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I used my heat gun to remove numerous layers of old paint on the side of house I am renovating. It has always worked well, but was slow since the paint in this case was over an 1/8 of inch thick in most places.
Does anyone have experience with the Porter Cable grinder that is configured specifically for paint removal. I don’t mind having to smooth out the painting surface after with a belt sander.
What I do want to know grinding the paint off is a viable option.
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Sure it's an option, sometimes the best one. The PC works well, if you've a steady hand you can do the same with a regular grinder with proper discs or with a belt sander with 32 or 40 grit belts. A belt sander works best with claps due to the horizontal grain being in line with the rotation of the belt.
Lay down tarps and wear goggles and a mask. Careful if lead is suspected, especially if anything edible is grown nearby.
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I think the Porter Cable product you are speaking of is the PC Power Paint Remover. It is like a grinder that is specially fitted w/ two adjusting guides. List is about $300 plus but I found one on the net for about $180 or even less.
Used it once since I got it and the thing works well because you can move relatively fast and stay consistent w/ what they call "the cut." It can be aggressive as any grinder so it isn't for some kinda fine wood sanding but OK for the clapboards. They say you can fine tune the adjusting guides and all but you really don't want to keep changing the thing once you get started. Only problem I see is that the carbide discs, like 32 grit, are atleast $8 on the net and if the paint is 'gummy' or real thick you could possibly go thru a few. They say in the instructions not to use it on lead paint -- I see two reasons for this: 1) As you can well imagine it generates lots of dust but 2)since it is so aggressive it will sometimes smoke the stuff (burn)when it gets 'gummy.'
Although, it sounds no worse than what you were getting w/ the heat gun approach. Basically, I like the results after one go'round. Now I have to order the additional discs (no one in my neighborhood stocks them).
Oh, and according to the instructions you can even strip paint from concrete w/ this creature; although, I've never tried it.
*Dick.I used the discs themselves on my mini grinder to remove paint from some very old pine stair treads. I initially used the 36 grit and it immediately gummed up. I was ready to go back to breathing in the fumes from the heat gun when I decided to give the 24 grit a try. This worked like a charm. Very fast, very aggressive. I did a whole flight of stairs in one hour...about the same time it took me to burn off one tread with the heat gun. Given that the mini grinder has no guides like the porter cable unit, I had to be careful, but the stairs really look sharp now. I have scraped lots of paint from my house exterior over the years and I try to do one side per year. I have found my Bosch randon orbit sander wth 40 grit paper to be the most used tool in the arsenal. It doesn't get all the paint, but it gets most, and leaves a nice paint grabbing finish.Paul
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I used my heat gun to remove numerous layers of old paint on the side of house I am renovating. It has always worked well, but was slow since the paint in this case was over an 1/8 of inch thick in most places.
Does anyone have experience with the Porter Cable grinder that is configured specifically for paint removal. I don't mind having to smooth out the painting surface after with a belt sander.
What I do want to know grinding the paint off is a viable option.
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Try the Paint Shaver. Stripping claps is not easy no matter what process - and I've tried all but the Metabo power scraper. I don't like the Paint Shaver but it is quicker and less mess with vac attached. Claps must be sanded after but that is very quick with paint gone - I recommend PC's 6" RO sander for this.