More power on a 7336?

**flhden** · 11-10-2011, 07:40 AM

I posted this comment in the introduce yourself section, but thought it might be appropriate here also.

When I started reading up on removing swirls and how the Random orbital polishers are the way to go for novices and Porter Cable was highly recommended I remembered I had purchased a PC 7336 many years ago for buffing a lacquer job that I had sprayed on some custom furniture. Headed to my shop and lo and behold there it was used once still in the box. According to reviews PC came out with the 7424 and boosted the motor to 4.2 amps to give this polisher more power. Mine is still a 3.7 amp motor and I did what Mike Phillips suggested and marked the pad with a felt tip marker to make sure it was rotating. I must say that when the 5 1/2 in pad is flat and polishing I laid on it a few times and I could not make the pad stop and I weigh a little over 200 lbs. This baby has got all the power you could ever use. Not sure if it's a case of them not making things like they use to or what. Someday I will borrow a friends 7424 to see the difference, but on number 5 or 6 you have one hell of a time stopping this pad completely.

**shoeless89** · 11-10-2011, 08:24 AM

Hmm interesting. My only experience with polishers is in the detailing world. Thats interesting if you can't stop the pad, it might not have a clutch system in it is the only thing I can think of.

**Hoytman** · 11-10-2011, 09:25 AM

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...omparison.html

**2old2change** · 11-10-2011, 09:32 AM

I have one of those older units and it does fine with the smaller pads.

**Twister** · 11-10-2011, 11:52 AM

I have an old 7336 and it works fine. With larger pads it is easier to stop the pad from spinning but it is a good unit. I've had mine for years (7 or 8 I think)

**flhden** · 11-10-2011, 02:08 PM

I have done a little research on my 7336 sander today and this is what I found. My sander is at least 12 to 15 years old and the plate calls it a 7336 HD type 1 ro sander,3.7 amps 2500 to 6000 opm. They do sell a type 2, 7336 with a 4 amp motor now with the same opm speeds. I actually called Porter Cable and talked to a tech rep and he told me these old pc's were real workhorses but the type 2 should have even more power. I asked about the clutch and he said there is no clutch. If the 7424xp has 4.5 amp motor it must be a bear because starting this up on speed 6 and holding the pad with a towel as hard as I could it still was turning. I am not complaining just curious as to how much power these polishers are suppose to have. This baby really gets the job done for an RO.

**mark58** · 11-10-2011, 02:18 PM

I had 7346 that Lowes sells and I had to take it back because it would not spin unless you were applying wax.

**flhden** · 11-10-2011, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by mark58

I had 7346 that Lowes sells and I had to take it back because it would not spin unless you were applying wax.

Thats odd Mark because the 7346 is the model that is supposed to be exactly like the 7424, which has more power than mine. How did you resolve your problem?

**mark58** · 11-10-2011, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by flhden

Thats odd Mark because the 7346 is the model that is supposed to be exactly like the 7424, which has more power than mine. How did you resolve your problem?

Simple resolution,,,took it back to Lowes.

**RTexasF** · 11-10-2011, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by Twister

I have an old 7336 and it works fine. With larger pads it is easier to stop the pad from spinning but it is a good unit. I've had mine for years (7 or 8 I think)

Same here, it just keeps on keepin' on. I put 4" pads on it and use the Griot's or Cyclo for large areas.