Broken Porter Cable

[Wade04]

I hate that this is my first post on autopia. I just got a car worthy of the expense of a PC and did quite a bit of research on this site to come up with a plan.

I bought a PC last week on autogeek (they do have good service) and it arrived on Friday afternoon (just in time for the weekend). After a good wash and dry, I started using the RO with KAIO and a CCS Orange 6.5" pad. I got the hood and front left fender when things went bad.

The PC started shaking like the counterweight was out of wack, so I stopped the work to see what was happening. Just after I took the PC off the car, the whole center spindle section with my pad fell off the PC and landed on the ground. After trying to see what went wrong, I found the whole that houses the spindle retaining bolt has stripped out. The PC is now worthless.

Has anyone else had problems like this? I have no idea what I might have done wrong or if this is just a anomaly. Being new to this, I'm a bit confused.

[BigAl3]

call dwayne or meghan and they'll take care of you...

[jeteast99]

Same thing happened to me but i have not taken it to the repair center yet. I might just buy a new XP model instead

[Rcracin]

1. autogeek will replace it within 30 days i think
2. just take it to your nearest pc/delta/dewalt repair center and they'll fix it for free.

My pc broke on me once and they repaired it no problem and it's been fine ever since. It's like any other machine...sometimes parts break, hence why warranty exists.

[Passrat]

Yeah I'd make AG take care of it. I'm sure they would.

OTOH, I posted a link to a Porter Cable spare part website recently for anyone that would prefer to fix it themselves. It was a rather extensive parts list of all the internals, not just handles and cords.

But not for a brand new one use unit. I'd send that right back.

[TLMitchell]

Originally Posted by Wade04

The PC started shaking like the counterweight was out of wack, so I stopped the work to see what was happening. Just after I took the PC off the car, the whole center spindle section with my pad fell off the PC and landed on the ground. After trying to see what went wrong, I found the whole that houses the spindle retaining bolt has stripped out. The PC is now worthless.

As others have mentioned, call AG, they'll take care of you.

My PC came with the standard 5" counterweight. The vendor I bought from recommended the 6" counterweight for use with larger pads. The reasoning being the large counterweight will work fine with smaller pads but you may experience excessive vibration using the smaller counterweight with 6"+ pads.

YMMV... TL