Craftsman  Dual Action Sander

I have had this sander for a couple years but have only used it a couple times. I used it for a couple hours on the roof of a VW Squareback and now on my Miata project. While sanding the tiny bolt that holds the sander head sheard off. The bolt threads are stuck in the motor shaft. Craftsman only guarantees this unit for 1 year, so they would not repair it for me. 

I tried various means to get the bolt out, but it was stuck solid. When I tried drilling the bolt out I found that the motor shaft was much softer than the bolt so the drill eat into the shaft. So, it is ruined. Now I have to buy a new 70 dollar sander for a 20 cent bolt. It would have been great if the motor shaft would have had splines. Then, the undersized bolt would not be in shear all the time.

I've only used this for about a half hour, total, but can say that the important thing about this sander is that its claim about air consumption - only 3.1 SCFM - seems close to the mark. Very surprising for a DA sander. I put it on a small 2HP compressor and it actually almost keeps up! The body feel pretty solid (though for whatever reason, Craftsman's decals never stay on? The sticker was already half-peeled-off right out of the box. That bit feels really, really cheap.) The regulator knob isn't very intuitive either, and the manual is almost completely worthless. Nothing here about the air inlet (yes, 1/4", but is it tapered or straight thread?), and no indication whatsoever of how to use the regulator. Only 8 pages, one of which is a schematic that looks like a bad photocopy, two of which are warnings on how not to kill yourself (because we're all idiots), 1 1/2 of which are instructions for plumbing your shop with hard piping (really?). Another half-page on warranty specs, and I'm left thinking I'd have a better overall feeling if they hadn't even included the manual. But beyond that - and maybe if there was a better manual I could have known this before I purchased it - it's only a random orbital, not a dual MODE sander, which means you can't lock it in for more aggressive work. So it's mostly fine - just really poorly documented.

I have buffed out two vehicles with it and it works great! Mind your fingers though; I let my index finger hang a bit and the piece that locks the shaft for pad replacement wacked it pretty good. I bought a 3M 9" base pad with hook and loop holder, what's ashame is 4 foam pads and the base cost double than the tool. It powers a 9" pad with no problems.

Fired it up for the first time tonight with a 60 grit paper on it and I love it!  It works flawlessly and will remove paint like it was going out of style!

I needed a replacement for my old Florida Pneumatic DA sander. I didn't want to buy a 'no-name' sander so I looked to Craftsman. It has low air consumption but plenty of power when I used it in orbital and rotary modes. The air regulator knob was a bit too tight to turn, otherwise I would have given it an 'Excellent" rating; this is probably a manufacturer variation. I experienced no fatigue when using the sander. The sander gave a very nice finish to the bodywork I was performing. It is not too loud, which is a nice feature, since my old sander was pretty loud. Overall, I was very happy with this purchase.

Works great.  Good power. Does use a lot of air, but it is adjustable.  The hand position offers good control and I found it easy to use and maneuver.

Works nicely, smooth running, only downside is the availability of the 6" sand pads.

Bought this sander to sand my car for repaint.  After about 5 hours of working great the guts came apart and the disk arbor fell out.  I returned it to Sears with my reciept and they exchanged it with no problem.  Went home got about 3 hours on this one before this one came apart.  Its now going in the trash and I am researching my next purchase before the next one so I can continue my project.

I bought this the day my husky sander went out, In comparison to the sanders i have used , It is way stronger than the Husky or IR sanders ive used. 6" is my choice size for sanders , and this thing is awesome. It had my car sanded in a hour or two , i was extremely happy with the quality for the price.

Bought this when my CP unit da bearing froze. Worked ok, but didn't get the same rpms as the CP unit did. Used all told about 5 times with total 2 hours continous use and it stopped working. Would spin at maybe 50 rpm and that was it. What a pile. I had my CP sander for over 15 years, this lasted 1 month. Opt for the CP DA sander and you won't be disappointed.