Choosing The Best Orbital Sander for Floors
Upgrading to an orbital sander can level up your flooring preparation work, making it quicker and easier to remove old finish and adhesive, grind, mill and sand screed and concrete and even buff finished floors to a high shine. Upright orbital sanders are a good investment for floor-fitters working on large areas, but how do you choose the right one for your business? In this article, we’ll discuss what makes a good orbital sander and recommend the best orbital sanders for floors.
What Is An Orbital Sander?
An orbital sander is a machine used for powered sanding. The sander rotates a disc of sandpaper at high speeds to remove material from a surface quickly. They are particularly used on large jobs where sanding by hand would take too long.
Most orbital sanders on the market are handheld, created for carpentry jobs where applying the sander to any angle is a benefit.
Orbital sanders for floor preparation are upright, with castor wheels, an extended handle and a large sanding disc at the base. They are typically a higher power rating than handheld sanders. Operators push upright orbital sanders during floor preparation, controlling power with a handle similar to a bicycle brake.
Why use one?
Floor fitters use orbital sanding machines to remove paint or varnish from wood floors, smooth subfloors or, using a special cutting disc, remove old adhesive, screed and compounds.
Upright orbital sanders can perform multiple tasks with various attachments. Adding a buffing disc can transform an orbital sander into a tool for cleaning, polishing and applying floor wax, for example.
The size of disc is usually approximately 16 inches, and with high voltages, upright orbital sanders are much more efficient when used on a whole floor.
Choosing an Orbital Sander
An orbital sanding machine is a big investment for a floor fitting business, so it’s important to make the right choice. Here are the signs of a quality orbital sander for flooring.
Speed
As well as knowing the RPM of the sander, it is worth investing in one with adjustable speed settings. While this can cost more overall, if you’re ever faced with removing an uneven floor surface, you’ll see the benefit. Having a higher speed setting for thicker areas of finish will save you time and effort, while slow speeds for thinner areas will avoid taking too much material.
Dust collection
Sanding creates dust, and while powerful sanders are useful, they create more dust more quickly. A quality orbital sander will have a dust collection system, like a built-in vacuum cleaner. This saves you from stopping to sweep every few minutes, gives you a clearer view of your progress and is much better for your health.
Weight
With upright sanders, the heavier the machine, the more effort it is to push around. While castor wheels should spin smoothly, it’s worth choosing a weight that will reduce strain on the operator.
The Best Upright Orbital Sanders
Finding the highest quality orbital on the market is often a challenge of comparing various catalogues, decoding jargon and understanding which specs really make a difference. We aim to break down the main benefits of these different sanders clearly so you can buy with confidence.
Best Orbital Sander for Multi-Purpose Work:
Columbus Single Disc Buffing & Levelling Machine
The Columbus 135H is the ideal machine for grinding sub-floors, removing screed, plaster, residual adhesive and more. It has a wide range of disc attachments for almost any floor preparation and finishing task.
Choose between 110V or 240V depending on your needs. If you’re typically working on larger floors for commercial projects, the higher voltage will be the most reliable.
This sander has a speed of 140rpm, and a 15-inch (375mm) diameter for all discs, giving you excellent coverage for fast and easy floor prep.
This is a corded sander, as most upright sanders are, so it can keep going until the job is done. At 42kg, this is a solid, manageable size for an upright sander.
The Columbus 135H is a premium sander, with prices starting from £1,599 for the lower voltage option.
Best Orbital Sanding Machine for Cost-Effectiveness:
Floorfit Single Disc Orbital Sanding Machine (1200W)
A more cost-effective option is the Floorfit orbital sander from Sweeney Todd Blades. It has the same 1200 wattage and voltage options as the Columbus, giving it equal power. The working diameter of 400mm or 16 inches provides excellent coverage at a much lower cost than the Columbus.
This single disc orbital sander also has multiple disc attachments available to order to perform sanding and levelling as well as burnishing and buffing.
It’s worth noting that the drive board and vacuum shroud are sold separately. The sanding machine itself costs just £715 for the 110V option, or £750 for the 240V. When ordering with all the parts together, the Floorfit Orbital Sander is still just over £1000 before tax, making it the most cost-effective sanding machine.
Discs and Other Attachments
Large sanding discs for orbital sanders are a vital component, and the choice is as important as the sander itself. You’ll need a range of grit sizes for different applications. Begin with a coarse grit to remove old finishes, and gradually move to a fine grit sanding disc to get the smoothest surface required. Copper sanding discs are much more durable than others.
Consider also the Diamabrush discs, specialised with durable abrasive parts around their circumference to assist with milling screed or concrete into a smooth, level substrate, or for removing paint and adhesive. These can be replaced as they wear down, but are much more materially efficient than flat discs.
