruistic purposes – because 4.5 x 3 inch oscillating spindle sander sleeves are much more readily available in various grits. But if the machine really catches on and sells well and the sleeve size is not protected by patent – then maybe we’ll see this size sleeve show up at Harbor Freight.
Stuart
hmm, I’m thinking it might not be too difficult to cut down a longer sleeve and shim the inner diameter.
The paint and rust removal accessory might be another story.
fred
I didn’t check how tight the clearances are – but the housing/shroud of the tool might also get torn up by the extra 3/32 in radius of the cut-down sleeve
Stuart
ooh, good point. I’ll try to check the clearance the next time I test the tool.
fred
I may have been giving a “false alarm” about this. I just thought about those 2 different “Industrial Spindle Sandpaper” cylinders I saw at Lowes – they are quite a bit thicker than the normal sleeve and I must assume that they fit.
https://www.amazon.com/Porter-PXRASB80-Restorer-Medium-Abrasive/dp/B01MDOWN5E
And maybe you might be able to use an old (spent) 2.8125 inch diameter sanding sleeve to shim out a cut-down (lengthwise) 3 inch diameter one.
sweedld
Lots of good discussion on this tool and the much more expensive German made Fein, Flex, Metabo, CS Unitec imported Eisenblatter versions. Before you buy the tool, figure out what abrasive consumables you will be using and try to estimate the number and cost per pice to get an idea of what your consumable budget will be per job, square foot or yard of finish work. The German tools were not first to market either as Dynabrade was selling an extensive lineup of pnuematic linear grinder sanders for metal graining years before the German electric version hit the market. and they still do. What they all have in common is a very high consumable cost and the intended market is mostly graining and polishing of stainless steel surfaces after fabrication.
For use in paint stripping and surface restoration of wood, the cylinder sleeve abrasives are not nearly as cost effective as just about any format belt sander. Remember that the longer the belt, the more cooling before it makes an abrasive pass and the longer it will last. Belts loading with coatings adn becoming ineffective is all about heat generated from friction causing the coating to melt and bind, smearing into the abrasive surface rather than abrade away in free flowing grains. Unless you apply excessive pressure. the sander rollers will have a line contact patch instead of a a rectangle like the belt sanders or a disc or half a disc with the ROS and edger sanders. That means that controlling the final finish when sanding soft woods will be much more difficult than when moving a belt sander or larger disc sander across the soft wood.
A plus with the linear sander rollers is that you will be sanding with the grain so gouges and material removal rates are much lower than with belt sanders and large disc sanders. For smaller projects and detail work, this style of linear roller sanders have advantages but for larger projects and outdoor decks the consumable costs and work rate will make them less than cost effective.
Grizzly Industrial just introduced what appears to be a Bosch PR 250ES knock off model T25942 with much lower cost consumables. The Bosch model is NLA in USA but still sold in UK and EU version. All of these consumer grade roller sanders use a smaller diameter roller format that does not interchange with their bigger brothers used in industry. Remember to price the consumables first to estimate cost of completing the job.
Clarence Hartmann
I have two Lowe’s that are local. Both had one five pack of 80 grit sanding tube. I am afraid I am going to run into this with each project.
Mark Singleton
My question is how much use can you get out of the Restorer Paint and Rust Remover Roller Wheel? At aprox. $20 for one seems like it could get pricey do a big job. Thanks
Stuart
It’s hard to say – the lifespan of consumables can vary widely depending on the application and how they’re used. The manufacturer, Wellington Tool, might be able to answer specific questions you have about sanding drum application life.
Stuart Boschen
Where can the cable porter restorer be purchased?
Stuart
I’m sorry, I can’t find a current link for it.
Big Richard
Stuart B, I think the PC branded version has been pretty much obsoleted. I would recommend the Craftsman version, it is identical in form and function but actually has a slightly stronger motor (4A vs 3.5A). Bought one, and some drums, earlier this year at Lowes. It is a serious time saver when your doing a lot of shou sugi ban.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-Restorer-120-Volt-4-Amps-Drum-Sander/1001435330