Long live the locomotive- the story of the Porter-Cable Take-About sander- Part one
Some time back, I was discussing Porter-Cable belt sanders with an acquaintance when it dawned on me that, unlike the history I reviewed at length in my thread about owning way too many circular saws (no, I don't really think that), I've never really put the belt sanders in anything resembling chronological order. This is an oversight on my part; after all, the belt sander was every bit as much a part of the company's bedrock as the saws. Moreover, the handheld belt sander was invented by Porter-Cable's own Art Emmons, who reimagined the circular saw and came up with an entirely new type of tool before he was thirty years old. His ingenious solution to one of the most laborious shop chores would span eighty-three years and would become the standard by which all later derivatives would be measured, and far and away, found lacking. This mighty bloodline would go from strength to strength for the better part of a century, to only meet their demise at the hands of a company that never mastered the concept. I speak of the Take-About sander, in its manifold forms.
Let's meet the family, shall we?
left to right: 500, 503, T-4, T-33, T-3, BB-10, B-10, B-4, B-5, A-3, A-2
Our story starts in 1906. Porter-Cable was begun as a jobbing concern, wherein a customer could have an item manufactured if they didn't have the means to make it themselves. Originally, this was often automotive in origin- Hannah acetylene starters, jacks, steering wheels, and even a parking brake for Ford cars designed by inventor/businessman/dieting guru George G. Porter himself. By the 'teens, they had struck out on their own as a manufacturer of in-house designs and were making a number of tools for the machinist, including vertical heads that could be retrofitted to older horizontal milling machines, a lathe designed for high volume operations and even a line of endmills and a boring head. by 1916, the firm was sold to Walter Ridings, a visionary who had cut his teeth working for Syracuse Supply and acting as president of the Manufacturing Association of Syracuse. He established himself at the helm of the firm as president, and though the Porter brothers and Mr. Cable were savvy businessmen in their own right, most of the advances the company would make until the end of WW2 were the result of Ridings' acumen. For starters, he purchased the site on Salina Street that would be Porter-Cable's home for decades; he purchased Mulliner Enlund for their lathes, Syracuse Sander for their sanders and band saw, and, most importantly, hired Art Emmons.
Walter Ridings had taken notice of the growing demand for handheld power tools, and couldn't help but notice the success Skil was having with their worm drive saw. He foresaw Porter-Cable taking the lead in this fledgling field of manufacturing, and he couldn't have picked a better engineer to bring his conception to life than the young man who was tasked with developing strategies for easing the burden of the worker. Focus was directed towards two of the most onerous tasks- sawing and sanding. Emmons hit the ground running by developing a saw that was so well balanced it could be operated with one hand, then batted one out of the park with the first portable belt sander( or, in company parlance, a Take-About) ever, the brilliant B-5.
The original article, kinda; this “Mark 2” B-5 was made around 1928.
Compact, robust and just plain handsome, the B-5 was a remarkable design, using the technology of the time to great effect. Tools of this period were made from sand castings, and as a result required a great deal of handwork to finish the parts to a high polish, making them, in effect, nearly hand crafted creations the equal of a quality firearm. By mounting the motor vertically, Emmons powered the drive pulley without any chains, sprockets or intermediate gears- the drivetrain is a worm drive system in its purest form. The only true downside of the design was the inherent poor balance due to the offset motor, which was countered by a rear roller and made up for by an extremely low operating grip, making it handle quite a bit like a hand plane; mastering a B-5 is child's play, and it is pleasant sander to use if a little sketchy on edge sanding. Original models had a rear handle that was aluminum and an integral part of the frame casting, but issues with users being shocked led to the replacement of this feature with the maple handle that would go on to be used on half of the B-5's successors ( and even a saw or two). The B-5 is found in three main versions, the original aluminum handled version, the more commonly seen wooden handled style with the polished finish, and the later painted surface. My version is what may be regarded as a "type 2", and incorporates a heavier casting around the front handle mount and wear bar area. Oddly, my B-5 bears an early tag, but was made about two years or so after the original design, possibly due to the factory finding some old tags laying around.
Art Emmons was twenty-six years old when he invented the B-5. Let that sink in a second.
The B-5 was followed closely by the larger B-4,
Give a B-5 the Charles Atlas Dynamic tension method handbook, and you have a B-4.
a 4"x27" sander that was essentially a B-5 on steroids. This sander benefited from the wider belt, being less prone to rocking, though the rear roller was kept. While both sanders were designed to be regreased without being dismantled, the B-4 used a grease cup from the circular saws to grease the idler pulley- just remove the belt, remove the slotted screw in the face of the pulley, thread in the grease cup and refill the bearings. This should give some idea of the level of work these sanders were intended to handle, and it's no surprise that the average B-5 or B-4 is still functional if any attempt was made to keep the oil topped off.
Both sanders were very popular ( the B-5 being helped by having a captive audience- early B-5's have no model number on the tag because there wasn't another model of belt sender on earth at the time), and survivors invariably have a lot of mileage on them. There were two other variants, the B-44 being a B-4 with a small idler pulley, allowing it to sand floors up to the shoe molding ( a concept that Black and Decker tried, and failed, to repopularize decades later), and the even more ephemeral G-44, a version of the B-4 referred to as a sander-grinder. I have seen a picture of the G-44, and cannot determine what the difference is; confusingly, the other photo in the catalog of the G-44 is clearly an early B-5. I've yet to see an example of either sander in the wild, and I probably never will.
The other sander of the period was the B-10.
The B-10. Turns out that longitudinally placed motors are where it’s at.
Appearing in 1932, the B-10 complete departure from the original platform. The B-10 incorporated dust collection, which was the deciding factor in the design. The motor was mounted horizontally on the long axis of the frame, necessitating the worm drive being redesigned to use an intermediate gear to run the drive pulley. This gear is a work of art, being a helical cut affair rotating on a stud via twin miniature magneto bearings, and the drive system is very stout. Additionally, the B-10 used an idler pulley that had a rubber coating just like the drive pulley, making it excel at sanding inside curves and improving performance when used as an edge sander with the optional stand. However, the B-10 suffered from one serious fault. The system used one impeller to collect dust and pull air through the motor housing, an idea that Rockwell would resurrect in the 337 sander of the late '60s. On a belt-driven sander, with the fan/impeller close to the armature, the system works fine. On a worm drive sander, this isn't possible due to the dust collection being mounted at the rear of the machine, and the B-10 fan is a good 4" away from the motor, on the wrong side of the gearbox. Airflow is through twin crescent-shaped openings in the casting (the B-10 is a marvel of the patternmaker's/foundryman's art if nothing else), and the B-10 simply can't breathe as well as it should. Don't get me wrong, I love my B-10 like a child, and often find myself gazing lovingly at its goblin shark profile, but a flaw is a flaw.
The B-10 was made for eleven years, but surviving examples are hard to come by due ( in my opinion) to the chronic overheating of the design when used as hard as the earlier sanders. The early B--10 used a pair of adjustable casters at the rear, much like a floor edging sander, but later versions deleted this feature. Balance of the B-10 is excellent, and it can sand with the best of them. Just let it cool down once in a while, okay?
Our players:
B-5: 3"x24" belt, 1250fpm,14lbs, 1/2hp GE motor
B-4:4"x27" belt, 1650 fpm,23lbs, 1hp GE motor
B-10:3"x27" belt, 1475 fpm,21lbs, 1hp GE motor
These three sanders were very innovative, and Emmons had explored the concept to such extent that the later Skil A and B sanders actually made use of one of his patents for a gear train. Skil would become the only real competition in the world of worm drive belt sanders Porter-Cable would ever have, but Porter-Cable did it first and, if you ask me, did it best.
Join us next time, when we discuss the short-lived but influential T-series sanders.
