Customer Reviews

Porter-Cable 342K 1/4-Sheet Palm-Sander Kit

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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. The pre-stain wood preparation from these sanders is flawless. 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. Recently, my 20-year old 303 1/4 sheet sander stopped working. 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. 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. The sander fits well in my hand and the vibration is not excessive. I can use the 342 for hours without tiring. It's especially effective when doing horizontal or overhead sanding. Dust collection with the attached cannister is OK but I almost always connect to a shop vacuum. Sandpaper attaches easily and the pad clamps work well.

This is a high quality and very capable sander. 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.

There are many palm sanders on the market today. As a company we have tried almost all of them. 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. These are used to sand epoxy and fiberglass for about 7 straight hours a day and they last about a month. Most of the less expensive models do not even last a week. 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. That is predominately the failure point. For the homeowner this could be a sander that would last a lifetime.

The best finishing sander I've owned. Through B&D, Milwaukee, Makita, Craftsman etc. over the years this is the best balanced finishing sander I've owned. Stout impact resistant exterior with easy to clean and service access. Powerful sanding motion with low vibration. Moderate noise levels. Finish results are predictable and repeatable.

Few reviewers have mentioned the dust-free feature of this sander. I do a lot of cosmetic repairs of the sloppy drywall finishing in my Pulte home. This sander, hooked up to a shop-vac, is a godsend. I recently filled and repainted a huge joist-twist crack right over my kitchen countertops (black granite). I put on my respirator mask, hooked this baby up to my cheapie B&D ShopVac, and sanded the cracks I had filled last night with joint compound. Not only did I not need the respirator, I could not find a trace of dust on the black granite tops directly below my work area. Ditto for a teak desktop I refinished. Didn't even have to use a drop-cloth. For interior work, this thing is a lifesaver. Cleanup is not an issue anymore and that makes my wife very happy. She has allergies and used to dread my weekend follies (she would just go out shopping; double-whammie!). Now she's pushing me to get the other projects finished.

pretty good price for something that seems so well made. the thing is solid, works well, powerful, etc. the only thing that I could say that's negative is just that the paper holder is a little primitive seeming. It's not HARD to put the paper in, but it doesn't pull the paper taught (should it? i dont know) and Im sure it could be designed to be easier. That said, i dont think the mechanism will ever break, so that might be the tradeoff. The dust collection seems to work ok - obviously it wont get everything, but i also havent hooked it up to the shop vac either. Anyway, this seems like a really good value - powerful enough for heavy duty use, yet smooth enough for the finesse needed for fine woodworking. I am using it for both...

I bought this sander for smoothing out drywall during a renovation project. Boy does it make quick work of any surface you want sanded! The size is pretty comfortable in my hand and it isn't too heavy. 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. 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. 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. Very quick. The only beef is that it isn't very effective at pulling the dust into its included dust-collection-cup. 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). All in all, I'd say it's only collecting about 15% of the dust produced. Not good. You really have to hook a vacuum cleaner up to it for effective dust collection. Of course, having a vacuum hose attached to the back really weighs it down when working above your head.

I had done some "resarch" on line and looked at a few other sanders in my local hardware stores and decided on the Porter-Cable. To do more than finish sand wooden SUP paddles this sander fits the bill. It does wonders from shaping the handle and shaft all the way down to the blade, really "finish sanding". Grits from 120 to 300 work beautifully on both hard woods and soft, resulting in great comments on the finished paddle.

My trusty old B&D palm sander died on a Saturday afternoon, and I use it often. The next afternoon, I ordered the Porter Cable 1/4 sheet palm sander from Amazon, with free 2-3 day shipping. It shipped at 3:00AM Monday and arrived before lunch on Tuesday! And the sander is terrific. It's quieter than my old one, sturdier, and holds the sandpaper better than the B&D. I don't miss the old one at all. Mike

I have been working on a sailboat restoration project using an old cheap Black & Decker palm sander and I got fed up with how loud it was and how much vibration it transferred to my hands.

I decided - "That's it.... I'm buying the BEST palm sander they make. It'll be 3x quieter than this old piece of junk and it'll do a better job sanding too". After an hour or two of searching I landed on this Porter Cable as the best thing offered, with the possible exception of their more expensive 330 model.

Well, it just arrived - and I think I'm going to send it back and stick with the old one. It's actually LOUDER than the old B&D sander. I didn't think that was possible. It's got this great buzzing sound on top of the loud motor sound that makes it extra EXTRA obnoxious.

I also misunderstood what the "sandpaper punch" that comes in the kit was. I thought it was going to be a neat tool for cutting out 1/4 sheets of sandpaper - but it's actually just a plastic thing that you use to poke vent holes in the paper.

I'm SO disappointed.

Edit: I decided to keep the sander and I've bumped my rating up to 3 stars. I'm still upset about the racket, but other than that it is a good sander.

I used to have a DeWalt radom orbital disk sander. It was wonderful except it wouldn't do corners. It had the velcro disks and a great dust collector.
I sold it in order to justify buying this one. I'm not long winded so I'll cut to the chase: You have to have skinny fingers in order to release the paper hold down latches. Once you release them it's easy to load, however. The unit vibrates a bit and after a while it feels like my hand has gotten a massage. The dust bad might as well not be there because most of the dust is on the work piece or on the bench or in the air. I can hook up my dust collector but sometimes that's not possible. I'm disappointed because I've heard great things about Porter Cable. I think I'm going to return it and buy the DeWalt.