Posted on 4/26/2011 1:45:00 PM
A New Approach to Floor Finish Maintenance
Recently floor cleaning equipment manufacturers have been introducing equipment that may change the entire process of taking care of waxed floor surfaces. Orbital floor machines and auto scrubbers equipped with orbital cleaning heads are helping organizations to:
· Cut labor costs by up to 75%
· Reduce or eliminate the need for stripper
· Reduce “slip and fall” and other accidents associated with stripping
· Reduce water usage by about 70%
· Reduce Pad consumption by 30%
· Keep floors looking better longer
Obviously, in today’s market, you can see why a product that helps you to save money and reduce your impact on the environment is very popular.
The old method of maintaining waxed floors involved stripping off the entire wax surface one or two times per year. To strip off wax you need to first apply floor stripper and allow it to dwell on the wax to soften it for removal. The floor surface and stripper then needed to be agitated using a black stripping pad on a floor machine or automatic scrubber. This part of the process is very difficult and hard on your employees and facility. The floor becomes very slippery after the stripper is applied. Running a floor machine over this slippery surface can be a very dangerous task. Also the chemicals involved are very dangerous. Employees should wear protective gear like gloves, glasses, over-shoes, and in some cases a breathing mask. This process can also damage your facility. Stripper that splashes onto walls, metal objects, and carpets can cause a great deal of damage. After the stripping is complete the floor needs to be thoroughly scrubbed and rinsed before finish can be applied. You will need 4 – 6 coats of finish because all of the sealer is removed with this process.
Using an orbital surface preparation machine can turn the long arduous task above into one or two simple steps. The machine should be equipped with a square maroon surface preparation pad. This sticks on easily to the Velcro pad holder on the bottom of the machine. 
The process can be done wet or dry. Generally, if we are using an auto scrubber we use water and do the process dry using a stick machine. Running the orbital surface prep machine at a slow walking speed will remove the top 2 – 3 coats of floor finish without using any chemicals. If you are doing this process dry the dust should then be vacuumed. Typically at this point you can re-apply 2 – 3 coats of finish and the process is complete. 
How it works: 
A powerful motor is configured to drive a square pad holder at very high RPM up to 3450 RPMs. It is not spinning the pad. The pad is scrubbing with very small orbital rotation. This method uses the entire pad for cleaning instead of just the outer edge on typical rotational scrubbers. It also provides a more even pressure throughout the pad.
Water is applied to a solution feed tube the drips water on the top front of the pad. The orbital motion causes it to evenly distribute throughout the cleaning surface. Far less water is necessary because the water stays contained under the cleaning surface. Traditional rotational scrubbing flings the water out of the pad because of the centrifugal force of the spinning pad.
This type of scrubbing system has a few other advantages:
· Daily floor cleaning – Outfitted with a red or white pad you can use this machine for your regular floor cleaning. It will use less water, reduce pad consumption, and maybe even clean better than your old scrubber.
· Screening Gym Floors – These machines are excellent tools for prepping gym floors for a new coat of finish. This process can be done wet or dry. To dry screen the floor the stick machine version can be outfitted with a dust control system. 
· Clean Into Corners – Most floor cleaning equipment is equipped with a round cleaning head. Most buildings are square. This type of machine will allow you to clean, strip, and sand right into corners. This is particularly helpful in tight areas. We recently did a time study stripping a hospital patient room. Floor stripping time was reduced from 2 hours to about 10 minutes using and Edge stick machine verses a rotary floor machine and stripper.
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