PC -- Counter Weight & Rattleling??

[General Lee]

I`m trying this thread again, I think it got lost....



I just got my PC yesterday and was trying it out. I got the 6 inch pads but the PC has the counter weight for 5 inch. The PC seems to vibrate a bit much to where when you shut it off your arms and hands feel kinda numb. I know the machine works by vibration/ pulsating / orbit but do I really need a 6 inch counter weight for it too run smoother.



Also is the Rattleling sound normal for the machine?

[Douxebris]

Yes. When I got my PC, i pitched the 5" counterweight, put on the 6", and never looked back. You`ll find it makes all the difference in the world.

Jeff Laughhunn

[togwt]

The counterweight is a half-moon shaped piece of metal attached to the rotating shaft of the tool. This smoothes out the random orbit action by providing a counter balance to the elliptical orbit of the rotating backing pad. If you change the pad size you must also change the counterweight or suffer unnecessary vibration and possible damage to the tool. There are two different counter-weights, which are clearly marked to indicate use with either the 5" or 6" backing pad. Therefore if you decide to outfit the 7335 5" Sander with a 6" backing pad for sanding or polishing you must switch to the counterweight used with 6" backing pads. The same goes for the 7336 6" Sander. If you decide to outfit it for 5" sanding or polishing you must switch to the counterweight used with 5" backing pads.

The only exception is when using the 54745 6" Foam Polishing Pad. Due to its lightweight and the small-diameter backing pad used (included with pad), it can be used with either the 5" pad or 6" pad counterweight. Porter-Cable outfits the 7424 6" Polisher with the 5" pad counterweight.

One final point about counter-weights. The units currently shipping from Porter-Cable use T15 Torx Screws to hold the counter-weights in place.



~Hope this helps~

[04BlackAV]

I`ve havn`t had the PC long but I like the 6" counter weight with a 5" flex plate,and use the 6 1/2" pads.I don`t seem to mind the vibration with this combo.

[Matt M, PA]

I`m with 04BlackAV, I have the 7336 and use a 5" 3M Hook-It pad with Meguairs` 6.5 pads...vibration is minimal. In fact, my friend`s 7424 with the Porter screw in pad vibrates more.

[General Lee]

Why would porter cable send the 6in polisher with the 5 in counter weight?



I guess it won`t hurt it that much to use it until I order the other weight and wait for it to arrive.

[Matt M, PA]

General...it depends on the model you have, the 7336 (what I have) came with a 6" counterweight. The 7424 comes with the 5".

[General Lee]

Matt M-



I have the 7424. I ordered the Ultimate machine from Classic. It comes w/ the velcro backing plate and a white 6 in. polishing pad. however it has a 5 in counter weight even though they give you a 6 inch pad... WTF? It seems to have a little to much vibration, thats why I`m going to get the 6 in counter weight.

[beanbag]

The counterweight has nothing to do with the pad size, but rather the pad weight. If you use a 5" backing plate with some foam pad, you will probably be better off using the 6" counterweight because the weight of the 5"backing plate +velcro pad is probably the same as the original 6" [thing] that the 6" counterweight was designed for. In any case, what I did was tap some holes in the original 5" counterweight and bolt on some extra chunk of metal for more counterweight.