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Of course, holding it over my head while sanding the ceiling was pretty tiring after about five minutes, but most other sanders would probably wear me out after two minutes. Not good. Very quick. When doing drywall sanding, after about fifteen minutes of sanding, I ended up with about two tablespoons of dust in the cup and about two gallons of dust all over the house (slight exaggeration). I bought this sander for smoothing out drywall during a renovation project.
The size is pretty comfortable in my hand and it isn't too heavy. I really liked the fact that I could just go to the hardware store and buy standard sheets of sandpaper and cut them into four equal pieces for use with this unit. All in all, I'd say it's only collecting about 15% of the dust produced. You really have to hook a vacuum cleaner up to it for effective dust collection. Boy does it make quick work of any surface you want sanded.
You can lock the paper onto the machine quite easily, then use the plastic square to punch holes in the paper to allow the dust to be sucked away. Of course, having a vacuum hose attached to the back really weighs it down when working above your head. The only beef is that it isn't very effective at pulling the dust into its included dust-collection-cup.
Great palm sander that was exactly what I needed to finish a kitchen overhaul I started. Highly recommend. Does the job well with little or no mess.
We had purchased many of the higher end units and for the price these porter cable 1/4 sheet sanders hold up the best to the abuse that we put them through. As a company we have tried almost all of them. That is predominately the failure point. The only thing that I would recommend to the manufacturers of this type of unit is to either come up with another way to secure the pad to the orbitor or change the material of the feet. There are many palm sanders on the market today. These are used to sand epoxy and fiberglass for about 7 straight hours a day and they last about a month. For the homeowner this could be a sander that would last a lifetime. Most of the less expensive models do not even last a week.
No complaints here at all. Highly recommended. It did a superb job on finishing a large hardwood dining room table. Easy to load & use.
I own several Porter Cable sanders and the overall quality of these tools is excellent. I'm very pleased that I purchased the P-C 342 and would recommend the 342 to anyone considering a compact and efficient 1/4 sheet palm sander. Recently, my 20-year old 303 1/4 sheet sander stopped working. The sander I chose, after evaluating the Bosch, DeWalt, and other name brands was the P-C 342K.Since purchasing the 342 a couple of months ago I've used it on a large table I'm refinishing. Dust collection with the attached cannister is OK but I almost always connect to a shop vacuum. Although I primarily use a variety of random orbit & belt sanders as a weekend woodworker, I've found that 1/4 and 1/2 sheet sanders have an important place in every serious woodworker's shop.
I also use the sheet sanders with 220 or 320 grit sandpaper between polyurethane coats.I own the Porter-Cable 303 Speed-Bloc and the 505 sanders. Rather that purchase a replacement 303, I opted for a sheet sander with variable speed, a dust control vacuum port, and an easy way to attach and remove sandpaper. Sandpaper attaches easily and the pad clamps work well.This is a high quality and very capable sander. It's especially effective when doing horizontal or overhead sanding. The pre-stain wood preparation from these sanders is flawless. The sander fits well in my hand and the vibration is not excessive.
I can use the 342 for hours without tiring.
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