Should I use a drum or orbital sander for Floor Sanding?

drum or orbital sander for floor sanding

This is a very common question that people have when it comes to deciding how much firepower to exercise over their plants. However, the answer is unilateral …

Should I use a drum or orbital sander for my Brisbane floor sanding? If the floor sanding is in relatively good condition and has plenty of time, you may start with an orbital sander or finishing. In most cases, it is necessary to start with a drum sander to remove old paint and the top layer of wood.

Orbital Sander 

Orbital sanders a small hand-held device that Sander is oscillating. This means that rather than the entire disc spinning on its center access, it swings in the pattern below. This makes it much easier to control than a rotating disk can occur in either direction. An orbital sander will create a scratch pattern of small swirls.

Advantages of an orbital sander

  • Easier to control with using
  • Sand both the field or ‘body’ of the bottom and the edges that are not a drum sander. 
  • Work up on the finer grits, orbital sanders smoother a lot less scratchy produce surface. 
  • They are cheap. You can just save them or put them for sale on second-hand sites. 

Disadvantages of an orbital sander

Power – The difference in power between a drum sander and a random orbital sander is astronomical. Most random orbitals are around 250 watts, whereas standard single-phase floor sanders can get up to 3900 watts. So we are talking about an order of magnitude difference in power.

Drum Sander 

Drum sander (or big machine, as they are affectionately called within the industry) is a large machine that you operate from a standing position. It usually weighs over 50kg and has a large spinning drum which holds the sandpaper.

The drum is applied to the ground by lowering a lever; the drum falls on the floor. Some very rudimentary grinders (such as those often rent) the drum but jerking the machine are forward until the drum is on the ground. Just to explain a little better. The drum is always in contact with the ground, but in order to belt or turn to change the device, you must return it or skirt, it leans down ‘.

Advantages of a Drum Sander

  • Can remove wood from the surface of the floor on 200SF in about 30 minutes 1mm of floor sanding. This can vary due to the different types of wood and different surfaces on the surface as well as types of grinding. 
  • Floor sanding using an orbital sander could reach in a day so. You can learn more about how long it takes on sand here at the bottom.

So a huge amount of time is saved here. Apart from saving time, it is also a ton easier. Now do not get me wrong, the floor sanding is pretty hard work, they withdraw from you all the time and you are walking along the room several times. However, the relative ease with which you can work with a drum sander in relation to an orbital sander is night and day. 

Disadvantages of the Drum Sander 

  • Drum sanders are very bulky. The smaller (the ones that rock back and forth lol) are about 45 kg. You can come apart, which is a lot easier to raise, but it’s still a bit of a hassle to get it up in sand bedroom floors and such.
  • They need to hire. People may not rent to pay for something possible, they see it as lost money. If you buy a sander, at least you get to keep the sander (or sell it for at least half your money back on Facebook or eBay). 

As you can see, you get an orbital sander for a completely different reason to use a drum sander. Drum sanders is the starting point for each job. Use it to strip off all the old finish and the surface of the wood in as fast a time as possible. This removes all the old scratches and stains and gets the wood flat and clean. Everything after that is for smoothing. Checkout the safework.nsw.gov.au to know more about safety tips in using your sander tools

So usually you would have the bottom edge, drum sandy soil on a page split, then again, then the bottom edge, then last drum loops and only then you would pull the sander again. Even then it is not to do the entire floor, but to do the edges where to get the orbital sanders tilts. This is the protocol for professionals, but hopefully gives a glimpse of her this machine should use. Just as a fine finishing tool.

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