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In my experience its shortcoming include the following. It is within the realm of possibility that the unit purchased by this reviewer contained faulty components and that he and others working on the project were in the minority of those who may report to having no difficulty with the attachment support plate. The dust canister appears to be for cosmetic purposes only, and many DIY are likely to find the complexity of adding and removing of the attachment support plate to be a deal breaker. To its credit, the Octo is inexpensive, likely to handle some jobs adequately, and comes with a carrying case/bag. In need of a detail sander, the Skil Octo was an interesting choice.
Seldom have many of use using this tool found the seemingly simply task of pushing a button and removing/adding a plate/accessory so time-consuming and challenging. It has multiple attachments that offer the potential of great benefit. The tool and attachments are poorly constructed. However, speaking only from personal experience I believe that Skil's attempt to build a quality tool capable multi-tasking fell terrible short. After the first day of using the Skil Octo it was noted that components holding the velcro and the velcro itself were dangling from or had fallen off the tool and attachments, respectively.
The versatility is a strong point and I have put many of the attachments to use.The dust collection canister on the back falls off on a pretty regular basis and it really doesn't catch much of the dust in the first place. I have glued it back on about 3 times now and I think I may only be able to do that one or two more times before the material will be too far gone to fix. Even being careful not to tear at it the panel eventually came off. I have used this little sander for everything from wide panels to small, delicate boxes. This is kind of incovenient but really isn't that big of a deal.HOWEVER, Given the fact that this sander is designed to be versatile, they really should have made the hook & loop (Velcro) base more durable. This is a design flaw that Skil should look into because it makes a great product less than ideal. During the first couple paper changes, the panel that is on the sander started pulling away from the body.
Works well, collects dust just as advertised. No better or worse than any other sander I have used.
I had to remove the backing (which is attached with screws) to get the bag back on tightly. I wasn't looking for a heavy duty sander, just something to sand down putty used to patch some holes in the walls before I painted. I bought this sander based on the reviews read here. While the sander worked well, the velco did tear off after I removed the first sheet of sand paper (I, too, used super glue to stick it back on) but for me, the biggest issue is the dust collection bag. This seems poorly designed and adds too much time to my projects. It collects a fair amount of the sander shavings, but once you remove it to dump it out, it is really difficult to put back on.
I traded off, using a Craftsman Palm Sander, a Porter Cable Profile Sander, and a Black & Decker Belt Sander not wanting to burn out the motor on any of the tools during this quite large job. By the end of our first day of sanding he was reaching for the Skil as often as I. I used almost all of the attachments and all worked extremely well.When I first purchased this sander my husband rolled his eyes thinking it was a girly tool. After spending the past week sanding the railing of a very large redwood deck (a project I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy).and using a variety of other big name brand sanders, I am completely sold on this little Skil Sander. Belive it or not, none of the other sanders did as well as the Skil. The velcro did come loose after tearing several of the sanding sheets off, but after a little super glue it worked great.I would recommend this tool for any project, large or small. It didn't fail me no matter the difficult angle or tight nooks and crannys.
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