Features

• One full year parts and labor warranty, 30 day risk free performance guarantee
• Environmentally friendly method of paint removal
• Reversible carbide blades
• Safety clutch
• Low vibration reduces fatigue

Reviews (9)

Paid for itself the first job
This paint remover does the job; takes the paint off down to the wood and it never gums up with paint. I used it to strip paint from a fifty year old house with many layers of paint. It took me 4 days to strip the whole house. I estimate it would have taken twice as long to scrape the house by hand, and I would not have done nearly as good a job. I dulled four of the carbide blades to strip the whole house. The tool is light enough to operate with one hand. However, there are some tricks to using this tool:

- You have to wear goggles, (not just safety glasses) earplugs, a dust mask, gloves, and I'd recommend coveralls. This tool throws a lot of dust and small chips. I did not use a vacuum because I felt the hose would slow me down too much, but a vacuum should make the job much cleaner.

- Watch out for nails. You have to set the nails before you strip the paint. Just give the nails a wack before stripping. If you do snag a nail, it will either shave off the top or rip it out of the board. It's something you don't want to do too often.

The tool is well made except for the little doors covering the rabbet blades; I busted one off the first day. It has a nice long and flexible cord. Pet peeve: the switch turns off too easily.

It's not perfect, it's just better than any other tool for stripping paint. And, it'll pay for itself on the first job.

Professional Painters Need This Tool
I just spent the last two days using this paint stripper and I gotta tell you this is an amazing tool. It will shave (no pun intended) hours off the time it takes to strip paint from a house. I was worried about the price, but it has paid for itself already. I am ripping paint off of cedar siding in 1/4 of the time it usually takes. The depth-of-cut adjustment lets me adapt to different paint millage, and it is really easy to use. If you have read other reviews, you will know that the little plastic doors that protect the 90, 180 and 270 degree cutters are really flimsy and WILL pop off, but it is still the best paint stripping tool I have come across. Make sure that you set any nail heads that may be in your way, because this machine will rip and warp any nail haead it comes in contact with. You will need ear protection, and the 3M full face mask is a must when working in warm climates. Try this tool. It will save you so much time and so much hassel. If you don't like it, send it back.

Fast is the right word
I bought this tool about a year ago, and has you've read in the other reviews it's all true. I took down some 6" redwood siding, 4" fir and pine boards to the bare wood in no time. A word of caution on softer woods wider than 3", take your time and get use to the machine. It will gouge on the edge at times, depending... how your reach is to the work. You either even it up with a pass from the oppisite side, sand with a 6" inch orbital down to finer grit, or patch and sand. I used it on latex paints so far and gumming was not a problem, plus good life from each edge of the cutting bits (4)... if you counter sink any nails. Attching my shopvac made less to clean up! Also rough grain wood texture will be smooth flat when done, you may do some light sand blasting to match the texture or stick with chem/citrus strippers. Goggles recomened.

Worth every penny
I bought this tool to take about 17 layers of paint off the cedar siding of my house. It works great! My choices were the Metabo, Porter Cable and The Paint Shaver (which was by far the most expensive). The Metabo was the only tool of the three not listed on eBay the day I purchased it.

This tool does a great job on siding and even facia and window casings. You need to be careful on softer wood like pine with this tool. It can easily take off the paint as well as a hefty slice of wood.

Be sure to purchase plenty of extra blades if you are taking off lots of old hardened paint. They will get dull, however you can turn the blades 180 degrees and use the other side before you have to replace them.

This tool is extremely loud. Be sure you have good ear protection. Also, it throws chips everywhere at high velocity. So good goggles and a dust mask or respirator will save you some agony.

Overall, for the money this is a great tool. I highly recommend it over manual scraping or liquid/paste strippers.

Savings outweigh expense
I purchased the Metabo paint reomover about 2 months ago. I used it to remove about 6 layers of paint from the fascia boards on my house. This tool works amazingly well and is very easy to use. When all of the paint was removed, i gave the fascia boards a quick once over with a random orbit sander. When finished, the fascia boards looked brand new. One coat of primer and two top coats of paint and presto, my home looks great. Doing a thorough job in the first place prevents you from having to return and "fix" it in a couple of years.
Initially I was very skeptical of how this tool would work as well as the seemingly steep cost. I wondered how a hand held power tool the size of an angle grinder could cost sooo much. In the end, I feel this tool easily saved me money because a paint contractor would probably charge me a small fortune to take all of my homes fascia boards down to bare wood before repainting.
My home was built after paint containing lead was banned so I opted not to use the dust collection built into this tool. One gripe is that I broke one of the small tabs on one of the plastic blade covers within 2-3 hours of use. The plastic covers should be made more durable considering the cost of this tool.
If you are removing paint on a significant amount of wood or on a home with very much wood siding, I would suggest you purchase the extra 10 piece blade set ).
Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase of this tool. The tool was delivered in about 4-5 working days (as stated). ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Removing layers of old paint from siding is never fun or easy, but Porter-Cable's power paint remover goes a long way toward making the task more tolerable--and a lot quicker. The tool uses a thin metal grinding disc spun between two easily adjustable guide rollers, so the user can remove paint without damaging the underlying wood. We found the tool relatively easy and comfortable to work with--certainly less tiring than trying to remove the same amount of paint using a regular sander. It does take a little time to get the guides adjusted right, but, once done, the tool really does work wonders. Adjusting one of the guides a little further in than the other, so paint is removed with only one edge of the disc, seemed to work quickest while producing the least amount of paint clogging on the disc. We also like that all adjustments to the power paint remover can be made without the use of additional tools and can be performed quickly. While this is a highly effective tool for its purpose, there are a couple of concerns to keep in mind. First, to avoid grinding the siding, make sure you have the guide adjustment set correctly before you go too far with the tool. Second, because this is basically a grinder, it will leave some small spin marks in the siding, and you'll generally have to go back over the wood with a random orbital sander to get a perfectly smooth finish. We also recommend getting a few extra discs, as they will clog, and it's nice to have a fresh one handy while the clogged disc soaks in solvents. In the end, though, this tool is a huge improvement over more common paint removal methods, like using a regular sander or scraping with a heat gun and putty knife. --Brian Trinen ... Read more

Features

• One year warranty/30 day performance certification
• Efficient material removal
• Easy disc changes
• Helical gearing
• Well balanced design

Reviews (26)

Porter Cable Power Paint Remover
After spending hours trying to remove layers on our 124 year old farm house, and after reading the reviews I purchased the Porter Cable Power Paint Remover. I used it today for the first time. Last weekend I spent six hours on one four sided pillar on the front porch. The process involved scraping and sanding with a high speed random orbital sander with 80 grit disk. This evening I used the Power Paint Remover on the next piller (total of five). The process took a total of about 15 minutes to have the entire pillar down to bear wood, unreal. I'm looking forward to tackling the rest of the house. I am sure that this unit will pay for itself just in the cost of the lumber that I was going to buy to replace old molding just because the paint was too thick and cracked. Now I am sure that I'll be able to just go down to the bear wood with no time or effort.

I had to stop shortly after starting to use this unit and run down to the hardware store to purchase a good quality dual filtered respirator mask, the unit puts out the removed paint big time in a very fine dusk. A good shop vac is needed to clean up afterwards. Safety goggles are a must. I love it. A big 5 STARS +++++

Power Paint Remover saves the day.....
Restoring a 1875 Victorian has a true challenge. The outside of our house is lap siding (1"x8") and has not painted for over 20 years. After using everthing possible to remove the old finish including sanding, scraping and sand blasting, I tried the Porter Cable 7403P Power Paint. After a little work and finally reading the limited directions, I was able to remove numerous layers of paint with minimal effort. The final finish was perfect to apply a good primer coat before the final finish. The Power Paint Remover saved the day. Things to consider using the 7403P. 1)If sanding lead based paint, wear proper breathing equipment. 2)Keep the rpm's of the 7403P low so that the paint does not melt on the sanding disk, which is difficult at to remove. 3)Take your time..the 7403P is slightly heavy and working over your head is difficult. This is componded if you are working off a ladder.

With a little work, the 7403P is a very versitale piece of equipment and can handle a wide range of projects for both the professional and the amature.

Also consider....
I haven't used this tool, okay? I have needed to remove multiple layers of paint from window sills and a garage door before, and am looking to do so soon again for a different house.
I am hoping to find a tool that can do paint removal better than what I've used so far. I thought I would post my experience here for others to learn from.
I've used a torch, heat gun, belt sander, finishing sander, and an air-powered dual-action disc sander. I just wanted to post that if you want light weight, the air-powered dual-action sander isn't bad. Use 50-grit sticky discs and plenty of compressed air (6hp and 230V is probably better. I used 4hp/120V and paused to allow the compressor to catch up.)
The torch makes for larger, less windblown rubbish, but is somewhat slower and when I got annoyed sometimes scorched the underlying wood.

Rented it, now want it
ONLY PROBLEM is the weight!
I have been removing the paint from my 2 story, cedar shingled house with a 3 inch belt sander, part time since May (now August), with time off for an injury and the heat. Chemicals were too costly, ineffective and I did not want bad residue. I got 1 side done, some of another side, but the edge about 1 inch below each course was still left. Turning the sander sideways to get that area, killed belts FAST! The dust kicked up by the belt sander was terrible, going everywhere!!!!

I rented the 7403 for 4 hours. My results: tired arms, more paint removed and less wood eaten than the belt sander. This thing WORKS VERY WELL!!! It takes getting used to. So did the belt sander. It works MUCH FASTER (2 to 3 times) The rollers prevent gouging. It works better on flatter, harder surfaces. (My warped shingles are not as warped anymore) The areas where paint was sticking well to the wood went almost as fast with this as the areas with the paint flaking off.

I also found that it created MUCH LESS dust, that settled more directly to the ground. Belt sanding dust included wood that made it drift much further. Dust from the 7403, in a light breeze, was found to fly straight about 5 feet at ground level, drifting very little. The dust is denser. The particles fly faster off the work, ABSOLUTELY necessitating mask and goggles! Glasses were not enough at all.

Some paint buildup on the middle of the metal grinding pad, was easily removed when hot by fingers(with sander unplugged). The metal grinding pad distributes the heat evenly. It is cooler than belt sanding.

The belt sander will help to quickly touch up the light circular marks, once my skills are improved. There appear to be ways to adjust it to reduce the marks and/or making them go with the grain while maximizing the paint removal.

I am looking forward to impressing my friends and family with my new set of muscles! Big arm builder at 9+ pounds. I have to put this into my budget to finish by winter.

Critical Instructions for use!!!
This machine works but is heavy, like other reviewers said. Myself and my coworker are each 6 foot tall men in good condition. We can barely put in 6 hours a day with the tool and that includes two half hour breaks to allow for muscles to stop spasming.
BUT--if used correctly, this tool does remove paint. It is slow, paint dust goes everywhere, and you must wear a respirator mask and a face shield.
Contrary to the instructions included with the tool--I found that the "cutting" side (leading edge) of the grinder needs to be set to about 1/16 inch lower than the grinding disc and the back side (trailing edge) needs to be about 1/16 of an inch TALLER than the total depth of the paint you are removing. In my case I am removing approximately 1/8 inch of paint (typical for an 80 year old house). Therefore the trailing edge of the grinder needs to be set at about 3/16 higher than the disc surface. The measurements are made by laying a straight edge (I use a square) across the disc and raising and lowering the black rails to the appropiate height.
Plan on using an inconspicious place on your house and practicing for about 2 or 3 hours until you get it right. Don't give up. My first day was very frustrating. Lots of clogging. At first I could only use the tool for about 10 seconds before it totally gummed up. Uggh. But with practice, clogging (gumming) is actually quite minimal when you find the right "angle of attack" for your application. Gumming usually occurs when you hold the grinder in one place too long or try to cut too deeply in one pass. You can't expect to realistically remove more than about 1/64 of an inch per pass, maybe even as little as 1/128 of an inch per pass. This equates to about 4-6 passes, sometimes up to 10 passes for severly cupped and warped wood. But this type of use allows for almost constant grinding with very little gumming. When the tool does gum up use a small, wooden-handled ice-pick to "pop" the gum chunks off of the grinding disc. A cleaning session takes about 1-2 minutes or even less. An occaissonal brushing with a wire brush helps prevent re-gumming on paint covered, problem spots on the disc. This techinique works so well that I only change the disc when the teeth wear down and stop cutting effectively (4-8 hours of use, depending). I have only soaked the discs in mineral spirits one time and generally find it unneccessary.
Beware--this tool pulvarizes the paint into a fine powder that goes everywhere. You will need ridiculous amounts of plastic drop cloths and bricks to hold them in place. Then you must sweep the powder at the end of each day. The amount that you collect is astounding. You can expect to collect about 10-20 gallons of paint powder from an average, 3BR/2Bath, one level home. This must be done for both legal and ethical reasons. Would you actually dump 10-20 gallons of lead and enamel paint into your yard?
In closing--this tool works great. It is a bear to use. You must use scaffolding. It is slow. Expect about three weeks of all day work to get your old house scraped and ready to prime. Buy lots of discs, about 10 for an average size house. Use only the 24 grit as the discs wear out and you need all the cutting power you can get. But beware as a new 24 grit disc cuts viciously and leaves severe swirl marks. But after about 10 minutes of use it wears down to a managable level.
If you can afford it--replace your siding. New poplar siding is about 15 cents a foot in the US. Materials for an average home would cost about $4,000. Plus lots of labor. Vinyl siding is usually a poor choice. It costs $5,000, looks fake, and causes wierd moisture issues between the vinyl and the old siding.
But if you, like me, have little money and lots of time--this is the tool for you. ... Read more

Features

• 413 reversible spray tip provides a superior finish and clears clogs fast with a twist of the wrist
• This powerful 2750 PSI 3/8 horse power piston pump comes with a 25 foot hose and lightweight metal spray gun can easily tackle large multi-story projects
• Convenient carrying handle and light weight design make movement around the job site a snap
• With simplified set-up and clean-up, the Paint Crew makes even the samller projects fast and easy
• 2-gallon capacity hopper increases spray time and convenience

Reviews (11)

A Little Giant Of A Paint Sprayer
The Wagner Paint Crew Model 770 is a super paint sprayer. It can spray latex paint straight from the can with a .015 tip.(I used Sears Weatherbeater Exterior Semi Gloss Latex). The instructions are well written and easy to follow.Setup is simple. It sprayed the paint smooth and evenly. I had no problems at all. I have read that some people had trouble with the pump loseing its prime and you could not have less than 1 gallon of paint in the hopper for it to work. I found no such problems. It was easy to pour the unused pain out of the hopper too. As far as cleanup is concerned you can spend as little or as much time in cleanup as you like. The basic cleanup of the hopper,pump,hose and gun does not take long. If you want to clean the exterior of the unit this will take longer. I didn't have that much exterior cleanup to do because I kept the unit as far from the work as I could and I put a big cardboard box over the unit to keep overspray off it. All in all for $199.00 this is as good as it gets.

Not for small jobs- great for big ones!
I bought this unit to paint the interior of a 2200sf house. I found the following to be the pros and cons:

Pros:

- Quality. Well built with great materials and tight tolerances.
- Power. A strong, yet controlable spray.
- Good instructions (But...see below)
- Coverage. Once you get the technique down, which takes 5 minutes, you'll get the jist of things.
- 25ft. hose. Size DOES matter.

Cons:

- Awkward. You have to pick up and tilt the entire unit, pump and all to empty the hopper (the tank where the paint is kept).
- No pivoting connection between the hose and the spray gun. This makes twisting and getting into position sometimes difficult.
- Short electrical cord. Minor, but would 15 more feet cost too much?
- Directions. Not the written word, but the construction of the paper. When following them for cleaning or application, they get wet and stained and start to fall apart.
-Cleaning. Takes awhile and is messy, but I got the time down to 35 minutes. Can be tedious to do over and over again during the course of a day.

Wants and needs:

wheels, extra filter, better retail availability of parts, make the pivoting connection standard, include a specialized cleaning brush, detachable paint hopper, snap-on connection.

Overall, I found the unit to be well built for medium to large jobs, but just too much for a simple room or wall task. But, for the homeowner who will take on the occassional big job (I have to paint the exterior next Fall), this is ideal. Be sure to take your time and mask carefully!

Not so happy
We recently purchased the Paint Crew and our intent was to spray paint our gazebo. Since my husband and I are not the brightest stars in the sky when it comes to instructions - I would say that overall the instruction information that is provided with the Paint Crew could have been written in an unknown foreign language since purging and priming mean about the same. After reading over the instructions - ease of assembly is commendable, we decided to fill-er-up and begin our project. Unfortunately, we didn't have the nozzle on right and what sounded like a nice start ended up a disaster. Every area that paint could fly - was coated including the floor. So we decided to call the "genius" our handy son-in law who has put sunrooms together and is very adept at handling power tools. Before we could even begin to figure out what we did wrong, the clean up took care of a good 3 hours. Now, we prime and purge and have the alotted pressure ready to go, and kaboom - the nozzle started leaking and because the prime was set - I practically threw my body into the bin just to get it off. Needless to say - I'm stuck - can't take it back cause all those flat shiny places are difficult to clean. Hey - if you know how to use paint sprayers, go for it. I just hope you live nearby and are spraying white - With brushes that gazebo will just have to take longer. The painter is clean and back in the box - I'm hoping someone will want to borrow it and can figure out how to get it to work. After reading the comments on this site - it might just be that we only used one gallon of paint. You might say we we doomed from the start, since it works better full. OH WELL -

Overall very nice
I really liked this painter, especially after struggling with the earlier Wagner power painters.
As mentioned, the hopper design isn't the best and will not pump with less than 1 gallon in the hopper.
However, to me the cleanup issue, isn't bad. I just filled with water and "let her rip." Cleaned up beautifully. One thing you must do is take the sprayer apart and be sure to clean it's filter very well. I suspect failure to do this was the cause of some of the reviewers problems.
I would definitely recommend this product, especially for less than 200 bucks.

VERY Disappointed
This unit may be great to those who are not overly familiar with airless paint sprayers but I have used a number of them and this unit is by far THE worst. I almost didn't buy it to begin with but at $199 price point I thought I'd give it a try. I'm just glad I got my money back! The hopper design is inherently a terrible idea. I assume Wagner did this to try to cut cost in some way but believe me, it wasn't worth it. The hopper "holds" three gallons but you have to refill it every two gallons because it gets poor suction with the last gallon and loses pressure. I don't care if the hopper holds 10 gallons. If I have to refill it every two gallons in order to make it work then who cares what it "holds"? And I cannot stress what a nightmare the unit was to clean. Look at the other reviewers of this unit and how they describe it. They are NOT exagerating! And Wagner may try to make it look like it is easy pouring paint out of the hopper and back into a bucket but I'd bet my life the actors are pouring an empty unit and then graphic artists drew in the paint on those pictures! Furthermore, and this is just a sore spot with me anyway, the unit was built in China. That probably explains the low cost too.

Before I mention the last straw that had me dragging the unit back for a refund, let me mention some positive comments. It had good pressure and the gun was metal though it is of an older design (using up old stock maybe?) and the hose was 25'.

Now, the doozey that caused me to lose it. I had used it twice and was now on my third project when the unit just lost all pressure. When I walked over to the unit I noticed paint coming out of the pump. The piston packing had failed! I called a service center and they didn't have the parts to fix it and said they would have to send it back to get it fixed. So I carried it back to the store (probably can't mention it here) and got a refund and painted the rest of the job with my roller brush. I was already disappointed in the product so this was just the icing on the cake.

But the story does get better. First, I love the higher end pumps but have difficulty paying $400+ dollars for a good sprayer. I had almost settled on the idea that you can't get a good sprayer for less than $300 when I saw an add in a flier (won't mention it because I didn't buy it at Amazon) for a Campbell Hausfeld airless sprayer for $229. The pressure is a little lower (2500psi instead of 2750psi) but the pressure is also adjustable. Which is VERY good when spraying stains and you don't want 2750psi due to misting problems. This unit (it's called the HousePainter) adjusts from 0psi up to 2500psi so you can tune in the desired spray finish you want. Also, you can attach a roller brush to it and you can roll with it, something you can't do with the PaintCrew. But the best thing of all it that it is not a hopper design. It pulls paint straight out of a one or five gallon bucket. The clean up was very fast. Just put the suction tube into a bucket of water and it circulates itself and cleans it up. Two bad points to the HousePainet though. First, it comes with 20' of hose instead of 25' and second, the power cord is only 2' long. However, I have always needed an extension cord anyway so that it not that big of a deal. Oh, and I also noticed it was "assembled in the USA". Not quite as good as "made in the USA" but it's better than seeing that slogan "made in China" that is plastered on the PaintCrew. Thank you Campbell Hausfeld for at least keeping some jobs in the USA!

I did notice that the HousePainter is now being sold here at Amazon.com for only $199. (just search Amazon for Campbell Hausfeld and you should find it. Model # EZ5000) It turns my stomach that I paid $229 elsewhere but even at $229 I was glad I bought it. I don't know the life yet as I've only painted with it twice but so far this unit is way better than the PaintCrew on both clean up, pressure adjusting and the fact that I can hook a roller brush up to it and roll paint inside the house is priceless. Saves money on having to buy a separate roller unit. I suppose I will now need to write a review for the HousePainter as well. But anyway, pay heed to all these reviews that talk about the cleaning problems. It's a nightmare and we do have a choice for another unit at the same price that is easier to clean and can actually do MORE than just SPRAY paint at ONE pressure. ... Read more

Features

• R95OV screw-in filter cartridges
• Comfortable suspension
• Screw-in cartridges
• N95 filter
• Dual cartridge respirator