What's up with Porter-Cable?
 

Had some HORRIBLE experience with Porter-Cable recently. Compressor was
defective from the factory, now the damn thing has been in the shop
since I got it, and Factory Service told me I should truck it up to
them...

OK, a large (150 lb+) compressor, take a day off of work to take it
north of Baltimore, then when they finally get around to fixing it take
another day of work off to drive all the way up to pick it up... My
cost in time and what little time off I get from work is exceeding what
I paid for it!

Porter-Cable used to mean something to me. Is this just a fluke, or is
their quality dropping across the board? I don't think I will buy
another P-C product at this rate!

I am sorry that you are having a problem. However, being a
Porter-Cable dealer for over 20 years it is not the factory service
center that is a fault. Your dealer is responsible for customer
warranty work or replacement. A new defective unit should have been
returned to the dealer and the dealer should have taken care of your
problem. Where and from whom did you buy your unit from? If you had
bought it from me, I would have picked the defective unit up and
brought you a new one.

Good luck,
Mike from American Sycamore

--Had what I suspect is the same prob with my new P-C compressor.
Turns out there's a nasty little "improvement" in the form of a
combination intake filter and check valve that screws into the cylinder
head; if it becomes clogged the force of the vacuum can suck parts of the
damned thing into the cylinder, causing scoring and all nature of things.
Somewhere in the manual, in a not terribly obvious place (it should be
inscribed in inch-high letters on the cover IMO!!) it says to replace it
every two months or so. They cost about $10 each, so add that to the
overall operating cost and suddenly the P-C ain't such a deal. I was
"lucky" enough to have mine fail while still under warranty, but I'll
NEVER buy Porter Cable again..

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Yet another genius
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : without a job...
http://www.nmpproducts.com/intro.htm
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

I work in the service department of a tool store that sells primarily to
contractors. I have not seen a drop in quality of most PC tools. The air
tools and the compressors are the exception. Both suck in quality. I have
had multiple contractors return the air tools in less than six months for
replacement (PC doesn't offer repair on most of them). Also have fixed a lot
of PC compressors under warranty. One contractor went thru two compressors
and 3 repairs on the second one in less than 6 months. The good part is that
PC always makes it right, but it still adds up to downtime.


In article . com, "PPT33R"
wrote:
Had some HORRIBLE experience with Porter-Cable recently. Compressor was
defective from the factory, now the damn thing has been in the shop
since I got it, and Factory Service told me I should truck it up to
them...

OK, a large (150 lb+) compressor, take a day off of work to take it
north of Baltimore, then when they finally get around to fixing it take
another day of work off to drive all the way up to pick it up... My
cost in time and what little time off I get from work is exceeding what
I paid for it!

Porter-Cable used to mean something to me. Is this just a fluke, or is
their quality dropping across the board? I don't think I will buy
another P-C product at this rate!

PPT33R wrote:
Had some HORRIBLE experience with Porter-Cable recently. Compressor
was
defective from the factory, now the damn thing has been in the shop
since I got it, and Factory Service told me I should truck it up to
them...

OK, a large (150 lb+) compressor, take a day off of work to take it
north of Baltimore, then when they finally get around to fixing it
take
another day of work off to drive all the way up to pick it up... My
cost in time and what little time off I get from work is exceeding
what
I paid for it!

Porter-Cable used to mean something to me. Is this just a fluke, or
is
their quality dropping across the board? I don't think I will buy
another P-C product at this rate!

Porter-Cable is owned by Black and Decker.

I don't know about their compressors but I have been slowing selling
off my P-C power tools on ebay, I've been replacing them with tools
that are smaller/lighter/smoother made by some other brand located on
the other side of the earth. However, I've had no problems with P-C
reliability.

"steve" writes:


their quality dropping across the board? I don't think I will buy
another P-C product at this rate!

Porter-Cable is owned by Black and Decker.

Black and Decker has only owned P-C since October 4th.

I doubt Black and Decker has had time to make many changes to P-C yet.

Brian Elfert

steve wrote:
I don't know about their compressors but I have been slowing selling
off my P-C power tools on ebay, I've been replacing them with tools
that are smaller/lighter/smoother made by some other brand located on
the other side of the earth. However, I've had no problems with P-C
reliability.


A rather interesting tact to take. Product works fine but
it's being replaced with something unknown. An adventurer
perhaps?

UA100, who did get rid of his Porter-Capable biquick
join(t)er but that was because it was crowding his
Lamello...

Change will happen just as surely as night follows day. B&D will maintain
two tiers of quality and ruggedness for a while but eventually (can't
predict exactly when) they'll begin to focus on price point and profit.
When the quality drops below a certain point, someone else either here or
overseas will begin to manufacture higher quality tools and capture the high
end market. They will merge with a large manufacturer and the cycle will
repeat itself again.

"Brian Elfert" wrote in message
...
"steve" writes:


their quality dropping across the board? I don't think I will buy
another P-C product at this rate!

Porter-Cable is owned by Black and Decker.

Black and Decker has only owned P-C since October 4th.

I doubt Black and Decker has had time to make many changes to P-C yet.

Brian Elfert

Chuck Hoffman wrote:

Change will happen just as surely as night follows day. B&D will maintain
two tiers of quality and ruggedness for a while but eventually (can't
predict exactly when) they'll begin to focus on price point and profit.
When the quality drops below a certain point, someone else either here or
overseas will begin to manufacture higher quality tools and capture the high
end market. They will merge with a large manufacturer and the cycle will
repeat itself again.

I guess it's possible but after all these years Black & Decker's yellow line of
tools still seem pretty decent.

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA
(Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

Now you tell me......I just got a P-C 7550 compressor and just finished
plumbing it into my shop and now I have to plumb the rest of the shop
(everything from the compressor to the shop is galv. and everything inside
is copper). I will be sure to keep an eye on the filter situation as one
poster stated.

Mike

"PPT33R" wrote in message
ups.com...
Had some HORRIBLE experience with Porter-Cable recently. Compressor was
defective from the factory, now the damn thing has been in the shop
since I got it, and Factory Service told me I should truck it up to
them...

Now you tell me is right, I just picked up the pc compressor and 3 gun combo
at the orange borg..... It's still going to work better than the old
compressor, which is frozen ;-).

Joe C.

"mike" wrote in message
...
Now you tell me......I just got a P-C 7550 compressor and just finished
plumbing it into my shop and now I have to plumb the rest of the shop
(everything from the compressor to the shop is galv. and everything inside
is copper). I will be sure to keep an eye on the filter situation as one
poster stated.

Mike

"PPT33R" wrote in message
ups.com...
Had some HORRIBLE experience with Porter-Cable recently. Compressor was
defective from the factory, now the damn thing has been in the shop
since I got it, and Factory Service told me I should truck it up to
them...

In article t, Steve
wrote:

I work in the service department of a tool store that sells primarily to
contractors. I have not seen a drop in quality of most PC tools. The air
tools and the compressors are the exception. Both suck in quality. I have
had multiple contractors return the air tools in less than six months for
replacement (PC doesn't offer repair on most of them). Also have fixed a lot
of PC compressors under warranty. One contractor went thru two compressors
and 3 repairs on the second one in less than 6 months. The good part is that
PC always makes it right, but it still adds up to downtime.


Porter Cable used to be part of Pentair, along with Devilbis
compressors.
I believe the business unit that Black and Decker bought included
Devilbis.

Devilbis compressors are crap.





In article . com, "PPT33R"
wrote:
Had some HORRIBLE experience with Porter-Cable recently. Compressor was
defective from the factory, now the damn thing has been in the shop
since I got it, and Factory Service told me I should truck it up to
them...

OK, a large (150 lb+) compressor, take a day off of work to take it
north of Baltimore, then when they finally get around to fixing it take
another day of work off to drive all the way up to pick it up... My
cost in time and what little time off I get from work is exceeding what
I paid for it!

Porter-Cable used to mean something to me. Is this just a fluke, or is
their quality dropping across the board? I don't think I will buy
another P-C product at this rate!

My tank is Devilbis, so I'll bet the compressor is too. Too late to get my
money back I suppose.

Mike

Porter Cable used to be part of Pentair, along with Devilbis
compressors.
I believe the business unit that Black and Decker bought included
Devilbis.

Devilbis compressors are crap.
Porter-Cable used to mean something to me. Is this just a fluke, or is
their quality dropping across the board? I don't think I will buy
another P-C product at this rate!

In article . com,
"PPT33R" wrote:

[snip]
Porter-Cable used to mean something to me. Is this just a fluke, or is
their quality dropping across the board? I don't think I will buy
another P-C product at this rate!


I had been a loyal PC user for 20 years or more.
My type of work (solid surface fabricating) is pure hell on tools.
The dust gets in everywhere, just like woodworking 'cept this stuff is
abrasive and eats bearings.
So, I have changed lots of bearings over the years, mostly on their belt
sanders. As I have bought more of them in addition to the ones in
constant use, I also noticed that there had been changes to the motor
bearings, without there being model-number changes.

Not only do those 'new' ones fail much sooner, they are now proprietary
bearings, as opposed to 'off-the-shelf' bearings on the older models.
So, to me, PC's direction is an obvious one...away from 'better'.
Add to that the contrast PC had over the competition years ago.
Back then, PC was better than the other guys, because the other guys
simply didn't make many decent tools. That is no longer true.

There are many companies who make excellent products today and PC has
been asleep at the wheel...no..instead bringing out such gems as the
Profile Sander, That Lethal Pocket Cutter version One. They down-sized
the Production routers from 4.5" IIRC, motor bodies to 4.2", rendering
all my extra bases useless and charging a fortune for replacement motors.
The new ones simply don't last as long.

Having said all that, Milwaukee is getting my router business now. I
haven't decided what to do about my belt sander needs. My PC started
howling again..DAMN I hate that..more down time. Power tools are
supposed to make me more efficient, NOT making me spend time hunting
down parts and spending money on stupid ****..*coughs*...*taking deeeeep
breath......* Maybe Bosch gets another look?

If I have to re-standardize my shop, Satan will be skating to work
before PC gets any more of my money... I always figured loyalty to be a
two-way street.

*stepping off my soap box*

0¿0

Rob

Nova wrote:

I guess it's possible but after all these years Black & Decker's yellow
line of tools still seem pretty decent.

And, for that matter, I can't find anything wrong with the drill I bought
Dad a couple years ago. B&D "Quantum Pro" from Wally World of all things.
I've used it a bit myself, and I can't find anything to complain about. I
borrow it whenever it's inconvenient to use a real drill with a tail, or
when I need to drive screws. Plenty of power, metal chuck, rugged enough
for my purposes. I had real reservations about buying anything under the
B&D label, and I still do today, but this thing turned out to be a nice
exception. I actually like it much better than the DeWalt it replaced, and
this goes beyond merely comparing voltages.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/

"Chuck Hoffman" writes:

Change will happen just as surely as night follows day. B&D will maintain
two tiers of quality and ruggedness for a while but eventually (can't
predict exactly when) they'll begin to focus on price point and profit.
When the quality drops below a certain point, someone else either here or
overseas will begin to manufacture higher quality tools and capture the high
end market. They will merge with a large manufacturer and the cycle will
repeat itself again.

Changes will most likely come, but I doubt anything has happened in the
short four months B&D has owned P-C.

Brian Elfert

Epilogue: Turns out my compressor was shipped from the factory missing
parts. Those parts have now been replaced, and the unit functions, but
I am still less than impressed with quality. The regulator assembly
still leaks a bit during tank fill, and I have been told it is not real
bad... I do like the quiet operation, but I think I will look elsewhere
when this one gives up the ghost...